45 minutes
This practice allows you to compose your response to the given task and
then compare it with examples of responses at the different score levels. You
will also get a scoring guide that includes a detailed explanation of how
official GED® test graders will score your response. You may use this
scoring guide to score your own response.
Before you begin, it is important to note that on the official test this task
must be completed in no more than 45 minutes. But don’t rush to complete
your response; take time to carefully read the passage(s) and the question
prompt. Then think about how you would like to respond.
As you write your essay, be sure to:
• Decide which position presented in the passages is better supported by
evidence.
• Explain why your chosen position has better support.
• Recognize that the position with better support may not be the
position you agree with.
• Present multiple pieces of evidence from the passage to defend your
assertions.
• Thoroughly construct your main points, organizing them logically,
with strong supporting details.
• Connect your sentences, paragraphs, and ideas with transitional words
and phrases.
• Express your ideas clearly and choose your words carefully.
• Use varied sentence structures to increase the clarity of your response.
• Reread and revise your response.
Good luck!
Please use the following to answer the essay question.
An Analysis of Nuclear Energy
1 America runs on energy. As a matter of fact, the United States is the second largest energy
consumer in the world, behind China. In recent years, it can be argued that we need to ease our
dependence on foreign countries that supply us with oil and develop energy at home. But where
can we get the energy we need?
Benefits of Nuclear Energy
2 The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) promotes the development of safe, domestic nuclear
power, and there are many who support the idea that nuclear power is the answer. Compared to
fossil fuels such as gas, coal, and oil, nuclear energy is the most efficient way to make electricity.
For example, the Idaho National Laboratory reports that “one uranium fuel pellet—roughly the
size of the tip of an adult’s little finger—contains the same amount of energy as 17,000 cubic feet
of natural gas, 1,780 pounds of coal, or 149 gallons of oil.”
3 Supporters of nuclear energy cite that nuclear generators don’t create the great amounts of
poisonous carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur dioxide like the burning of fossil fuels does.
The DOE reports that a nuclear generator produces 30 tons of spent fuel a year compared to the
300,000 tons of coal ash produced by a coal-powered electrical plant.
4 In terms of safety, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ensures that each and every nuclear
reactor maintains strict safety standards. Radioactive waste is contained deep underground behind
steel-reinforced, 1.2 meter thick concrete walls. The DOE also points out that “ash from burning
coal at a power plant emits 100 times more radiation into the surrounding environment than a
nuclear power plant.”
Arguments against Nuclear Energy
5 Opponents of nuclear energy argue that nuclear reactors endanger all life on Earth for three basic
reasons. First, nuclear radioactivity is deadly and must be contained for thousands of years.
Second, no matter how many safety measures are in place, accidents happen, and nuclear
meltdowns are global environmental catastrophes. Finally, nuclear fuel used to generate electricity
can also be used to build atomic bombs.
6 Nuclear generators used radioactive plutonium and uranium for fuel. Scientists say that exposure
to a millionth of an ounce of pluntonium causes cancer. Even nuclear energy proponents agree that
life-threatening nuclear waste must be contained for half a million years before it becomes safe to
be around. Radioactive dumps last generations.
7 Opponents of nuclear energy also cite that the ever-present threat of meltdowns. Widespread
radioactive contamination and death caused by the nuclear accidents at Three Mile Island,
Chernobyl, and Fukushima are cautionary lessons. Researchers disagree on how possible it is to
safely contain radioactivity, but it’s undeniable that nuclear meltdown causes widespread
contamination of the air, water, and land with deadly radioactivity. It is also verifiable that nuclear
accidents have caused environmental catastrophes that continue to this day.
8 Perhaps even more disturbing than the threat of toxic waste and meltdown is the use of uranium
for sinister purposes. On December 7, 2013, Reuters reported that “. . . in news that may concern
world powers . . . Iran is moving ahead with testing more efficient uranium enrichment
technology. . . .” Indeed, the United Nations and the entire world are worried about Iran’s
enhancement of uranium for use in nuclear power plants because the same enhanced uranium can
be used to build atomic weaponry.
9 Opponents argue that in the same way we learned that fossil fuels are limited and destroy the
environment, so must we learn from nuclear disasters. Opponents say the answer is to develop
safe, clean, and renewable sources of alternative energy such as solar, wind, tidal, and geothermal
power. Why gamble? The future of the world is at stake.
QUESTION:
Nuclear energy proponents argue that it is safe and efficient, while
opponents make the case for alternative energy sources, citing the deadly
consequences of nuclear disaster.
In your response, analyze both positions presented in the article to determine
which one is best supported. Use relevant and specific evidence from both
articles to support your response.
