Sholtes 1

Matthew Sholtes
Mrs. Debock
English 4
17 March 2016
Essential Question: How is Nuclear Power dangerous?
Working Thesis: The IAEA should study the facilities in a way to find its flaws.
Refined Thesis: The IAEA needs to figure out more safe ways to create power and prevent huge
accidents from happening in the future.
Annotated Bibliography
Spradley, Joseph L. "Nuclear Power." HCS Smart Search. Salem Press Encyclopedia of Science,
1 Jan. 2015. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.
This article states the facts about nuclear energy and how it is dangerous. The IAEA is
trying to study the effects of nuclear radiation on people but the risks are high considering what
can happen. The agency can only study animals, or atomic bomb survivors. There have only
been 3 recorded nuclear reactor accidents in the 50 years that it has been around but there are
things that are not able to be controlled that can cause more problems. These problems cause for
the evacuation of an entire city. There is another study in process with the idea of trying to
confine the nuclear waste so that it is not harmful. The only problem is plutonium has a half-life
of 24,000 years, which means it has to be untouched for over a million years.
Wiggins, Edwin G. "Nuclear Energy." HCS Smart Search. Salem Press Encyclopedia of Science,
1 Jan. 2014. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.
This article describes the disasters of the past nuclear reactors in the past. Nuclear energy
is a very effective way of creating energy but its dangerous. Not only is nuclear energy

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dangerous but so are the other ways of creating energy. There are newer and better reactors being
built now that are safer and more efficient. Over the past 50 years the public distrust of nuclear
reactors has increased due to the 3 major accidents that have occurred. The public distrust has led
to the increase in cost to create these reactors. Used fuel is a big problem considering how long it
has to be stored, untouched by anything. Reactor plants are required to have a place to store the
used fuel but that wont solve it for millions of years. Technical and political problems are the
only thing stopping the government from opening facilities for that cause.
Wagnalls, Funk &. "Nuclear Energy." HCS Smart Search. World Book, Inc, 01 Jan. 2015. Web.
15 Mar. 2016.
Every person in the U.S. and Canada is exposed to 0.003 sievert per year and it only takes
5 sieverts to be fatal. In a reactor, the fuel elements are the most radioactive compared to
everything else. During operation of the reactor, as much radiation is kept inside but some is
inevitably released. The reactors rely on elaborate instrumentation to work properly, and control
the safety systems to properly shutdown the reactor if something goes wrong. There are backup
safety systems that inject boron into the reactor to stop the chain reaction and help to cool it
down.

1. http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?sid=3875036b-0f76-4d31-bf69-522e4152d64e
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3. http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=6&sid=3875036b-0f76-4d31-bf69522e4152d64e%40sessionmgr113&hid=127&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU
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