Propose and Argue for one Change Suggested by Your Area of Academic Interest That Would Benefit Your Own or Other Countries

Question to answer in an argumentative essay:

Propose and argue for one change suggested by your area of academic interest that would benefit your own or other countries.

“How about building the nuclear power plant in your house yard?” The most classic riposte on the proposal of building a nuclear power plant, first broached in 1966 (Patchimpattapong, 2010) , has lasted more than forty years in Thailand. Having obstructed the realization of the plant for almost half a century, the grievous concern over safety issue is warranted by the list of more than thirty nuclear power plant accidents since 1957, led by the most devastating Chernobyl. (Rogers, 2011) Given the situation of Thailand in twenty or thirty years ago, from the hindsight, the delay of the approval of nuclear power plant seems definitely sensible and correct. It is obvious that we have gone through many energy crises, such as oil crisis in 1980, without any severe lost, and the country remains fairly competitive internationally, as seen from the growth rate of GDP more than 8% from 1987 to 1995. (Bank of Thailand, 2011). However, in present situation, among the globally intense competition, under the incessant urge of economy expansion, the good old days would not come back again. In response to the unprecedented large demand of electricity, resulting from the rapid economy expansion, as well as the harsh international competition, the most viable solution on hand is the nuclear power plant, the comparatively most efficient mode of electricity generation, which, despite the safety concerns, substantiated by several nuclear power plants accidents, can be operated safely and reliably under strict regulations and effective management.

The soaring demand of electricity, with the growth rate of more than 5 % in 2003 to 2007 and more than 10% in 2010, resulting from the rapid expansion of economy in Thailand, necessitates the accordingly increasing procurement of electricity each year (Energy and Planning Office [EPPO], 2011). Though, we can import electricity from neighboring countries, from which now we do partly (Energy and Planning Office, 2011), due to the fact that energy plays important roles in the stability of the country, relying fully on other countries on such a strategically crucial matter is not a good choice in term of country security. Imagine the scenario that we import 70 percent of electricity from a neighboring country. Then, with some sudden unexpected border conflicts with that country, we can think of how precarious our energy situation would become. Therefore, building our own new power plants to satisfy the power consumption is unavoidable in term of both economic and security concerns. What we should consider next is what kind of power plant is suitable for the current situation.

There are a variety of power plants based on different technologies. The most widespread