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The Nuclear Energy Debate

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Published: 27 Dec 2021
Level 5 (B2)   |   Time: 6:00
Accent: American
Source: Vox

A nuclear power plant is being closed in New York. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?


Directions 이용안내 Direcciones Instruções Інструкції

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  1. READ the VOCABULARY

    It is important to read the vocabulary before you watch the video. This will improve your ability to understand the video. It will also help you understand how the new vocabulary is used naturally.

  2. WATCH the VIDEO

    The first time you watch the video, just try to understand the overall situation.

  3. ANSWER the QUESTIONS

    First try to answer all the questions from memory. Then rewatch the video and try to answer the questions that you missed.

  4. WATCH and READ the SCRIPT

    Watch the video again while you read the script. Reading and listening at the same time will help you hear each individual word and improve your listening accuracy.

  5. DO the ACTIVITIES

    There are several different activities that focus on test preparation, vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure.

  1. LEA el VOCABULARIO

    Es importante leer el vocabulario antes de ver el video. Esto mejorará su capacidad para comprender el video. También le ayudará a comprender cómo se usa el nuevo vocabulario de forma natural.

  2. VER el VIDEO

    La primera vez que vea el video, intente comprender la situación general.

  3. RESPONDE a las PREGUNTAS

    Primero intente responder todas las preguntas de memoria. Luego, vuelva a ver el video e intente responder las preguntas que se perdió.

  4. MIRAR Y LEER

    Mire el video nuevamente mientras lee el guión. Leer y escuchar al mismo tiempo lo ayudará a escuchar cada palabra individual y mejorará su precisión auditiva.

  5. HACER LAS ACTIVIDADES

    Hay una serie de actividades diferentes que se centran en la preparación de la examen, el vocabulario, la gramática y la estructura de las oraciones.

  1. 어휘 읽기

    비디오를 보기 전에 어휘와 배경을 읽는 것이 중요합니다. 이렇게 하면 비디오를 이해하는 능력이 향상됩니다. 또한 새로운 어휘가 어떻게 자연스럽게 사용되는지 이해하는데 도움이됩니다.

  2. 비디오 보기

    비디오를 처음 볼 때 전체 상황을 이해하려고 노력하세요.

  3. 문제에 답하기

    먼저 모든 질문에 답을 해보세요. 그런 다음 비디오를 다시보고 놓친 질문에 답해보세요.

  4. 비디오 보면서 대본 읽기

    대본을 읽는 동안 비디오를 다시 보세요. 읽기와 듣기를 동시에 하면 각각의 단어를 듣고, 듣기 정확도를 향상시킬 수 있습니다.

  5. 액티비티 하기

    듣기 정확도, 발음, 어휘, 문법 및 문장 구조에 초점을 맞춘 다양한 액티비티가 있습니다.

  1. LER o VOCABULÁRIO

    É importante ler o vocabulário antes de assistir ao vídeo. Isso melhorará sua capacidade de entender o vídeo. Também ajudará você a entender como o novo vocabulário é usado naturalmente.

  2. ASSISTA ao VÍDEO

    Na primeira vez que assistir ao vídeo, tente entender a situação geral.

  3. RESPONDA às PERGUNTAS

    Primeiro, tente responder a todas as perguntas de memória. Em seguida, assista novamente ao vídeo e tente responder às perguntas que você errou.

  4. ASSISTA e LEIA o SCRIPT

    Assista ao vídeo novamente enquanto lê o roteiro. Ler e ouvir ao mesmo tempo ajudará você a ouvir cada palavra individualmente e a melhorar sua precisão auditiva.

  5. FAÇA as ATIVIDADES

    Existem várias atividades diferentes que se concentram na preparação para o teste, vocabulário, gramática e estrutura de frases.

  1. ПРОЧИТАЙТЕ СЛОВНИК

    Важливо прочитати словник перед переглядом відео. Це покращить вашу здатність розуміти відео. Це також допоможе вам зрозуміти, як нова лексика використовується природно.

  2. ПЕРЕГЛЯНЬТЕ ВІДЕО

    Коли дивитеся відео вперше, просто намагайтеся зрозуміти загальну ситуацію.

  3. ВІДПОВІДАЙТЕ НА ЗАПИТАННЯ

    Спочатку спробуйте відповісти на всі запитання з пам'яті. Потім перегляньте відео ще раз і спробуйте відповісти на запитання, які ви пропустили.

  4. ПЕРЕГЛЯНЬТЕ і ПРОЧИТАЙТЕ СЦЕНАРІЙ

    Перегляньте відео ще раз, читаючи сценарій. Читання і слухання одночасно допоможе вам почути кожне окреме слово і покращити точність сприйняття на слух.

  5. ВИКОНАЙТЕ ЗАВДАННЯ

    Існує кілька різних завдань, які зосереджені на підготовці до тесту, лексиці, граматиці та структурі речень.

Vocabulary 어휘 Vocabulário Vocabulario Словник

Check the words you already know. Marca las palabras que ya conoces. Marque as palavras que você já conhece. 이미 아는 단어에 체크하세요. Позначте слова, які ви вже знаєте.

  • ☐ ☐ ☐ a plant n. - a building where electricity is produced
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ a protest n. - an action expressing anger or disapproval toward something [image] vocab image
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ shut down v. - close, end
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ fossil fuels n. - fuels from coal, gas, and oil
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ generate v. - make, produce
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ widely agree exp. - most people agree
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ carbon emitting adj. - makes carbon when burned (coal, gas, oil)
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ a nuclear reactor n. - a building where nuclear material produces electricity [image] vocab image
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ half a gig n. - 50% of a gigawatt
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ a gigawatt n. - a unit to measure energy (1 000 000 000 watts)
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ carbon free energy n. - energy that doesn't emit carbon (wind, solar, nuclear)
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ natural gas n. - underground gas that can be used to produce energy
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ instrumental adj. - very important
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ a nuclear meltdown n. - an accident at a nuclear reactor (that likely causes radiation to leak out)
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ a skewed picture n. - an inaccurate representation
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ premature deaths n. - dying before your natural lifespan
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ renewables n. - renewable energy (solar, wind)
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ take into account exp. - include, consider
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ a grate n. - a metal fence [image] vocab image
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ filter v. - remove dirt
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ grills n. - metal fences [image] vocab image
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ flow v. - the action of water moving
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ organisms n. - animals, plants
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ unrestrained adj. - uncontrolled
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ devastating adj. - terrible, destructive
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ conceivable adj. - able to be imagined
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ at play exp. - in the situation
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ vulnerable adj. - weak
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ plummet v. - go down quickly
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ regulations n. - rules
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ prohibitively expensive exp. - too expensive to be useful
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ firm adj. - constant, continuous
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ decarbonize v. - stop using carbon-based fuels
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ emit v. - produce and give off
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ trickier adj. - more difficult
  • ☐ ☐ ☐ candidates n. - possible choices

n. - noun,    v. - verb,    phv. - phrasal verb,    adj. - adjective,    exp. - expression


Questions 문제 Questões Preguntas Запитання

  1. The Indian Point nuclear power plant was shut down in 2021.
    True
    False

  2. The Indian Point nuclear power plant used to provide New York City with most of its electricity.
    True
    False

  3. The U.S. generates a lower percentage of its energy from nuclear than the global average.
    True
    False

  4. When nuclear energy plants are shut down, the energy production is usually replaced with natural gas in the U.S.
    True
    False

  5. Nuclear energy production emits a lot of carbon.
    True
    False

  6. 20 million people live relatively close to the Indian Point nuclear plant.
    True
    False

  7. Al-Qaeda considered targeting a nuclear plant as a terrorist attack.
    True
    False

  8. Renewable energy is considered very safe.
    True
    False

  9. Nuclear energy leads to more deaths per year than coal and oil.
    True
    False

  10. The Indian Point nuclear plant caused the death of billions of organisms.
    True
    False

  11. The cost of renewable energy production is increasing.
    True
    False

  12. The cost of natural gas energy production is increasing.
    True
    False

  13. The cost of nuclear energy production is increasing.
    True
    False

  14. Renewable energy (wind, solar) is firm.
    True
    False

  15. Fossil fuel energy (gas, coal, oil) is firm.
    True
    False

  16. Nuclear energy is firm.
    True
    False

Score:


Sentence Building 문장 만들기 Construção de sentença Construcción de oraciones Побудова речень

Directions: Write sentences about the video clip using the words given. You can change the word form or add words, but you cannot change the word order.
( ) = optional   [ ] = necessary

Instrucciones: Escriba oraciones sobre el videoclip usando las palabras dadas. Puede cambiar la forma de la palabra o agregar palabras, pero no puede cambiar el orden de las palabras.

Instruções:: Escreva orações sobre o videoclipe usando as palavras-chave. Você pode alterar a forma da palavra ou adicionar palavras, mas não pode alterar a ordem das palavras.

지시 : 주어진 단어를 사용하여 비디오 클립에 대한 문장을 씁니다. 어형을 변경하거나 단어를 추가할 수 있지만 어순은 변경할 수 없습니다.

Інструкції: Напишіть речення про відеокліп, використовуючи подані слова. Ви можете змінювати форму слова або додавати слова, але не можете змінювати порядок слів.



Sentence 1

Indian / Point / nuclear / power / plant / shut / down / 2021

The Indian Point nuclear power plant shut down in 2021.

The Indian Point nuclear power plant was shut down in 2021.



Sentence 2

vast / majority / New York City / electricity / not / come / fossil / fuel / used / come / Indian Point

The vast majority of New York City's electricity that didn't come from fossil fuels used to come from Indian Point.



Sentence 3

in / U.S. / nuclear / plant / generate / 20% / percent / electricity / U.S.

In the U.S., nuclear plants generate 20% of the electricity in the U.S.



Sentence 4

each / nuclear / power / plant / shut / down / remove / half / gig / to / gigawatt / mostly / carbon / free / energy / grid

Each nuclear power plant that shuts down removes half a gig to a gigawatt of mostly carbon-free energy from the grid.

Each nuclear power plant that is shut down removes half a gig to a gigawatt of mostly carbon free energy from the grid.



Sentence 5

when / nuclear / plant / shut / down / it / most / likely / replace / electricity / generate / natural / gas

When a nuclear plant shuts down, it is most likely replaced with electricity generated from natural gas.

When a nuclear plant is shut down, it is most likely replaced with electricity generated from natural gas.



Sentence 6

people / who / against / nuclear / power / mainly / worry / meltdown

People who are against nuclear power are mainly worried about meltdowns.



Sentence 7

specifically / people / worry / about / terrorist / target / nuclear / power / plant

Specifically, people are worried about terrorists targeting nuclear power plants.



Sentence 8

tragedy / nuclear / disaster / create / skew / picture / how / dangerous / nuclear / energy / actually

The tragedies of nuclear disasters create a skewed picture of how dangerous nuclear energy actually is.



Sentence 9

one / way / measure / how / dangerous / energy / production / be / be / compare / how / many / death / it / cause / how / much / energy / it / provide

One way to measure how dangerous energy production is is to compare how many deaths a type of energy causes [with/to] how much energy it provides.



Sentence 10

wind / solar / nuclear / safest / while / coal / oil / most / dangerous

Wind, solar, and nuclear are the safest while coal and oil are the most dangerous.



Sentence 11

it / estimate / about / billion / organism / year / kill / filtration / process / Indian / Point

It is estimated (that) about a billion organisms [a/per] year were (being) killed by the filtration process at Indian Point.



Sentence 12

cost / renewable / and / natural / gas / plummet / while / cost / nuclear / increase

The cost of renewables and natural gas has plummeted while the cost of nuclear has increased.

The cost of renewables and natural gas is plummeting while the cost of nuclear is increasing.



Sentence 13

one / advantage / nuclear / power / be / it / firm / power / source / while / wind / solar / not

One advantage of nuclear power is (that) it is a firm power source while wind and solar aren't.



Discussion 논의 Questões de discussão Discusión Обговорення

  1. Do you think this video presents a fairly positive or negative image of nuclear power? Does it seem fair and balanced? Why?
    (This is not actually the full video. You can see the full video [ here ].)
  2. How did you feel about nuclear energy before watching this video? Did your feelings change after watching it?
  3. What are the three factors (in the video) that are leading to the decline of nuclear power generation in the U.S.?
  4. How do proponents of nuclear energy production address these three concerns?
  5. Wind and solar are considered green energy. Why? Do you agree?
  6. Should nuclear energy be considered green energy? Why?

Script 대본 Roteiro Guion Сценарій

That is the Indian Point nuclear power plant. It's just 30 miles north of New York City, which is one reason people have been fighting over this plant for decades.

If we ever had a major problem at Indian Point, that might be a problem that we couldn't solve.

In early 2021, after years of protest, Indian Point finally shut down. Here's the problem. Up until then, the vast majority of the electricity used in New York City that didn't come from fossil fuels came from Indian Point.

What happened here is an example of the complicated role that nuclear energy is playing in the fight against climate change.

Nuclear plants generate about 10 percent of the electricity that we use around the world, but 20 percent in the U.S. and 52 of the electricity in the U.S. that's not from fossil fuels. Experts widely agree that in order to slow climate change, we need to use fewer carbon emitting fossil fuels. But the number of working nuclear reactors in the U.S. has been declining.

Each one that shuts down, you know, it's like a half a gig to a gigawatt of mostly carbon free energy gone from the grid.

That's long-time energy reporter David Roberts.

If you shut the nuclear plant down today, most likely you're going to get a bunch of natural gas to replace it.

But of course, when it comes to nuclear energy, people have some concerns.

This is Batu.

Is Batu coming with us?

He’s my crew.

I've come to see Indian Point for myself with John Lipscomb and Richard Webster, who were part of an environmental group that was instrumental in the agreement to close the plant.

20 million people live within 50 miles of this plant. You can't afford an accident here.

People think about Chernobyl. People think about Three-Mile Island. People think about the sort of famous nuclear meltdowns.

With Indian Point, people are worried about a meltdown with a specific cause.

Al-Qaeda actually considered targeting a nuclear power plant.

It became clear to many of us that this was a was a safety hazard.

The thing is, the tragedies of nuclear disasters create a skewed picture of how dangerous nuclear energy actually is.

All energy sources come with some degree of danger. One common way to measure that danger is to compare the number of deaths a type of energy has caused (like through accidents or premature deaths from pollution) with how much energy it provides. What we'd call renewables (solar, wind, waterpower), these are extremely safe by this measure. Natural gas is less safe. Oil and coal are much much more dangerous.

Here's nuclear. This takes into account all nuclear accidents including thousands of deaths from radiation. S

So if you're choosing between nuclear and fossil fuels, purely on a safety basis, there's no comparison.

But human safety wasn't the only concern that led to the plant's closing. When operating, Indian Point needed to take in three Olympic swimming pools worth of Hudson River water to cool its reactors. The water went in through these grates, and then was filtered through a grill, then flowed on into the rest of the plant. It was supposed to keep fish and other organisms from getting in and getting killed. But often it didn't.

And there are organisms that are either pushed onto the grill or they're entrained on the water go through the plant and get killed. And we estimated about a billion organisms a year were being killed in that way.

The people who have those concerns are sincere and those concerns are real, but in all human affairs, you have to ask, “Compared to what?” Climate change if unrestrained, that is going to be far more devastating for far more ecosystems and far more rivers and bodies of water than any conceivable effect of, you know, a nuclear power plant.

And then there's the third big factor at play here, which is the reason these nuclear plants are so vulnerable to public opinion in the first place.

In the last 10 years, the price of electricity from renewables and natural gas has plummeted as their production has gotten cheaper and easier. The price of electricity from nuclear has gone up in part because of regulation to address safety concerns. Existing nuclear plants are struggling to compete and building new plants has become prohibitively expensive.

So when you combine cost plus the fear of a disaster plus the environmental threats, it's not hard to understand why nuclear plants are closing, but David says there's one final distinction here that should be getting more attention. Something that nuclear energy has that renewables don't yet.

Wind and solar energy come and go with the weather, so you need something that… you need power that's firm. And by firm, firm just means you can turn it on when you want to and run it as long as you want to. We have tons of firm power now. I mean most of the power on the grid right now is firm. Every fossil fuel power plant counts as firm power, but what you need if you're going to decarbonize is clean firm power. I.e firm power that doesn't emit greenhouse gases. That's much trickier. There are not as many candidates for that.

Nuclear is not the only option for clean firm power, but it is one that we have right now. One that's currently putting huge amounts of power onto the electricity grid.