Negative Aspects Of Nuclear Power Plants

Negative Aspects Of Nuclear Power Plants There are many different types of power sources across the world that produce electricity in many different ways. There are methods that use the power of nature, such as: hydroelectric power which uses the power of water to spin a turbine, windmills that use the power of the wind to spin a generator, and solar power which uses the heat from the sun. There are also man-made methods such as: power plants that burn coal, generators that burn gasoline, and plants that burn wood to use the heat from the fires to produce electricity. There is also nuclear power, which uses the heat from a radioactive isotope to produce electricity. Nuclear power is formed by energy harnessed from a natural resource. It is produced in power plants or power houses. Nuclear power is efficient, uses fewer natural resources, and adds a minimal amount of pollution to the atmosphere (Wilcox 1996). In the same respects, nuclear power can be very dangerous and produce long term negative effects to the environment. Radioactivity is extremely harmful, not only to the environment, but also to the people who come in contact with it. This has long made it feared by people who live around nuclear power plants and made these power plants a target for terrorists. The are at least two incidents involving nuclear power plants that had gone wrong within recent history. On April 26, 1987, Chernobyl nuclear facilitys number four reactor sustained catastrophic damage when a routine safety test went wrong. An explosion in the number four reactor spewed radioactive material miles into the air creating a radioactive situation 100 times worse than Hiroshima. The immediate death toll was 31, while thousands will have to live with the long term effects of the radioactivity (Chernobyl accident..2011). On March 28, 1979, Three Mile Island nuclear facility experienced an overheat condition in one of their nuclear reactors when operators noticed an increase in water flow to the reactor exceeding normal levels. They attempted to correct the problem, but only succeeded in making it worse. The incident was contained with minor exposure of radioactivity to the environment but not until after the radioactive fuel rods melted through the bottom of their HYPERLINK ../../../../../../../bio/Jennifer-Rosenberg-7900.htmcontainers. During the process some radioactivity escaped into the atmosphere (Three mile..2010). The examples of the disasters above show both the instability and destructive nature of the uranium used in nuclear power plants. Uranium and plutonium, the byproduct of nuclear fission, which is the process used to create nuclear energy, and are extremely unstable if not maintained perfectly in the correct conditions. The instability of these two radioactive elements can lead to both dangerous and destructive outcomes. As witnessed in the Three Mile Island disaster, when uranium is not properly cooled it can reach temperatures high enough to allow it to melt through its container causing the possible release of radioactive material into the environment. The outcome from the accidental release of radioactive material from a nuclear power plant into the environment is far more destructive and long term than the release of other energy producing materials, such as coal, oil, or other fossil fuels. Clean up is also a lot more difficult and hazardous. The effects of the release of radioa ctive material can last several billion years and can forever change the environment where it occurred. The after effects of an accidental release of fossil fuels, such as oil, from a typical power plant is far less dangerous (Diehl 2004). The wildlife repopulates and regrows quicker from the accidental release of fossil fuels than from the accidental release of nuclear energy. This shows how nuclear energy is dangerous to the health of the environment. The mining process of uranium for a nuclear power plant causes the same environmental effects as the mining of coal, on a smaller scale. The mining process also produces lead, a hazardous material known to cause cancer, birth defects, and other human and environmental problems. Uranium, unlike many other sources of energy, such as wind, water, and sun, is a non renewable resource. During mining, to keep ground water from entering the underground mine, uranium contaminated water is often pumped into local rivers and lakes, polluting that water as well. After the mine is shut down, there is a great risk of ground water becoming contaminated. Waste rock which is rock removed from the mines that does not have enough usable material in it is removed from the mine and piled above the surface. This material usually contains higher than normal amounts of radiation. This waste rock is often turned into gravel used for cement and paving roads, spreading radioactive material across large areas (Diehl 2004). This shows how even the mining process is very destructive and dangerous to the environment. While producing fewer greenhouse gases, nuclear power can hardly be considered an efficient, effective, cleaner alternative to the production of electricity. When compared to the amount of energy produced from the burning of fossil fuels, we see that the amount of power from a nuclear power plant is lower than that created from the burning of fossil fuels. It takes far more time and resources for nuclear power to equal the production from other sources such as fossil fuels (Linnerud 2011). In the increase in demand for energy from the nuclear power plants, the green house emissions also rise with the increase in production. This shows the inefficiency of nuclear power and the increase of greenhouse pollution. This proves that the increase of nuclear power in place of fossil fuels does not provide a reduction in climate changing effects during the production of energy (Lloyd 2006). Resources Chernobyl Nuclear Accident [homepage on the Internet]. World Nuclear Association; 2011 Mar..[cited 2011 Mar. 21]. Available from http://www.world-nuclear.org Diehl P. Uranium Mining and Milling Wastes: An Introduction. [homepage on the Internet]. 2004 Aug.15..[cited 2011 Mar. 21]. Available from http://www.wise-uranium.org Linnerud K. The Impact of Climate Change on Nuclear Power Supply, Energy Journal 2011; 32 (1): 149-168. Lloyd B. Nuclear Power and the Greenhouse Effect [homepage on the Internet]. Darwin (NT): Parlamentary Library Service; 2006. [cited 2011 Mar. 21]. Available from http://www.ntl.nt.gov.au. Three Mile Island Accident [homepage on the Internet]. World Nuclear Association; 2011 Mar..[cited 2010 Jan.]. Available from http://www.world-nuclear.org Wilcox C. Powerhouse. Minneapolis (MN): Carolrhoda Books, Inc. 1996. 48p.

Finance Minicase Essay

MINI CASE For your job as the business reporter for a local newspaper, you are asked to put together a series of articles on multinational finance and the international currency markets for your readers. Much recent local press coverage has been given to losses in the foreign exchange markets by JGAR, a local firm that is the subsidiary of Daedlufetarg, a large German manufacturing firm. Your editor would like you to address several specific questions dealing with multinational finance. Prepare a response to the following memorandum from your editor: To: Business Reporter From: Perry White, Editor, Daily Planet Re: Upcoming Series on Multinational Finance In your upcoming series on multinational finance, I would like to make sure you cover several specific points. Before you begin this assignment, I want to make sure we are all reading from the same script because accuracy has always been the cornerstone of the Daily Planet. I’d like a response to the following questions before we proceed: a. What new problems and factors are encountered in international, as opposed to domestic, financial management? When getting into international finance some problems and factors are added to the ones experienced within domestic finance. These problems come from exchange rate, cross border barriers and financing opportunities in the global market but they do not get rid of the typical Business and Financial Risks. Business Risks can be identified as the ones that come out with competition from other companies, reduction in sales or any other factor that may affect the activities of the MNC, and Financial Risk is related with the firm’s financial structure. The international trade and investment of a MNC requires the handling of foreign currencies which is sometimes translated as an Exchange Rate risk due to the volatility of the exchange rate. Added to this exchange risk, Multinational Companies deals with Political Risks due to the changing political systems of different nations among their legal resolutions, taxation procedures of movements in policies. b. What does the term arbitrage profit mean? Arbitrage profit means riskless profit, this is possible thanks to arbitrageurs who are individuals involved in the process of buying and selling in more than one country to achieve this riskless profit. c. What can a firm do to reduce exchange risk? In order for a firm to reduce its exchange risk some firms use forward-market and money-market hedges, nonetheless when these tools are not available MNC apply leading and lagging strategies which are practiced to defer income and thereby delay paying taxes and to create unhedged positions in order to speculate; cash managers may delay paying out currencies they expect to appreciate and accelerate paying out currencies they expect to depreciate. d. What are the differences among a forward contract, a futures contract, and options? ââ€" ª Forward contracts are agreements between two parties where the buyer agrees to purchase an asset (the foreign currency) and the seller agrees to sell the asset at a specific date at a price agreed upon now. ââ€" ª Futures contracts are similar but are standardized and traded on an organized exchange. ââ€" ª Options offer the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an underlying asset (the foreign currency) at a fixed price up to or on a specific date. Use the following data in your responses to the remaining questions: Selling Quotes for Foreign Currencies in New York |COUNTRY-CURRENCY |CONTRACT |S/FOREIGN | |Canada-dollar |Spot |.8450 | | |30-day |.8415 | | |90-day |.8390 | |Japan-yen |Spot |.004700 | | |30-day |.004750 | | |90-day |.004820 | |Switzerland-franc |Spot |.5150 | | |30-day |.5182 | | |90-day |.5328 | e. An American business needs to pay (a) 15,000 Canadian dollars, (b) 1.5 million yen, and (c) 55,000 Swiss francs to businesses abroad. What are the dollar payments to the respective countries? We will use spot rates for calculations since time of payment is not specified. Canadian-dollar 15,000 = $12,675 USD = 15000 x0.845 Japan-yen 1,500,000 = $7,050 USD = 1500000 x0.0047 Swiss francs 55,000 = $28,325 USD = 55000 x0.515 f. An American business pays $20,000, $5,000, and $15,000 to suppliers in, respectively, Japan, Switzerland, and Canada. How much, in local currencies, do the suppliers receive? Japan = $20,000/0.0047 = $4,255,319 Yen Switzerland= $5,000/0.515 = $9,709 Swiss francs Canada= $15,000 /0.845 = $17,751 Canadian dollars g. Compute the indirect quote for the spot and forward Canadian dollar contract. The indirect quote indicates the number of units of a foreign currency that can be bought for one unit of the home currency. Indirect quote = foreign currency / home currency |Contract |S/ foreign | |Spot |.8450 | |30 days |.8415 | |90 days |.8390 | |Indirect quote |[pic] |$ | |Spot |[pic] = |1.1834 | |Forward | | | |30 days |[pic] = |1.1883 | |90 days |[pic]= |1.1918 | h. You own $10,000. The dollar rate in Tokyo is 216.6752. The yen rate in New York is given in the preceding table. Are arbitrage profits possible? Set up an arbitrage scheme with your capital. What is the gain (loss) in dollars? Data ââ€" ª $10,000 dollars ââ€" ª Dollar rate in Tokyo is $216.6752 yen per dollar ââ€" ª Yen rate in New York according to table: 1 yen /0.004700 dollar ââ€" ª Actual Yen rate in Tokyo: 1 yen/ 0.004615 dollar Arbitrage profits will be possible because the indirect rates are out of line (they are different). This is possible assuming no transaction cost. $10,000 dollars X 216.6752 = 2,166,752 Arbitrage scheme |Amount of money in yens = $2,166,752 | | |Table rate |Actual Rate | |0.004700 |0.004615 | |Amount dollars= $10,183.7344 |Amount dollars= $10,000 | |Difference= $183.7344 |Difference= $0.00 | (2,166,752 yen ) X (0.004700) = $10,183.7344 dollars (2,166,752 yen) X (0.004615) = $10,000.00 dollars Profit gain= $10,183.7344 dollars – $10,000.00 dollars= 183.7344 Profit gain= $ 183.7344 dollars i. Compute the Canadian dollar/yen spot rate from the data in the preceding table. Canadian Dollar/ U.S. Dollar Rate: 1 / .8450 = 1.1834 Yen/ U.S. Dollar Rate: 1 / .004700= 179.78 As we can see 1.1834 Canadian Dollar is equal to 1 American Dollar; meanwhile 212.76 Yen is the same that 1 American Dollar, it means that for each 212.76 Yen you have 1 American Dollar.

Adolescent Interview Essay

When picking my adolescent I had quite a few choices to pick from but I decided on my adolescent 15 year old sister since I know a lot about her and have seen first-hand how she is coping with this adolescent stage. Patricia is a normal 15 year old girl still in high school. She lives in a household of 7 with 3 older siblings and one younger one. She mentioned that she lived in a small home with three dogs, two fish, a bird and six other humans. Both her parents are field workers so they aren’t really at home much. Patricia has a younger 7 year old sister that she pays attention to a lot, they have a really close relationship, and she cares for her younger sister when her mother is at work. Patricia is in a special program in her high school called the International Bachelorette Program â€Å"IB,† this program challenges high school students and gives them and idea of what college is like after they graduate. She gets a lot of homework every day for all her classes, she manages to do all of it and still helps take care of her younger sibling. I think my teenager didn’t quite fit in the conceptions people have of a typical adolescent. She seems to be really close to her family. When I asked her what her family life was like I was surprised with the answer she gave me. She said she loved her family and that they were the best. Most teens at her age tend to distance themselves when they hit puberty. Puberty brings an increase in parent-child conflict- psychological distancing that may, in part be a modern substitute for physical departure from the family. (Berk, 2012, p.541.) According to what my teen said about her family life, she has a very good relationship with her family; her parents seem to play an important role in how hard she is working on her education and her good grades since she mentioned that school was really important to her because her mother wanted her to have a better life for herself. I believe that my teen interviewee has reached the stage of formal operational thinking. When I asked her what if people had no thumbs she gave me a bunch of explanations as to what would happen if such a thing were true. She said people wouldn’t be able to text, suck their thumbs, cover the sun, be able to thumb print criminals for criminal cases, be able to write, click on the computer mouse,  do their hair, and that everyone would be ugly. She pretty much hypothesized what would happen if people had no thumbs. According to Piaget she has become capable of hypothetico-deductive reasoning- this being when faced with a problem, they start with a hypothesis, or prediction about variables that might affect an outcome, from which they deduce logical, testable inferences. (Berk,2012, p.566.) Her answers to the problem of having no thumbs were thought out. I wish she would have explained them a little more but I know if I asked her to explain more thoroughly she would have the logic for doing so. Propositional thought is also a characteristic of formal operational thought; it is when a young individual can evaluate the logic of verbal statements without referring to real-world circumstances. (Berk,2012, p.595.) When I asked her question number 13 of the interview she gave me a smart remark saying â€Å"Duh it’s going to make a freaking noise if she hit it. No she did not make noise because she didn’t hit it.† She said this right away and asked why I was asking such weird questions that were so obvious. I did notice some signs of my teen forming an identity. Her style of clothing seemed to be pretty laid back. She wore a loose fitted tee shirt, some jeans, and a pair of converse. Her hair was in a ponytail and she didn’t have any tattoos or piercings. She doesn’t wear any make-up and her only concerns about her appearance were being fat. She mentioned having a lot of friends in school and the particular group she hung out with during lunch and her breaks was only a pair of two close friends. When asked if she belonged to a group she pointed out that she belonged to a group nobody knew about and all her group does is sit and talk and think about homework and. She mentioned all the other different kinds of groups she saw in her high school such as the popular kids, the jocks, the gang bangers, the Asians, the cheerleaders, the gothics, the bible geeks, and the nerds. She didn’t categorize herself in any of these, but she mentioned that her only concerns are getting good grades, she mentioned this a lot during her interview. Constructing an identity involves defining who you are, what you value, and the directions you choose to purse in life. (Berk,2012, p. 600.) When I asked her what role school played in her life she easily told me she was pursuing getting good grades throughout high school and eventually going to college, her moral values play a great role in her life, these being the  things her mother has encouraged and guided her to pursue. Her direction in life has been identified; she explained to me she wanted to eventually be able to go to really good universities. I believe my teen has formed her identity because of these things. My teens’ identity status is probably at the identity achievement; she has established her values and goals in life. Identity achieved individuals are committed to a clearly formulated set of va lues and goals; they know where they are going. (Berk, 2012, p.603.) I don’t really have much advice to give to my teen; to me she seemed to be on track. But her mentioning herself as being fat does concern me. I think her self-esteem is low, when I asked her if she had a boyfriend she said she did not because she was ugly. She also seems to think she is fat, since she mentioned twice in the interview she wanted to lose weight. The advice I would give my teen is, to not concern herself too much about physical appearance and focus more on the relationships she has formed with the people she has becomes friends with. I would tell her she doesn’t have to look a certain way to have a boyfriend, I would also mention that it doesn’t really matter if she has one or not, the right one will come along someday. Her academic self-esteem seems to be good though, while I was interviewing her she mentioned that her grades were really good and she was concerned about keeping them that way. Academic self-esteem is a powerful predictor of teenagers judgments of the importance and usefulness of school subjects, willingness to exert effort, achievement, and eventually career choice (Bleeker & Jacobs, 2004;Denissen,Zarrettt,& Eccles,2007;Valentine, DuBois,& Cooper,2004; Whitesell et al.,2009) I would tell her she should keep on pursuing her goals of getting good grades and eventually going to the university of her choice. I would tell her this because I personally didn’t pursue going to a university after I graduated from high school and have totally regretted it ever since. Having a good education is a good goal for a young individual to have to have a better life. My interviewees’ didn’t have any signs of a cognitive distortion, there wasn’t signs of any self-focus in her answers. Imaginary audience is when the adolescent believes that they are the focus of everyone’s attention. (Berk. 2012, p. 572.) She stated in the interview that she and her friends  were part of a group that nobody knew about; she showed little concern about it. Her social development is good; she said in her interview that she talked to most of her classmates in all her classes. She seems to have attained good peer relations and has established good friendships. I don’t think my adolescent would conform to peer pressuring, she mentioned in the interview that alcohol and drugs were of easy access but they have no effect on her friends and her. She said she did not pay much attention to those things. References Berk, L. E. (2012). Infants, Children, and Adolescents (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Sime Darby Is A Malaysia Based Multinational Company Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 888 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Argumentative essay Did you like this example? Sime Darby is a Malaysia-based multinational company that involved in 6 main sectors, namely, plantation, property, motors, industrial equipment, energy and ultilites and healthcare. The company have business in 20 countries and have more than 100,000 employees. The company is founded in year 1910 by two British businessmen, William Sime and Henry Darby. The Plantation and Motors is the main sector for the company. It is the largest revenue generator for the company which has RM16,597.0 million and RM14,126.4 million. The company has motor dealerships in eight countries which are Australia, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and Thailand. Followed by industrial sector which has RM13,168.5 million revenue on 2012, the company operates its business on 14 countries with the key activities on purchasing, leasing and selling of industrial equipment such as heavy duty trucks. They have a dealership with Caterpillar Inc. With the addition of the ot her sectors in the company, the total revenue for the Sime Darby Berhad in 2012 is RM47,602.3 million. Sime Darby is committed to building a sustainable future for all its stakeholders. It is one of the largest companies on Bursa Malaysia with a market capitalization of RM59.4 billion as at 30 June 2012. 1. Review the contents of the annual report as per reporting requirement that needs to be observed by incorporated companies. As requirement, an annual report should include the statement of profit and loss, statements of comprehensive income, statement of financial position or as known as the balance sheet and the statements of cash flow. (1) Statement of Profit and Loss Based on the report, in the statements of profit and loss, the revenue for the group is RM47,602.3 million and the other operating income is RM1330.0 million The operating expenses for year 2012 is RM43,119.4 million. 2. Discuss the importance of financial statement to the shareholders. There a re four major components in financial statements, which is, the profit and loss statement, cash flow statement, balance sheet and shareholders equity statement. The four components in the financial statement provide valuable information to the shareholders to evaluate the companys financial performance. The examination of financial statements can reveal information about the company that might be not good for making an investment. The profit and loss statement reveals a companys profit or loss within a time frame, usually one year. Also known as income statement, this accounting report includes companys revenue, expenses, net income or loss (if the expenses more than revenues). The time frame of the income statement can be one month, a quarter of one year, half year, one year, or whichever period that the company decides to use. By analyzing a profit and loss statement, shareholders can get to know whether or not the company pulled in a profit during the period of the statement. Cash flow statements show how the company makes money and where the cash used. The cash flow statement is very important to shareholders because it shows how much cash a company has generated. It also includes supplemental information such as, paid income taxes and interests. Compared to income statement, income statement includes non-cash revenues and expenses, while the cash flow statement excludes. Cash flow statement can let the shareholders seek in a potential investment in the companys ability to generate cash. In the real word, many companies have show profits on the income statement but stumbled later because of insufficient cash flow. A good look on the cash flows statement may have warned the shareholders that the companys hard time were ahead. Balance sheet is a financial statement that summarizes the companys assets, liabilities, shareholders equity at the end of a time frame of accounting period. By analyzing the balance sheet, shareholder can know how much cash t he company has on hand, and how much money the company owes, when those debt come due and what is left for shareholders. It also provides investor with many clue and information to a company future performance. To evaluate the health of the balance sheet, shareholders will apply ratios (eg: liquidity and leverage) and use these to make comparisons between present year and the past year as well as with other companies too. Shareholders equity statement is very useful for the shareholders to determine the financial health of the company. The element of the shareholders equity includes preferred stock, common stock, treasury stock, unrealized gain and loss, retained earnings and dividends. It is used to determine the debt-to-equity ratio for a company. Shareholders subtract liabilities from the amount of companys total equity to determine the companys net worth. Shareholders will closely analyze the element retained earnings because it shows the amount of the company reinvesting on itself for further growth. 3. Explain the requirement of preparing the financial statements with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) is a widely accepted set of standard and the procedure for preparing the financial statement. GAAP was established by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). FASB is a self-regulatory body for the accounting industry. Founded in 1973, the mission of FASB is to establish and improve standards of financial accounting and reporting that foster financial reporting by non-governmental entities that provide decision (eg: useful information) to investors and other users of financial reports. (quote from www.fasb.org) In the last step of accounting cycle in any companies or organizations, they are required to prepare the financial statements. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Sime Darby Is A Malaysia Based Multinational Company Finance Essay" essay for you Create order