Choose a Resolution Debate

My internet was down all of yesterday, so my case is probably not as good as it should be, due to limited time. Before we start, I would like to take a moment and actually explain a little the parameters of the debate, aside from the definitions, given in the comments. The comments say that nuclear power is power derived from nuclear energy. While this can involve both nuclear fission and fusion, my opponent probably accepted this debate believing that he would just argue against nuclear fission, not agains nuclear fusion. For all those who don't know, nuclear fission is the process by which atoms are split into smaller atoms to make energy, and nuclear fusion is when atoms are combined to produce energy. Nuclear fission powers 100% of all operational nuclear power plants that produce electricity. Nuclear fusion is very experimental and is being experimented with it. The best nuclear fusion plants on earth don't make electricity; they just eat it up. I'm going to spare my opponent and myself and strip nuclear fusion from the debate; it's exclusion will get to the heart and spirit of the debate and help avoid semantic arguments (which, for my opponent's sake, are frowned upon). *** Nuclear power should replace coal as the main source of home electricity in the United States. This is because nuclear power is more environmentally friendly than coal and it is, surprisingly, safer than coal. Here are my contentions: 1) Nuclear Power is more Environmentally Friendly than Coal I'm not going to argue that Nuclear energy, with uranium mining, etc. , that it's not a carbon-neutral process. But it is a whole lot better than coal. First off, U-235 (the main fuel in nuclear fuel rods) is a whole lot more energy dense than coal. Coal has 24 megajoules (MJ) per kilo, while U-235 has 79,500,000 MJ per kilo. [1] That's quite a difference. This means that, while U-235 is never found pure in the ground or purified to such a level for peaceful purposes, it still is a whole lot more efficient than coal. A pound of highly enriched submarine fuel (which is not all that different than fuel used in nuclear power plants) is equal to that of a million pounds of gas [2] (which is more energy-dense than coal). In addition, while both coal and nuclear both produce pollution due to mining, and both have toxic waste [3], only coal produces pollutants, namely CO2, when it is used to produce electricity. The ubiquitous nuclear cooling towers are billowing not soot nor carbon dioxide, but steam. [4] In addition, a fully functioning nuclear power plant releases LESS radiation than a coal-fired one. [5] 2) Nuclear Power is Safer than Coal While nuclear power has caused some serious damage (Chernobyl), it is much safer now than it was previously, partly because of the stigma that surrounds nuclear power. According to Wikipedia, 24,000 lives were shortened by coal-fired power plants per year in the United States. [6] That's a staggering number. In eight years, that would be enough to roughly equal the amount of excess cancer deaths that Greenpeace estimates that the cancer deaths associated with Chernobyl induced. [7] If you include all the shortened lives that were caused by coal, which has been used for much, much longer than nuclear, than the numbers start to pile up against coal. In addition, aside from the disasters at Three MIle Island (which isn't on the same level as the other nuclear disasters), Chernobyl and Fukushima, nuclear has a very clean record. It is the safest power source out there, [8] and because of it's scares, it will only get safer with new and better designs coming out. [9] I thank my opponent and and hopefully next round I will have more time to access the internet and better arguments. [1] . http://en.wikipedia.org... [2] . http://science.howstuffworks.com... [3] . http://en.wikipedia.org... [4] . http://en.wikipedia.org... [5] . http://science.howstuffworks.com... [6] . http://en.wikipedia.org... [7] . http://en.wikipedia.org... [8] . http://www.ehow.com... [9] . http://en.wikipedia.org...