Benavente 1

P0_BenaventeFriendOrFoe

A little over seventy years after the US dropped Little Boy on Hiroshima during the

Second World War, President Obama visited the Japanese city to mourn and remember the

victims of the atomic attack. In his remarks to the audience, which included survivors of the

blast, the President talked about the need to diminish stockpiles of nuclear weapons around the

world and the importance of diplomacy to end conflicts among countries. Mr. Obama

highlighted the fact that on that day in August, the world changed, and humanity realized the

power it has to destroy itself (Obama Visits Hiroshima, Meets Survivors). The destructive

power of anything nuclear seems to cast a fear that remains ingrained in the opinions of millions

of people around the country and perhaps it is time to shift this fear to the gas causing climate

change, carbon dioxide, since the newest nuclear plant designs are much safer than before. I am

in favor of nuclear energy because humankind has the intelligence to harness its destructive

powers for a greater good while preventing our demise caused by climate change.

While the fear of nuclear warfare is real and volatile due to the current political climate

between North Korea and the US, we must engage in scientific research and understand that

nuclear power plants are not used to manufacture nuclear bombs (Boland, Debunking). It is

therefore irrational to think of bombs when thinking about accidents that happen in nuclear

plants. The accidents in Chernobyl and Fukushima were respectively caused by governmental

mismanagement and a lack of preventative safeguards during earthquakes (Bunn, Lessons). It

is the fear, mentioned before, that has not allowed startup companies like Transatomic Power to

fulfill its vision in building a new generation of nuclear plants and prevent disasters that keep

feeding our nuclear fears (The Fight to Rethink (and Reinvent) Nuclear Power).
 Benavente 2

Works Cited

Boland, Martin. Debunking myths on nuclear power (its not for making bombs). The

Conversation: Academic Rigor, Journalistic Flair, December 29 2013,

https://theconversation.com/debunking-myths-on-nuclear-power-its-not-for-making-

bombs-20013. Accessed November 10 2017.

Bunn, Matthew. Lessons Learned from Chernobyl, Fukushima. NPR, By Steve Inskeep, April

27 2011. https://www.npr.org/2011/04/27/135760781/chernobyl-nuclear-disaster-has-

lessons-for-japan. Accessed November 10 2017.

Obama Visits Hiroshima, Meets Survivors. YouTube, uploaded by The Wall Street Journal,

May 27 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ey89C05FOw.

The Fight to Rethink (and Reinvent) Nuclear Power. YouTube, uploaded by Vox, May 17

2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poPLSgbSO6k&t=333s.