When the topic of nuclear energy is brought up in the mainstream media, many are quick to criticize the explosive personality that makes nuclear energy extremely attractive. This personality has also lead to uses and accidents which have stained the course of human history. It needs to be understood that there is no 100% clean energy in existence yet, but modern methods of harvesting nuclear energy are extremely clean and remarkably efficient compared to conventional sources of energy. The concept that seemingly-limitless quantities of energy could be generated from a small amount of matter was but a fantasy at the end of the 19th century. During the era of the Industrial Revolution, fossil fuels had changed the way the world does everything by providing a easy source of a lot of energy. However, the consequences of using fossil fuels became a serious long-term issue. The Earth’s supply of fossil fuels is finite, and the rate of replenishment is miniscule to our gluttonous consumption. In addition, extracting energy from fossil fuels produced large quantities of unwanted by-products. Nuclear power would present itself in the same way that fossil fuels did centuries prior: an easily available source of nearly-limitless energy. The underlying principle of nuclear energy is that the forced fission or fusion of certain atoms can yield extremely greater amounts of energy than is consumed by starting the process. For example, a single pound of uranium fuel is able to produce about the same amount of energy as three million pounds of coal (Newton 18). Safe nuclear energy was first demonstrated on December 2 of 1942 when scientists working in the metallurgical laboratories at the University of Chicago managed to start and c... ... middle of paper ... ...te University, 2009. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. Davenport, Coral. "What Happens When Our Nuclear-Power Fleet Is Older Than You Are?" National Journal (2013). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. Newton, David E. Nuclear Power. New York: Facts On File, 2006. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 7 Nov. 2013. Nuclear Energy Institute. "Nuclear Power Will Reduce Air Pollution." Pollution. Ed. Louise I. Gerdes. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Nuclear Energy Plays Essential Role in Climate Change Initiatives." 2010.Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. Nuclear Power Plant Tragedy in Japan: Briefing Before the Committee On Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, First Session ... March 29, 2011. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 2011. Web. 7th November 2013.
Nuclear power has grown to be a big percentage of the world’s energy. As of January 18, 2013 in 31 countries 437 nuclear power plant units with an installed electric net capacity of about 372 GW are in operation and 68 plants with an installed capacity of 65 GW are in 15 countries under construction. As of end 2011 the total electricity production since 1951 amounts to 69,760 billion kWh. The cumulative operating experience amounted to 15, 15,080 years by end of 2012. (European Nuclear Society) The change that nuclear power has brought to the world has led to benefits in today’s energy’s usage.
All these effects were the cause of the discovery of nuclear fission and its properties. Nuclear Fusion Nuclear fusion is the process used by the sun and the stars in our solar system to produce their energy. Fusion involves smashing hydrogen atoms together at high velocities to form helium, and the matter is made into energy.
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.
Nuclear energy must be a consideration for the future with the rapidly depleting supply of fossil fuels. This type of energy can be created through nuclear fission and nuclear fusion. Nuclear fission is the splitting of a heavy atom into two or more parts, releasing huge amounts of energy. The release of energy can be controlled and captured for generating electricity. Nuclear fusion involves bombarding hydrogen atoms together to form helium. In the long run, nuclear fusion has greater potential than fission.
It was Italian-born physicist and Nobel winner Enrico Fermi, and his colleagues at the University of Chicago who were responsible for this success (“Nuclear”).
I. (Gain Attention and Interest): March 11, 2011. 2:45 pm. Operations at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant continued as usual. At 2:46 pm a massive 9.0 earthquake strikes the island of Japan. All nuclear reactors on the island shut down automatically as a response to the earthquake. At Fukushima, emergency procedures are automatically enabled to shut down reactors and cool spent nuclear fuel before it melts-down in a catastrophic explosion. The situation seems under control, emergency diesel generators located in the basement of the plant activate and workers breathe a sigh of relief that the reactors are stabilizing. Then 41 minutes later at 3:27 pm the unthinkable occurs. As workers monitored the situation from within the plant, citizens from the adjacent town ran from the coastline as a 49 foot tsunami approached. The tsunami came swiftly and flooded the coastline situated Fukushima plant. Emergency generators were destroyed and cooling systems failed. Within hours, a chain of events led to an explosion of reactor 1 of the plant. One by one in the subsequent days reactors 2, and 3 suffered similar fates as explosions destroyed containment cases and the structures surrounding the reactors (Fukushima Accident). Intense amount...
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...
Nuclear energy is produced during the process named nuclear fission or nuclear fusion. The development of nuclear energy started in the 20th century and there is now worldwide recognition for using nuclear energy. Popular countries that operates nuclear power are United States, France, Japan, and Russia, the nuclear energy generates up to 6% of the world’s electricity supplies. Even though the energy is mostly used by many countries, but it may causes side effect to the living things in the environment. (WNA, 2012)
“Face it. Nukes are the most climate-friendly industrial-scale form of energy” (Power, Reiss, Pearlstein, 655). This statement is what I’m trying to promote through my argument. It also ties Inconvenient Truths: 10 Green Heresies by Matt Powers, Spencer Reiss, and Jonanna Pearlstein and Nuclear Power is Best Energy Source: Potchef Stroom together by bring out the main point all authors are trying to get across. Global warming has been a big concern for years now and one of the biggest causes for it, is the burning of fossil fuels to get energy. People that live in the United States of America use a huge amount of energy in their daily lives and that amount continues to grow with our population growing with it. My purpose of this piece is to persuade people to switch to nuclear power for a cleaner energy source because it’s the cleanest energy source.
Nuclear power is the generation of electricity from an atomic reaction. (World Statistics: Nuclear Energy Around the World n.d.) Though it produces zero carbon emissions there has been a decline in support for nuclear power and increased its support for alternative energies in the pursuit for a fossil free energy sector. Factors that have resulted in the reduction of support for nuclear energy include nuclear accidents and waste and the positives of renewable energy which include clean energy, sustainable and reduced health and environmental risks.
Our world today is growing every day every year and there will be a time where more and more energy will be needed to sustain human life. The demand for electricity and its value is increasing rapidly and will only continue to do so. The world will need greatly increased energy supply in the next 20 years, especially clean generated electricity [WNA, 2014]. Fourteen percent of the world’s electricity comes from nuclear energy to use. The use and demand for electricity will increase in 2030 by eighty one percent. Therefore, nuclear power plants need to rise to fulfill the demands and needs for the growth of the population. Since the demand for electricity is increasing and with many resources to get electricity from, the use of nuclear energy without constant support will probably decline to around 9 percent or less by 2035. At least two factors will make this quite difficult for nuclear energy to gain a bigger m...
The “World Nuclear Power Plants in Operation”. Nuclear Energy Institute. April. The. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'.
The use of nuclear power in the mid-1980s was not a popular idea on account of all the fears that it had presented. The public seemed to have rejected it because of the fear of radiation. The Chernobyl accident in the Soviet Union in April of 1986 reinforced the fears, and gave them an international dimension (Cohen 1). Nevertheless, the public has to come to terms that one of the major requirements for sustaining human progress is an adequate source of energy. The current largest sources of energy are the combustion of coal, oil, and natural gas. Fear of radiation may push nuclear power under the carpet but another fear of the unknown is how costly is this going to be? If we as the public have to overcome the fear of radiation and costly project, we first have to understand the details of nuclear energy. The known is a lot less scary then the unknown. If we could put away all the presumptions we have about this new energy source, then maybe we can understand that this would be a good decision for use in the near future.
energy out of a nuclear reaction than we put in. First, the energy per fission
The greatest disadvantages of nuclear energy are the risks posed to mankind and the environment by radioactive materials. ‘On average a nuclear plant annually generates 20 metric tons of used nuclear fuel cla...