Nuclear Energy is a newer form of energy supply and one of the most controversial forms of energy. Nuclear energy power plants are fission power plants, meaning a fission reaction is happening to which a heavy unstable nucleus is split into smaller nuclei compared to nuclear fusion which is when two light nuclei combine together to release energy. Currently there is no such thing as a nuclear fusion power plant but many scientists and engineers are working on creating one however that’s a discussion for another time. Today over 11% of the worlds electricity is produced from nuclear fission which is produced in a nuclear reactor that contains radioactive material, usually uranium, plutonium, thorium, or protactinium, which are heated up at an extremely high temperature and placed into water. The energy is released from rods as heat makes steam which is then used to make electricity by spinning a turbine similar to a traditional power plant. There are sixty-one commercially operating nuclear power plants in the United States.
There are many benefits that come with nuclear fission power plants. First of all, nuclear power plants don’t discharge any gasses avoiding pollution. Unlike coal fired power plants and natural gas power plants that give off greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, nuclear fusion doesn’t give off any. The next benefit is that nuclear power plants are somewhat expensive to set up but don’t cost very much to run. A nuclear reactor lasts about 40 to 60 years and the cost of uranium is relatively cheap. It is also very reliable producing a constant stream of uninterrupted energy and can run in any climate condition compared to renewable energy sources such as wind turbines that can only produce energy when there is wind. Nuclear power plants are also much more proficient than fossil fuels in that their fuel has a much higher energy density suppling ten million times greater energy than a fossil fuel atom releases. Fission power plants come with many benefits unfortunately it has its negatives too.
Nuclear fission power plants have many negatives for starters the mining of radioactive material is not the cleanest process. While mining radioactive ores people are exposed to naturally occurring radioactive materials also referred to as NORMs. It is important to be very careful with these materials because they can contaminate streams and lead to serious health hazards. It is also important to be very careful while transporting such materials because of the threat to the environment. One of the biggest problems and controversies with fission power plants is the radioactive by product. There hasn’t been a good solution as what to do with the byproduct, it can’t just be taken to the landfill. Also, nuclear fission is not a renewable source of energy because we only have so much uranium and radioactive material on Earth. Estimations say we have enough Uranium for another 70-80 years so we can’t rely on nuclear fission forever.
Another major problem with nuclear power plants is a nuclear meltdown. A nuclear meltdown is a severe nuclear reactor accident that occurs when the core of the nuclear reactor gets damaged from overheating. There has been a number of nuclear meltdowns in the past including the Three Mile Island incident in the United States and the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown in 2011. The Fukushima meltdown was one of the worst in history. Following a large Earth quake in East Japan that registered as a 9.0 which then caused a tsunami that disabled the power supply and the cooling system of the Fukushima system. This led to three cores of the system melting within three days, releasing high amounts of radioactive material. The meltdown registered as a 7 on the INES scale which is the worst meltdown you could have. Lucky there were not any radioactive deaths due to the meltdown but 100,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes. The Three Mile Island meltdown took place in Dauphin County Pennsylvania near Harrisburg. The cooling system had malfunctioned and caused part of the core in the second reactor to melt. Then a few days later radioactive gas was released but luckily it was not very much and no one’s health was in danger.
As technology improves and the safety of nuclear fission power plants continues to be more beneficial and ecofriendly so will our step to cleaner energy sources. Nuclear fission like our fossil fuels is not a renewable source of energy and we can’t rely on it forever but it can be a huge help in buying us time till we get to the point of clean sustainable energy. Nuclear fission power plants also provide a much cleaner source of energy over burning of fossil fuels as long as we can find a safer and cleaner way to dispose of the nuclear waste. Each and every day we need to take a step forward and continue to move toward a clean and sustainable future.
References:
http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/nuclear-power-reactors/nuclear-power-reactors.aspx
https://science.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-meltdown.htm
http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/fukushima-accident.aspx
https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/3mile-isle.html
https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/pros-and-cons-of-nuclear-energy.php