why we argue about nuclear power

  People spend a lot of time arguing about nuclear power--you may have read some of their comments on the internet. Nuclear power, also called atomic power, can be used to generate electricity. Electricity is the same no matter how it is generated--by a nuclear power plant, a windmill, a coal-burning power plant, a hydroelectric ( a dam over running water ) plant, or by solar panels. All the electricity reaches your home to turn on your lights in the same way. Different methods of generating electricity have different effects on the environment, and on the people ( us ) and creatures who live in it. Solar panels, windmills and hydroelectric plants produce little or no pollution. Coal-burning plants make smoke and smog, and release chemicals into the air. Nuclear power produces radiation, including radioactive waste--the same radioactivity that killed many people who survived the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. No one really knows what to do with this radioactive waste--a lot of it is put in steel drums and dumped in the ocean.We do know that radioactive waste remains potentially harmful for thousands of years. That's what everyone is arguing about.