Can the Nuclear Power Plants be Protected?
Although nuclear power is an engineering marvel, it does have its negative side effects and weaknesses that allow it to be a danger and thus a target for negative criticism. Recently, the people most critical of nuclear power have been those who live near a plant. One of the greatest weaknesses of nuclear power has always been the issue of what to do with the spent fuel (Pienciak 4). The fuel pools, which are often near the reactor, contain about five times more radioactive fuel than the reactor itself (Tiwari 3). This means that if a plane were to crash into a nuclear power plant, heavy amounts of radioactive fuel would be released if either the fuel storage building or the reactor building were penetrated. However, if only one of the safety or control buildings was hit, chances are high that it would not lead to meltdown. On the other hand, if the plane was full of fuel, a large explosion would follow the crash. And since the nuclear power plants were not meant to deal with severe fi
