What's your reaction to nuclear reactors?

Our next class assignment is to write a more in-depth argumentative essay on a subject of our choice and I chose nuclear energy. I wanted to get some ideas out and start narrowing down my conversation because it's a such a big topic and I started going down the topic of trying to fully understand nuclear physics (thank you Hank Green, we love you so much 💖), which considering this is an English class and not nuclear physics class, I need to reign it back in haha! So here are some practice paragraphs and we'll see what ends up in the final project? 

When you hear nuclear power, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Reactor meltdowns and atomic bombs? Scientists and engineers in lab coats and hardhats finding new ways to use nuclear power safely? Maybe the origin story of so many comic book heroes and villains, being exposed to gamma rays from WW2 era nuclear power hype? 

Nuclear energy has a complicated past and an even more complicated future. Nuclear power is already something that is implemented into our current-day sources of power and is closer to home than one might expect. For example, Diablo Canyon Power Plant on the California coast produces around 17% of the zero-carbon emission energy for California and around 9% of California's total electricity supply. Pacific Gas and Electricity (aka PG&E) own Diablo Canyon and are licensed to stay in operation until 2025, when it's planned to be decommissioned. Although, due to the rise in intensity and length of heatwaves, and the hit the electricity grid would take without the support of nuclear energy, there is talk of extending the life of the power plant from politicians to the president.  

That being said, there are some folks who claim the power plant poses too much of a risk and should be shut down. Protests have been a theme for Diablo since its construction in the 1960s and 70s, with just under 2,000 arrests during massive protests during its construction. Diablo was unknowingly built near two active fault lines, which pose a risk for more intense earthquakes near the plant, and following the disasters at Fukushima in 2011, where an earthquake in Japan caused a massive meltdown of an active nuclear power plant, cries for Diablo to be shut down restarted.

However, the science and safety regulations around nuclear energy have grown significantly, and much has been learned from disasters like the Fukushima and Chernobyl accidents. There are better-built facilities with more reinforcements, redundancies, and better information about how to protect from seismic activity or human error, which were the main causes of past meltdowns. So the argument is whether Diablo should remain open or be permanently shut down? 

Stay tuned for when I figure out which side of the argument I'm on (who knows? Not current me!)