Nuclear Power--Savior or Demon?

Thirty years ago, the nuclear power industry in the U.S suffered what some at the time called a "fatal blow."

On March 28, 1979, an accident occurred at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Middletown, Pennsylvania. This was the most serious in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history even though it led to no deaths or injuries to plant workers or members of the nearby community.

But, it brought about positive and sweeping changes involving emergency response planning, reactor operator training, human factors engineering, radiation protection, and many other areas of nuclear power plant operations. It also caused the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to tighten and heighten its regulatory oversight. Resultant changes in the nuclear power industry and at the NRC had the effect of enhancing safety.

Unfortunately, public reaction to the event essentially caused a complete cessation of nuclear construction in the United States. The public reaction was probably influenced by at least three factors: (1) the release of a popular movie called The China Syndrome (prior to the accident) that was about an accident at a nuclear reactor; (2) confusing and conflicting communications from officials during the initial phases of the accident; and (3) statements made by political and social activists who were long opposed to nuclear power.

Now the U.S. is confronted with the challenge of creating a new energy policy that is predicated on the decreased use of fossil fuels, especially oil.

Will the alternatives include the building of additional nuclear power plants? Is this a wise and economic strategy to pursue?

ProQuest has created a BookCart learning activity for you to use with your students--Nuclear Power--Savior or Demon?

This BookCart is a complete learning activity. It includes essential questions for critical thinking, student directions, and model templates for reports and presentations.

Unlike traditional search activities, students can go to one place to get everything they need to complete this inquiry-based learning assignment. This saves teacher and student time from searching and eliminates confusion about what student are to do with the information.

To copy this BookCart to My Local Carts collection:

• Logon to the eLibrary Science Teacher Edition
• Click BookCart Admin
• Select the ProQuest Carts tab
• Click the eLibrary Science--BookCarts folder
• Type Nuclear Power--Savior or Demon? in the Search box
• Click the Copy Icon in the Actions column for this BookCart
• Click Return to My Local Carts (the new BookCart will have "Copy of" as a prefix)

Here's how to edit your new BookCart for student to use:

• Click the title of the new BookCart to open it for editing
• Delete the words "Copy of" from the title
• Type your name in the Author boxes and "email for quiz" in the email box
• Scroll down to bottom and click Save button

Note: Students will click the BookCart tab on the Search page to open and use this offering.

Assign students to write a report of at least 150 words or a PowerPoint presentation of at least seven slides and two minutes. Student should cite at least three resources and address the following essential questions for critical thinking (you can add or substitute others):

• Why are environmentalists against nuclear power?
• How can nuclear power generation be made safer?
• How does the cost of nuclear power compare to green energy development?
• How popular and safe is nuclear power in other countries?

Type "nuclear energy for power plants" as the search terms > type "nuclear or energy" in the Document Title box of Advanced Search > click the sort by date option to get the most current results.

Use our custom ProQuest models for written and PowerPoint-style reports.

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