I thought the debate was very interesting and engaging. Ben and Dan did a great job backing the case to shut down the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant while Simon and Demetra did an equally impressive job of saying why the plant should remain open. After listening to the intense discussion and reflecting on it for a few days, I think I support the use of nuclear power and believe the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant should remain open. I do believe however, that changes should be made to the facility to improve safety and security measures to help reduce the chances of incidents.
I am particularly wary about the human element of it all. I was told in my intro to psychology class that the Chernobyl and Three Mile Island disasters were caused by mistakes (poor judgment) made by sleep-deprived workers. More alert workers would not have made these mistakes. I think more measures should be taken to ensure employees are doing well psychologically and that they are alert. Perhaps installing random alertness/reaction time tests on the computers the employees are working on in the wee hours of the morning.
It was mentioned in the debate that the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant was rated the second worst nuclear facility in the nation. I was curious to see what was rated the worst, so I looked into it. As of 2012, Indian Point is now considered the worst and most dangerous nuclear facility. Second on this list is San Onofre in California. The third most dangerous facility is in Limerick, Pennsylvania. Interestingly, two of the three most dangerous nuclear facilities are located on the East Coast in fairly close proximity to one another.
Although I support the use of nuclear energy now, I am hopeful that we can develop safer, alternate forms of energy that would eradicate the need for nuclear power. I keep hearing and believing that our future lies in solar energy. We need to start harnessing the renewable power of the sun to provide our energy. Basically, the reason I support the continued operation of Indian Point is that I do not see any particularly feasible alternatives. That being said, I do agree that we should employ retrofitting to new homes. Why not try to limit our energy consumption? We should be looking to limit our energy output regardless of what type of energy we are relying on.
Going back to the point of sleep-deprived workers, sleep deprivation is becoming a huge problem. It seems that people are becoming less and less efficient and are suffering from health problems stemming from sleep deprivation including depression, diabetes, and hypertension. I am currently doing an internship where we enroll patients in studies in the emergency department of St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital, and I recently proposed a study looking at these possible problems stemming from sleep deprivation. Hopefully, this study will be implemented and correlations can be found in the emergency department population between these health problems and sleep deprivation and whether or not people are aware of what is happening. Many people think it is possible to work at maximum efficiency off of 5 hours of sleep a night, but in reality, you really need 8 hours a night.
