Is nuclear energy a viable alternative energy.

A neutron speeding at incredible speeds, colliding with an atom of uranium 235, splitting the nucleus in half, which releases energy and causing 2 more neutrons to break free and collide with more atoms of uranium 235

thus causing a chain reaction and creating a process called nuclear fission. Nuclear fission is the reaction that takes place in the detonation of an atomic bomb and in nuclear power plants, but whether it is viable or not is what we will be examining

when contemplating nuclear energy one must factor in the dangers and risks of utilizing nuclear energy. In 1986, a power plant in Ukraine, in the city of Chernobyl had a meltdown casing catastrophic damages and immediately killing 123 people. but that's just the beginning, due to the radioactive isotopes that escaped during the accident, over 985,000 people were killed up to 2004 by cancer, according to http://www.globalresearch.ca. But how and why does such an accident happen. well in modern day north america, we need not worry as much about this problem. The meltdown at Chernobyl was cause by many human errors and mechanical failures that could have been avoided if proper precautions were followed. A nuclear power plant work by metal bars being heated by the energy produced from the nuclear fission, then using the heat induced into the metal bars to evaporate water which spins a turbine and generate electricity.
 The reactor at Chernobyl did not have people monitoring it properly and they were also running the reactor on high and not using enough metal bars to absorb the heat. this extreme heat and lack of dissipation caused parts to start melting, causing the reaction to go out of control and be unconstrained, which burned a hole in protective barriers,allowing the radioactive isotopes to leak out. This accident has led people to believe that nuclear power is no longer safe but many people fail to recognize that standards have been raised and precautionary measures have been put in place to avoid this same type of accident and it is extremely unlikely that we will have another Chernobyl incident.

Despite this, people are still very skeptical about nuclear power. do the benefits outweighs the risks. well to start nuclear energy is extremely clean and produces extremely large amounts of power. The average nuclear power plant produces 12.2 billion kilowatt hours (http://www.eia.gov). To put this in perspective, this would equal 60 000 acres of windmills or 2400-2800 windmills, when the wind is blowing. one nuclear plant would also equal about 4 coal plants. If we consider the amount of pollution, a nuclear plant saves us, it is worth it to take the 0.1% (http://www.ippnw-students.org/chernobyl/meltdown.pdf) chance of a meltdown of a specific nuclear reactor in its complete lifetime, compared to the imminent and clearly visible pollution emitted by a coal plant that cause things such as 22 300 premature deaths every year http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/jun/12/european-coal-pollution-premature-deaths. It is best to choose a solution that will definitely work but has a minimal chance of being dangerous instead of going with the old ways that are already proven dangerous and have a 100% chance of staying the same