A huge amount of energy is needed to fulfill people's needs. Due to the lack of fossil fuels and its problems with high quantities of CO2 emissions liberated, UK is obligate to find an alternative energy source to replace it for fossil fuels. As can be seen in the news, nuclear power is back on the government's political agenda, because they are planning to build new nuclear stations in spite of the disagreement of numerous people. All nuclear stations except one are shutting down by 2023, so for that reason, if new nuclear stations are not built, UK will lose a 20% of its electricity (BBC, 2009 a.). There is one question numerous scientists are asking and is the following: Is nuclear power the best alternative to replace fossil fuels for the future energy needs of the UK? Before answering this question, we need to know why fossil fuels need to be replaced, what are the greenhouse gases and its consequences, what are the positive and negative aspects of nuclear power, and if there is any other alternative energy source instead of nuclear power?.
Fossil fuels need to be replaced because of the climate changes due to the human behavior. Humans are the principal factor that intensifies the greenhouse effect as well. The greenhouse effect is the gases that keep the Earth warm. As a consequence of the climate changed, the flooding will start increasing due to the growth of sea levels and precipitation; our health and agriculture practices will be affected as well. The main reason fossil fuels like coal and gas need to be replaced is because they both possess high emissions of CO2; primarily because of that problem, the Kyoto treaty was created in 1997, a conference which goal was to reduce the CO2 emissions of numerous countries around the world, and consequently, to reduce the global warming. In 2006, the Bonn Conference was created, with commissioners from over 165 countries, which objective was to decrease heat-trapped gases issues and to reply to the consequences of climate changes.
