TOFEL 托福寫作練習 (1) － 我的練習

The Construction of a Fourth Nuclear Power Plant

    Nuclear power is considered as a new technology of energy since the first development in the 1940s. Although, in 2008, 15% of the world's electricity came from nuclear power and it was about 20% in Taiwan, I am against the construction of a fourth nuclear power plant for 3 issues: safety, radioactive waste management, and sustaining usage of nuclear power.
    Regardless of high security standard, it is hard to say a plant built and operated with 100% safety. A small probability of failure will always last. Any little mistake will lead to disastrous effects on both human beings and the environment. For instance, the Chernobyl disaster, the scene of the world's worst-ever nuclear accident, released at least 100 times more radiation than the atom bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Countries closed to Chernobyl had to spend numerous costs to remove the radiation. Even if the number of people died or been sickened because of this accident is highly controversial, the most obvious health impact is a sharp increase in thyroid cancer. A 2005 IAEA report estimates about 4,000 people may suffer from this disease because of this calamity.
    It is still an unsolved problem about how to cope with the radioactive waste. The byproduct of nuclear power remains radioactive for thousands of years. According to United States Environmental Protection Agency standards, the waste from nuclear energy is too hazardous to be paid attention to it for 10,000 years. Additionally, current storage facilities cannot contain the world’s nuclear waste.
    The main source of nuclear power is Uranium, a scarce and non-renewable resource. It is trusted that the supply of Uranium is only for the next 30 to 60 years depending on the actual demand. After decades, we will have to figure out how to deal with hundreds of useless nuclear power reactors in the world.
    To prevent deadly misfortune and to reduce the production of the flagrant legacies, radioactive waste and power plants, I disagree with the manufacture of the fourth nuclear power plant.