Most of the electricity used in North Carolina is from coal (3,736 GWh), nuclear (3,656 GWh), natural gas-fired (2,521 GWh), hydroelectric (362 GWh), and other renewables (232 GWh). The residential, commercial, industrial, and transportation uses are all about 25% of the total amount of energy used. However, residential uses use the greatest amount at 28.6%, and industrial uses use the least at 21.6%. The main energy suppliers in Chatham County are PSNC Energy, Progress/Duke Energy, Central Carolina Electric Cooperative, and Randolph Electric Cooperative. PSNC Energy supplies natural gas, and Central Electric and Randolph Electric both supply electricity. Duke Energy has nuclear, conventional hydro, pumped-storage hydro, coal-fired, and oil/gas power plants where their energy comes from. Duke energy’s power plants in a whole produce about 49,700 mg to about 7.2 million people on the east coast of the United States. Some of this energy comes from the six nuclear power plants located in North Carolina and South Carolina, most of them built in the seventies and eighties. A small amount comes from the eighteen conventional hydro plants, and 1,775 mg from the two pumped-storage hydro plants in South Carolina. They also own eight coal-fired plants located in North Carolina. Nuclear energy is the main alternative energy used in Chatham County; about 45% of energy used in North Carolina is nuclear energy. In New Hill, NC, there is a nuclear power plant named Shearon Harris. It can produce 900 mg of energy, which is enough to power about 550,000 homes, and has produced 167, 667, 147 mg since it was created in 1987 until 2012. The basic way that the plant works is by using nuclear energy to heat up steam that is then... ... middle of paper ... ...een house gasses. Instead, it produces mostly steam. Duke energy claims that their nuclear power plants are safe, but if an accident does happen, such as in the case of the Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima Daiichi plants, harmful radiation may be released. One dangerous accident that can happen to a plant is a meltdown. A meltdown occurs when the nuclear reactor overheats as a result of a failed cooling system. The increased temperatures cause the core of the nuclear reactor or the fuel to melt, possibly causing explosions that disperse radiation. Though expensive to construct, and potentially dangerous, nuclear energy is also a cheap and reliable source of energy. Compared to conventional energy types, it produces less green house gasses, and uses less fuel, but has the potential cause life-threatening disasters.
...ed the water begins to boil and steam is produced. When the steam is produced is moved up towards the reactor opening, as it moves up the steam passes through turbines that spin creating energy. The turbines begin to move which is what produces the energy. During this process a lot of steam is produced which is why so much power is created.
In my opinion nuclear power is pretty amazing, and I doubt that people really believe otherwise. The amount of energy that it can produce compared to other sources of energy is huge. I believe that as long as it is done with the utmost care, nuclear power is the best source of energy we can
Nuclear energy is a very powerful source of energy. Just a little bit is required to make large amounts of electricity, which powers 1 in 5 households in the U.S. Nuclear energy has been advanced over the years and has been relied on heavily by many countries today.
Every nuclear power plant is overseen by the NRC, which sets safety standards for all of the plants. But because of the “team player” atmosphere, safety regulations are often relaxed; testing deadlines are pushed back, and heads are turned when they probably should not be. So when Jim Creswell, an inspector at the NRC, notified his colleagues and superiors of the problems at Three Mile Island, he was told to give them more time to get things running smoothly. As time passed, though, thing... ...
The major sources of energy in the US from highest percentage to lowest percentage are oil, coal, natural gas, nuclear fuels, renewable energy
Not only is nuclear power friendly to the environment, but it is almost always available, and many countries are starting to use it more. Renewable energy sources like solar and wind en...
There are many types of energy sources in Louisiana that produce natural gas, coal, solar, and biomass. Out of these, petroleum and natural gas are the largest producers of electricity in Louisiana. Together, coal and natural gas make up 78%% of Louisiana’s energy. Actually, coal makes up 21% and natural gas 57% of this states energy. So this means that natural gas and coal are very important to Louisiana’s energy production and consumption. The four types of energy consumers are industrial, residential, commercial, and agricultural.
Nuclear energy has is an overall success and continues to be because it is a reliable, efficient energy source that produces minimal pollution. Although it is a efficient energy source, it is also a massive destructive force that has been used in the past and can be used in the future if not properly defended against. America today can learn from instances in the 20th century such as the atomic bomb drops, exploration of fusion reactions, the knowledge gained from the three mile island accident, and from espionage. Nuclear technology is basically that manipulation of atoms in their current state. Usually radioactive elements such as high-grade plutonium or uranium are used in order to create a massive radioactive reaction that have the potential to obliterate any object in its way leaving a lasting negative effect on the environment. Nuclear energy was mainly researched for the atomic bomb droppings that occurred in 1945 as a result of Japanese oppression during World War II. The science of atomic manipulation, atomic radiation, nuclear fission and nuclear fusion was first developed in 1895. Research began to significantly speed up when the government took a large interest in the destructive force that nuclear weapons had the potential to hold. The only reason that the world ever had the experience of nuclear energy was because of World War II and oppression. Nuclear Energy came with a price of thousands of lives, that were not rightfully taken, but without those lives lost, our world would be different today, and we continue to learn from the mistakes and from the successes that we have had with nuclear technology.
The use of nuclear energy has increased in the United States since 1973. Nuclear energy's share of U.S. electricity generation has grown from 4 percent in 1973 to 19 percent in 1998. This is excellent news for the environment. Nuclear energy and hydropower are the cleanest large-scale means of electricity production. Since nuclear power plants do not burn fuel, they emit no combustion byproducts—like carbon dioxide—into the atmosphere (www.nei.org). Nuclear power can come from the fission of Uranium, plutonium or thorium or the fusion of hydrogen into helium. Today uranium (U-235 and U-238) is most commonly used in the production of nuclear energy. The expa...
The energy industry is beginning to change. In today’s modern world, governments across the globe are shifting their focuses from traditional sources of power, like the burning coal and oil, to the more complex and scientific nuclear power supply. This relatively new system uses powerful fuel sources and produces little to no emissions while outputting enough energy to fulfill the world’s power needs (Community Science, n.d.). But while nuclear power seems to be a perfect energy source, no power production system is without faults, and nuclear reactors are no exception, with their flaws manifesting in the form of safety. Nuclear reactors employ complex systems involving pressure and heat. If any of these systems dysfunctions, the reactor can leak or even explode releasing tons of highly radioactive elements into the environment. Anyone who works at or near a nuclear reactor is constantly in danger of being exposed to a nuclear incident similar to the ones that occurred at the Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi plants. These major accidents along with the unresolved problems with the design and function of nuclear reactors, as well as the economic and health issues that nuclear reactors present serve to show that nuclear energy sources are not worth the service that they provide and are too dangerous to routinely use.
To begin, nuclear power is produced by nuclear fission, which is the splitting of an atom to start a chain reaction (“11 Facts”). This chain reaction produces massive amounts of heat. Nuclear reactors take advantage of this heat by pumping water into the reactor, which in turn produces steam. The steam then becomes pressurized through a pipeline and exits into a turbine (“How do Nuclear”). The pressurized steam causes the turbine blades to spin, producing power which is linked to a generator for use in the main power lines. When the steam passes the turbine blades, it goes past cooled pipes and condensates (“How do Nuclear”). After the condensation process is finished and the steam reverts back to water, it is pumped into the reactor again, thus completing the process of producing nuclear-based power.
Technological and accidental hazards can be occur without warning and can be both hazardous material incidents and failures at nuclear power plant. In some cases, victims that have been exposed to harmful chemicals or radiation show little to no symptoms until several years later. There are an increasing number of new substances and chemicals being manufactured which has increased the likelihood of a hazardous material spill or release. This also increases the risk to the environment and to the health and safety of a community.
Nuclear power, the use of exothermic nuclear processes to produce an enormous amount of electricity and heat for domestic, medical, military and industrial purposes i.e. “By the end of 2012 2346.3 kilowatt hours (KWh) of electricity was generated by nuclear reactors around the world” (International atomic energy agency Vienna, 2013, p.13). However, with that been said it is evident that the process of generating electricity from a nuclear reactor has numerous health and environmental safety issues.
Nuclear energy is very efficient and reliable. Unlike wind and solar farms, nuclear power plants can operate twenty-four hours everyday unless subjected to maintenance and can produce a constant energy output that is not affected by weather conditions. Solar energy relies on the sun to produce solar power, making it impo...
As one of the greatest alternatives to fossil fuels, an important advantage of nuclear energy is the significantly lower emission rate of CO2 in comparison to plants which use coal and natural gas.2 Nuclear power is not reliant on fossil fuels and therefore producing energy by this method reduces pollution and the contribution to climate change. However, whilst the actual process of generating energy releases few emissions, uranium must be mined and purified and in the past this has not always been an environmentally clean process.2 Ultimately, uranium will one day run out, but nuclear reactors are versatile and may also run on Thorium. Despite being finite, this would allow nuclear power stations to function for a longer period of time.