H A R N ESSING ENERG Y H A R NESSING E N E R G Y BY DIANE BAILEY NUCLEAR POWER CREATIVE DIGITAL
I N T R O D U C T I O N PEACE AND WAR WEALTH AND POVERTY PROGRESS AND SETBACKS HISTORY HAS BROUGHT HUGE SWINGS IN THE HUMAN CONDITION AND WITH EVERY CHOICE PEOPLE MAKE THERE IS THE POTENTIAL TO MOVE FORWARD OR STEP BACKWARD AT THE CORE OF THIS CONTINUAL STRUGGLE HAS BEEN THE QUEST FOR ENERGY ENERGY GAVE HUMANS POWER AND MOTIVATED THEM TO DO GREAT THINGS WITH BOTH POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EFFECTS WITHOUT ENERGY PEOPLE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO DRIVE CARS OPERATE COMPUTERS OR POWER FACTORIES WARS ARE FOUGHT TRYING TO DOMINATE SOURCES OF ENERGY FORTUNES ARE MADE AND LOST DEPENDING ON HOW THAT ENERGY IS MANAGED THE LAWS OF PHYSICS STATE THAT ENERGY CANNOT BE CREATED OR DESTROYED THAT IS TRUE BUT ENERGY CAN BE HARNESSED AND DIRECTED IT CAN BE WASTED OR IT CAN BE COAXED INTO EFFICIENCY CIVILIZATIONS AND TECHNOLOGIES HAVE LEAPED FORWARD AND SOMETIMES BACKWARD AS HUMANS HAVE TAPPED INTO EARTH’S SOURCES OF ENERGY Nuclear power’s explosive nature has made it controversial 4
Collectively the energy stored in side trillions of atoms and released through trillions of collisions has the ability to power cities send spacecraft billions of miles from Earth and even to heal cancer Yet it can also kill the people who use it If something goes wrong the consequences can be dead ly Nuclear energy literally exploded onto the world stage in 1945 when the United States dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan to effectively end World War II The aggressive nature of nuclear power would forever influence its future Some people wanted to use it for electricity generation transporta tion and medicine Others saw it as a force of destruction or even evil that was best left alone Such controversy haunts nuclear power today 5
