Nuclear Energy: Uranium Fission

Nuclear Energy: Uranium Fission

Thousands of years ago human beings learned to make fire. By collecting and burning wood they were able to warm themselves, cook food, and manufacture primitive tools. Later, the Egyptians discovered the principal of the sail.

Even more recent was the invention of the water wheel. All of these activities utilize various forms of energy-biological, chemical, solar, and hydraulic.

Energy, the ability to do work, is essential for meeting basic human needs, extending the life expectancy, and providing a rising living standard.

This is where the need for nuclear power comes in. Uranium fission is about a million times more efficient than the common practice of burning coal or oil. For comparison, coal combustion produces about 20-30 MJ/kg of heat energy while uranium, in a fast breeder reactor, produces more than 24,000,000 MJ/kg

(Energy 27). Those numbers alone are astounding.

Uranium is also abundant, thanks to recent discoveries of large reserves.

At present, uranium is only being mined and separated from ore. However, a huge untapped source is our oceans. Sea water contains 3.3x10^(-9) (3.3 parts per billion) of uranium, so the 1.4x10^18 tons of sea water contains 4.6x10^9 tons of uranium. All the world's electricity usage, 650GWe could therefore be supplied by the uranium in sea water for 7 million years(Energy 25). This is a only a theoretical number because it is not possible to get all of the uranium out of our vast oceans. Also, it does not include the fact that in that many years, half of the uranium will no longer exist due to radioactive decay. So, at worst, we would get about 2 million years of power from it. Thorium is another element than can be used in nuclear reactors. Thorium is approximately four times more abundant than uranium. It is obvious that we are in no danger of exhausting these sources of energy. We need to exploit these resources an d use them to our advantage. God has given us the knowledge to use uranium for power, so why shouldn't use it? There are many benefits to using nuclear generated power over our other common sources.

A big advantage of nuclear power plants is that they do not burn anything, they are non-polluting, and they are kind to the environment. Unlike coal-, gas-, and oil-fired power plants, nuclear power plants do not emit carbon dioxide and other harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

This is not to say that no waste is produced in a nuclear reaction. An average size nuclear reactor produces 1000 MWe and leaves behind about 25 tons of spent fuel.