Nuclear Energy

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An accident at a nuclear power plant has the potential to be much more harmful than an accident at a coal or gas plant because of the radiation that could be released. An example of this is Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania where there was a partial core meltdown in march of 1979 caused large amounts of radiation to be released into the atmosphere.
Accidents involving US nuclear power plants are very rare. This does not mean that they do not occur. In the early 1980's there was a fire at Yankee Atomic, a nuclear power plant in Massachusetts, destroying over 3 million dollars worth of electrical wiring in the reactor. It was caused by some workmen who were using matches to find a leak in the ventilation system of the reactor. The damage to the reactor was not serious but it was shut down for two weeks for repairs. If the situation was not brought under control the fire could have spread and caused a meltdown or serious leak. The most serious nuclear accident in the US ...

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200 times more radiation exposure than humans before cancer or death occur, Radiation alters the electrical charge of the body's cells and allows cancer to form in the cells. Not all exposures to radiation cause cancer. The radiation may cause an incubation period of up to 40 years before full-blown cancer is diagnosed in the patient. By this time it is impossible to discover if it is cancer caused by radiation or not, Different doses of radiation will cause different problems. A dose of 2000 - 3000 REMs ( Roentgen Equivalent Man ) will cause brain tissue to swell, hemorrhage and will cause death. Five-hundred REMs will stop the cells from dividing, will cause hair to fall out, ...

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