Peters’ Five Methods

Link to the text: http://www.goupstate.com/article/20080831/NEWS/808290239/1132/OPINION&title=Nuclear_power_can_t_live_up_to_proponents__hype

Peters’ five methods: I choose THE SOCIAL PERSPECTIVE.

The title of the article is “Nuclear Power Can't Live Up to Proponents' Hype.” It is written by Tom Clements. He says “building new reactors will face increased risks due to the size and complexity of reactor projects, length of construction time and uncertainty about final costs”.

Recently, the use of nuclear power to generate electricity continues to increase all over the world. Some people believe nuclear power plants are safe and inexpensive. However, other people are wondering whether the plant will cause nuclear pollution in the future. This is really a controversial topic nowadays.

Before I came to the United States, three nuclear power projects were declared by the government of my hometown. At that time, the government’s media began to give wide publicity to the benefits of building those nuclear power plants. They asserted that nuclear power is reliable and inexpensive energy, and it has the lowest risk if we monitor it carefully. This argument contradicts the idea of Clements in his article. Even if the operating cost is inexpensive as the government said during that time, the building cost is still a huge expense.

The necessity of a great quantity of water is also a big challenge that influences a nuclear power plant. A nuclear power plant requires a large amount of water during its operation. As for our hometown, the number of lakes and rivers is not as abundant as the other areas in China, and neither is the rainfall. No one can predict that the water capacity in the Shandong Province will be sucked dry by those big power plants someday.

It is a big challenge in modern society. Many researchers and scientists are doing their best to let people know the fact. Some people believe that, and some people contradict that. Maybe, we still need to wait for the most accurate answer for this question in the future.