Mr. Poon: nuclear source - v3 Nuclear power is the best source of energy for the future? Principal, judges, teachers and schoolmates: Good morning. The motion for today is Nuclear power is the best source of energy for the future. Do you really understand nuclear power? Is it really clean and effective? Some of you may argue that it is extremely environmentally friendly and efficient. However, I would like to share with you the inconvenient truth: that nuclear energy generation is exceedingly dangerous and disastrous to the environment if the technology is not handled properly. Contrary to popular beliefs, nuclear power is not the best source of energy for the future. Please allow me to elaborate. Do you still remember the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan on March 2011? There had been 162 reported deaths due to high radiation exposure in that incident. And the surrounding area affected by radiation would be inhabitable in the comming years. This nuclear fallout led to huge economic losees in the region and wreaked havoc on the residents, forcing them to relocate and readapt to new environments. The ocean is not spared from the pollution either. Sea plants absorbs the leaked harmful radioactive substances and are unable to excrete them. These plants are eaten by small fishes which are in turn eaten by bigger fishes. Fish harvest will decrease dramatically when a massive number of these fishes die of nuclear poisoning, thus severly affecting the fishermens livelihood. For those fishes that survive, the poison simply bubbles up the foodchain, with the ever more concentrated radioactive substance ending up in the guts of human being. Cancer may developer in these unfortunate sea food lovers. We should realise we pay a hefty price for the terrible consequences. Funds used to pay for such enormous finanicial burden could have been invessted into more productive energy research areas. Not only can we plant thousands of trees to absorb the CO2, alleviating the pace of global warming, we can also research and develop efficient energy generation in renewable energy sources which are safe, stable, clean, non-polluting, efficient for the future, and most importantly not putting our environments and lives in great peril. The naysayers claim the alternative to nuclear power, the traditional fossil fuel, would exacerbate the global warming with more greenhouse gas, for example, CO2 and CH4, production. Thus, they insist nuclear power is the best clean hope for the future. There are ways to tackle the greenhouse gases though. We can switch to natural gas burning to drastically reduce the harmful gas emission, and also plant more trees to collect the CO2. There also exists other energy sources, which the naysayers deliberately ignore, that produce no greenhouse gases; solar power is the practical example. It is clean and safe, and does not emit harmful substances. So why dont we give it some serious thoughts? I strongly urge the government to consider all these alternatives besides the nuclear source. In closing I believe we need to weigh the benefits and risks of nuclear power. Our current traditional energy sources for power generation are safe and efficient, and we have the means to reduce greenhouse gas emission. We have to invest more into the study and development of renewable energy sources in the meantime. That will enhance the efficiency and productivity of these new sources, giving the cleanest and safest power to all human beings. That, ladies and gentlemen, should be the best course of action for us to follow. Thank you
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 17:57:24 +0000
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