http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/world/europe/26iht-germany26.html?ref=europe
On Monday in Germany, there were about 120,000 people protesting and demanding an end to nuclear power and close the country’s seventeen nuclear plant it has. These protests and such have taken place on Easter in past years were more about antiviolence, such as to end the war in Afghanistan. This time it was different, because of what happened in Japan and the 25th anniversary accident that occurred in the Ukraine. According to the organizer’s spokesman, Peter Dickel, there were more than 20,000 demonstrators near the Grohnde nuclear plant and 17,000 at the Krümmel nuclear plant. Bavaria, which has three nuclear plants, about 15,000 people gathered near the Grafenrheinfeld power plant. “We are many, we will be more and we will not keep quiet until the last nuclear power plant is shut,” said Martin Heilig, an organizer of the demonstrations at this location. Last month, seven of the oldest plants were momentarily closed, and the remaining 10 being checked. There have been two committees set that is expected to be completed by June, how nuclear energy can be phased out before the 2030s and the other is to see what type of impact the end of nuclear power would have on energy prices. The Greens party made a huge impact on the conservative government and is ending 58 years of it as soon as the final decisions are made. Do you think this Green government will be a positive change or should they have left government the way it was? Do you think the new government will have positive changes throughout other countries as well?
Rita Shabo
Ryan 1pm
I think this "green" movement to close all the nuclear power plants is kinda silly. How will energy be produced/provided without the help of the nuclear plants? Producing energy by "green" means is very difficult, expensive, and it will not provide nearly as enough energy as a nuclear power plant can. I like the idea of being more environmentally friendly but this is not a good idea and will have negative effects on their country.
ReplyDeleteJack Azar
Armel 1pm
I think that while the green movement has the correct intentions, they might not be able to get their point across as well as they would like to. I think this is partly because they are a new form of government since 50+ years. It will take some time for them to create their own legacy before they bring about large changes - especially changes in regards to nuclear weaponry.
ReplyDeleteShravya Nadella
Armel's 10:00 A.M. Discussion
The green government would work well in theory, but nuclear plants are essential in energy and if it is put into power I believe there will still be people protesting. Such large changes will take a lot of negotiations for it to be accepted
ReplyDelete-Corina Vong
Ryan @ 1
I think the green government will defintely have a great impact and changes throughout the world. I think its necessary to approach this matter immmediately because we have all seen how horrible Nuclear Plants can be. I think its necessary we take care of the our environment and not risk the chance of affecting people's health. It will probably be a longer process but I agree with the people protesting, we need to improve our ways! I do feel having a "Green" approach will help the world in many ways and hopefully it will be attainable very soon.
ReplyDeleteAsma Abusara
Ryan 11:00
I do believe that working towards a green government should be on every countries agenda however, I don't believe phasing out nuclear power plants is the way to go about it. In todays society gas and coal refineries are one of the leading causes of air pollution but nuclear power plants are said to be one of the most cleanest forms of energy. Although the world has experienced major nuclear meltdowns from Chernobyl and Fukushima I believe that in order to prevent accidents like these from happening again the government needs to enforce tighter laws and regulations. For example, the Chernobyl accident was due to a flawed reactor and inadequately trained personnel and the Fukushima accident was due to an earthquake that the plant wasn't with capable of standing. Because of this I think the government should put tighter restrictions on the personnel that run the plant and make sure that they know what they are doing and be able to build plants that can withstand natural disasters such as these if they are in a earthquake stricken region.
ReplyDeleteBrittney Kubina
Armel's Discussion 1:00 P.M.
I am in full support of nuclear power. Yes there are other alternatives but they are harder to use and aren't as efficient. Eventually we will run out of fossil fuels and it might very well be in the near future. While nuclear power may seem unsafe, todays power plants have almost every precaution in place in case something happens. What happened in Fukushima wasn't even due to the earthquake as many believe, but due to the tilde wave that knocked out the power.
ReplyDeleteChris Rivera
Ryan at 11
I agree with every commented listed above. The use of nuclear power should not be looked upon as something negative. Although there have been events that have negatively impacted the world around them this is a great source to utilize for energy. As stated above, nuclear plants have many precautions put in place to make sure that there are no issues. I believe that there is always room for improvement across the field that can be done and nations combined should work towards doing what they can and more to ensure the safety of the people and area around these plants. The "green" movement is great, something that we probably should have done far before this time. The intentions from what I have read and seen are nothing but good but there are some negative side effects. I haven't done much research but if nuclear energy were to be never used again or banned, could that potentially increase the price of gas, solar, hydroelectric and other sources of energy? By disabling the utilization of nuclear energy we will be forced to rely on the other sources of energy which in my estimation will be more of a burden on the rest of the world. With this said these protestors should go to their government and make the government remember what can possibly happen if something goes wrong with nuclear power plants. Furthermore, they should work together to enforce stronger regulations over nuclear power plants.
ReplyDeleteCollin Wasiak
Ryan @ 11