Introduction Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and solving climate change is still a challenge as the world faces depletion of fossil fuel energy, but the demand for energy continues to increase in recent years. An effective approach to solving the problem is to switch to renewable energy or, better said, nuclear energy. More and more people are opposing the science of nuclear energy following the 2011 Fukushima accident, with increased support for the development of renewable energy. Compared to renewable energy, nuclear energy has been widely used for decades with mature and applicable technology. Overall, more than 400 nuclear power plants operating in 30 countries produced 2620 billion kWh, providing 13.5% of the world's electricity in 2010 (TN&T.S., 2012). China has decided to turn to nuclear energy instead of natural gas and fossil fuels to cope with the national expansion of electricity: “mainland China has 20 nuclear reactors in operation, 28 under construction and others about to start construction,” states the World Nuclear Association (2014). ).However, the raw material for generating nuclear electricity, uranium, is a non-renewable resource and nuclear power plants pose negative impacts on the environment, which the essay elaborates below. Discussion Rationales for Nuclear EnergyNuclear energy, also known as atomic energy, became popular in the early 20th century. The atom contained enormous energy capacity: uranium (uranium-238 and uranium-235) is formed into solid ceramic pellets packaged in long vertical tubes for uses. In the reaction, the pellets are bombarded by neutrons, which causes the uranium atoms to split and release heat and neutrons, then the neutrons collide with other uranium atoms and release more heat… into the middle of the paper… .: April 8, 2014.Janna Palliser. 2012. Nuclear Energy. Science Scope 35 (5): 14. Retrieved from: http://hkbu.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/link/0/eLvHCXMwTV27CgIxEAziFwha-wOB5Hb3ktTiYSPocVjY7d5u7Pz_0kQs_IEp58HAjHNHyjKy 1hCk9nkw4RDZVqwAZMTf OaHbnK7PMt_p8cfm085t7L13y3ReThf_OwPwL6ToY23WWwYSGEHL0JCb1CvoCslG6994ihqFCXuxlEIRjFlEBTmXrBUObtvytH0AjUgmlA Accessed: 7 April 2014.TN Srinivasan, TS Gopi Rethinaraj , Fukushima and After: Reassessing the Risks of Nuclear Power, Energy Policy, Volume 52, January 2013, pages 726-736, ISSN 0301-4215. Retrieved from: http://0-dx.doi.org.hkbulib.hkbu.edu.hk/10.1016/j.enpol.2012.10.036. Accessed: 7 April 2014.World Nuclear Association. 2014. Nuclear Energy in China (updated April 2014). Retrieved from: http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Country-Profiles/Countries-AF/China--Nuclear-Power/. Accessible by: April 10, 2014.