There was an unforgettable incident at March 2011, which is the 8.9 magnitude of earthquake in Fukushima, Japan, which led to environmental catastrophe of Japan?s nuclear power plant meltdown. The disaster of Fukushima nuclear facilities brought about awareness and safety concerns about nuclear energy all over the world.

However, nuclear power is still depended on in the US to produce power for consumers that require more and more power every year.  In fact, United States is the largest producer of nuclear power in the world, possessing 104 reactors all over its territory. The current President Barack Obama is a proponent of nuclear power since it decrease US?s dependence on foreign oil, creates jobs, and helps to meet the ever growing electricity demands of citizens. As a matter of fact, there are already plans to construct more nuclear power plants by 2020.

However, American citizens are worried that a disaster, such as Fukushima, can happen here in US. Historically, US have experienced many severe earthquakes for example the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco measured around scale of 8 on the Richter scale. Of course compared to Japan, there is significantly lower possibility of earthquakes but there remains the possibility of a major earthquake that could damage nuclear power facilities. And when that earthquake really happens, can the nuclear power plants of US prevent the release of radioactive material into the environment?

There are many groups in the United States that believe that nuclear power permits should not be issued until the safety issues of nuclear safety in the event of natural disasters is resolved.  Unfortunately, with the growing demand for electricity it is economically unfeasible to shut down or prevent the construction of new nuclear power plants.  On one had nuclear energy provides a reliable source of electricity, however, the issues of radioactive waste management, storage, and safety is a growing concern for citizens.

In order to both guarantee the safety and meet the energy demands of its citizens the United States needs to invest in new technologies such as alternative energy sources and improve the energy infrastructure of the country.  First, and foremost the government needs to continue to encourage growth in clean renewable energy sources.  Although, there has been some missteps with some government backed ventures such as Solyndra the government needs to invest in such companies to ensure America?s energy future.  Second, there are many alternative energy projects, however, their locations are often hundreds if not thousands of miles away from major cities.  In order to make these energy sources usable the energy infrastructure needs to connect these new energy sources to the people who will use the energy.