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Can Nuclear Energy Be Revived?
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Project Conclusion






Given entrenched public opinion and powerful political lobbyist groups against the construction of up-to-date, technologically advanced, and highly safe nuclear reactors, it is unlikely that nuclear power can be revived without a significant change in perception. Three Mile Island and Chernobyl helped to forever alter public opinion towards nuclear power in the United States and in the post 9-11 world, nuclear reactors are the topics of fearful discussions of doomsday scenarios involving terrorism. While United States reactor technology has proven extremely safe and reliable and that the possibility of a reactor accident like Chernobyl happening is almost statistically impossible given the difference in reactor design, safety measures, regulations, and operating procedures, it is unlikely in the near future that misconceptions of nuclear power can be repealed in the publics mind without a significant education and propaganda program designed to properly inform the public. However, should breakthroughs in nuclear fusion occur and allow it to become commercially and economically viable it would revolutionize the energy industry as we know it and it would be adopted by the public. The by-product of fusion is helium, an inert gas we typically fill balloons with and not a highly radioactive, environmentally un-safe nuclear fuel that requires careful long-term planning and extreme care with storage and waste management. So is nuclear energy revivable? Not without an altering of public misconceptions and opinion of nuclear power.





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