Nuclear Power Must Not be Phased Out Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Nuclear Power Must Not be Phased Out - Essay Example The rest is either exaggerated or purely hypothetical. Despite the claims against it and despite the mass appeal of such claims, nuclear power must NOT be phased out for the simple reason that it is one very sustainable source of energy. Nuclear energy remains sustainable because it is an energy source which is almost free from greenhouse emissions and thus will not likely have a great impact on climate change. Anti-nuclear power activists argue that most of nuclear energy comes in the form of fossil fuels and that this will eventually contribute to the greenhouse effect.1 This stems from the fact that fossil fuels, although not a direct source of nuclear energy, is the energy source upon which various stages of nuclear power production are made possible. In fact, electricity is used for various stages of the nuclear process such as uranium enrichment, the building of power plants, and the processing and storage of nuclear waste. Moreover, the idea is that the goal of nuclear fission is still the production of electricity, which is a major source of greenhouse gases.2 All these are believed to generate a â€Å"relatively high† amount of greenhouse gas emissions.... go to the opposite extreme in claiming that nuclear energy is â€Å"the world’s largest source of emission-free energy,† it would suffice to humbly admit that nuclear energy still contributes to the greenhouse effect, but the point is that what it contributes is statistically negligible. Aside from the insignificant amount of emissions from nuclear energy, its sustainability also depends on the idea that its waste products are relatively manageable. Nuclear waste is something that remains dangerous even for thousands of years and that there is always a possibility of contaminating huge areas. Furthermore, it is a cold hard fact that â€Å"there is no completely safe way to store nuclear waste.†6 Moreover, there is no guarantee that research on nuclear waste management will turn out to be successful.7 Admittedly, the issue of nuclear waste disposal is a strong argument against the sustainability of nuclear energy. Nevertheless, the volumes of wastes from fossil fu els are relatively much greater in quantity compared to those produced by nuclear power plants and thus, potential environmental damage is greatly reduced.8 Volume of wastes produced may be a minor issue in the environmental sustainability of nuclear energy but it is not as important compared to the factor of waste management. It may be true that nuclear wastes proves to be a threat to the environment but the nuclear technical community is rather more optimistic in believing that nuclear wastes can be contained or isolated safely until radioactivity cannot anymore harm humans or the environment.9 The solution is research and as of the moment, efforts are being made by governments in order to minimize emissions such as nitrogen oxides and particulate matter.10 The issue of nuclear waste disposal, therefore,

Bates Motel Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Bates Motel Analysis - Essay Example Given that monopolists have control over price, quality, and output, they therefore maximizes on the economic returns. In the short-run, monopolists enjoy supernormal profits given that they are price makers. Monopolists are profit maximizers and choose their equilibrium level of output and price at the point where marginal revenue equals to marginal cost (MR=MC) (Stackelberg, Bazin, Urch, & Hill, 2011). A practical example of industries that enjoy monopoly power is the electricity and power generation industries. The energy sector enjoys patent rights and protection that give it monopoly power. Therefore, the industry only prices at the point where marginal cost of production matches marginal revenue generated from the sales. Under perfectly competitive market, the equilibrium prices are naturally determined by the market forces of demand and supply with no single player having power to influence the prevailing prices, hence no price exploitation (Goldberg, 2000). Secondly, this market structure is characterized by production and allocative efficiency since they produce at the point where price equals marginal cost (P=MC) and produces quality products that are homogeneous in nature (Stackelberg, Bazin, Urch, & Hill, 2011). This market structure therefore produces a pareto optimal level of output and price that eliminates dead weight loss to both consumers and suppliers. One of such markets includes textile manufacturing industry that is characterized by free entry and exit. Given many buyers and sellers, consumers therefore benefit from high quality cloths and clothes at relatively affordable prices as no seller will benefit by increasing price above the equilibrium market rates. Monopolistic Competition is a media form of market structure that is dominated by advertising. This owes to the fact that monopolistic competition market structure deals in