Future

While there are a lot of jaded views on nuclear power which like to look back upon the Chernobyl  disaster in scorn, there seems to be quite a future for nuclear energy.  Many people see any nuclear pursuit as equivalent to making nuclear bombs destined only do destroy the environment and ruin all human life as people know it to be.  Since Chernobyl there have of course been many advancements in technology and safety, so that another Chernobyl disaster is not a reputable concern. 

Current calculations estimate that there are approximately 6x10^21 Joules of energy that could potentially be used in oil or gas, 32x10^21 Joules in coal, but 600x10^21 Joules that could be gained by nuclear fission, and if it was figured out, 1x10^31 Joules created by fusion  [10, 2].  Due to this huge order or magnitude difference, it is virtually guaranteed that nuclear energy will continue to researched and implemented as discoveries are made. 

Despite the potential dangers leading to things such as the event at Chernobyl, even the leading environmentalist James Lovelock commented on the nuclear situation, “There is no sensible alternative to nuclear power if we are to sustain civilization.” [1, 301]

Currently nuclear power accounts for five percent of the world’s electrical power [10, 2] and this number is very likely to grow as science progresses in this field.