March 2020 Advanced Public Forum Brief
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MARCH 2020 ADVANCED PUBLIC FORUM BRIEF National Speech & Debate Association • updated 3/13/2020 March 2020 Advanced Public Forum Brief 2 Resolved: The United States should increase its use of nuclear energy for commercial energy production This topic brief was written by Jesse Meyer. Jesse is a diamond coach, recipient of the Donald Crabtree Service Award, the state of Iowa’s 2015 Coach of the Year, member of the TOC’s PF advisory board, and board member of the Iowa Forensics League. He is currently an assistant coach at Iowa City West High School. He can be reached at [email protected]. National Speech & Debate Association • Public Forum Debate: MARCH 2020 ADVANCED BRIEF March 2020 Advanced Public Forum Brief 3 Table of Contents Contents Resolved: The United States should increase its use of nuclear energy for commercial energy production ....................................................................................................................................................................... 2 Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 5 Definitions and Framework ....................................................................................................................... 7 Framework ............................................................................................................................................. 8 Definitions ............................................................................................................................................ 10 Environment ................................................................................................................................................ 12 Sample Evidence .................................................................................................................................. 13 Further Reading ................................................................................................................................... 15 Proliferation ............................................................................................................................................. 16 Sample Evidence .................................................................................................................................. 18 Further Reading ................................................................................................................................... 21 Mining ...................................................................................................................................................... 22 Sample Evidence .................................................................................................................................. 23 Further Reading ................................................................................................................................... 25 Waste Disposal......................................................................................................................................... 26 Further Reading ................................................................................................................................... 27 Terrorism ................................................................................................................................................. 28 Sample Evidence .................................................................................................................................. 29 Further Reading ................................................................................................................................... 30 Economics ................................................................................................................................................ 31 Sample Evidence .................................................................................................................................. 32 Further Reading ................................................................................................................................... 34 th 4 Generation Reactors ........................................................................................................................... 35 Sample Evidence .................................................................................................................................. 38 Further Reading ................................................................................................................................... 40 Nuclear Renaissance ................................................................................................................................ 41 Sample Evidence .................................................................................................................................. 42 National Speech & Debate Association • Public Forum Debate: MARCH 2020 ADVANCED BRIEF March 2020 Advanced Public Forum Brief 4 Further Reading ................................................................................................................................... 43 Accidents .................................................................................................................................................. 44 Sample Evidence .................................................................................................................................. 46 Further Reading ................................................................................................................................... 48 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................ 49 National Speech & Debate Association • Public Forum Debate: MARCH 2020 ADVANCED BRIEF March 2020 Advanced Public Forum Brief 5 Introduction The concept of radioactivity was discovered by scientists and husband and wife Pierre and Marie Curie in 1898. During an experiment a substance that was created by the processing of inert elements created the element Radium. This element emitted a huge amount of radiation over time and slowly poisoned the Currie’s. Shortly after their deaths, scientists saw the potential behind the idea of radioactive elements in both energy production and potentially weaponization. However, dur to the times, ideas had moved faster than science and technology and all attempts at this failed. The dream of radioactive energy fueled many a science fiction writer. In 1914, HG. Wells, was inspired to write the alien weapons in his book, War of the Worlds, off of the potential destructive power of atomic energy. In 1924. Winston Churchill wrote a speculative policy on the political implication of atomic weapons. In 1933, Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany. His desire to create a third Reich that spanned the globe, he determined that a weapon of immense power would be needed to overcome the resource disadvantage of the German empire. Fearing what he might make them construct, Jewish and other German scientists fled the nation and settled in London and the United States. It was through this migration that Leó Szilárd fled to London where he proposed, and in 1934 patented, the idea of a nuclear chain reaction via neutrons. In August 1939, Albert Einstein wrote a letter to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt warning him concerned that Germany might have its own project to develop fission-based weapons. Roosevelt responded by setting up the Uranium Committee, It was only after the attack on Peral Harbor that Roosevelt took things seriously. Roosevelt appointed Robert Oppenheimer to head up the group of scientists whose soul job was to develop atomic weapons into something that can be used the allies before the NAZI’s. This project was called the “Manhattan Project.” With headquarters at Oak Ridge and Los Alamos, the Americans began their work. During this time, the United Kingdom was read into the file, but the USSR was not. Oak Ridge processed the uranium into workable nuclear material and Los Alamos constructed the weapon. At this point, the development of nuclear energy split from nuclear weapons. Although nuclear reactors were necessary in the production of weapons grade nuclear material for the bomb, the waste heat created by the processing and radioactivity posed a huge problem for scientists. After some thinking, scientists determined that the radioactivity could be cooled with water. The steam produced by the boiling water could then be channeled into a turbine and used to power a huge generator. Soon, scientists were using this generator to power the laboratory and the bases on which the generators were constructed. As nuclear weapons development took off in the days after World War II< more and more nuclear material was National Speech & Debate Association • Public Forum Debate: MARCH 2020 ADVANCED BRIEF March 2020 Advanced Public Forum Brief 6 needed, and thus more and more nuclear power plants were built to process the fuel. By the time you reach the late 1950’s, nuclear power plants were being constructed across the United States. They were touted as a means for cheap and clean electricity. News agencies hyped the power as the “wave of the future” and