ABSTRACT The demand of energy is growing, causing the energy crisis to worsen. A new source of energy must be found before fossil fuels run out. Nuclear fusion is a possible way of producing electricity. The D-T and D-3He reactions can produce enough energy to last thousands of years because there is a virtually limitless amount of deuterium on Earth, and tritium and helium-3 can be made from deuterium. Therefore, nuclear fusion is a promising environment-friendly source of energy. INTRODUCTION Our growing need of energy has always been a problem. As the population grew and cities expanded, the demand for energy increased. Primarily, wind and running water were used as a source of energy to run factories during the Industrial Revolution. Before long, we started producing and using electricity to do work by burning fossil fuels and using solar, water, wind, and other forms of energy. When Albert Einstein found the relationship between mass and energy, nuclear fission was studied and developed. Now, we use various types of energy, including chemical energy, nuclear energy, kinetic energy, and solar energy. From these sources, we make huge amounts of electricity, totaling almost four billion megawatt-hours in the United States. Although we have many ways of producing energy, some sources of energy are now declining. Fossil fuels will soon be used up, and nuclear fission will not last, as the isotopes of uranium and plutonium that are used in fission are very scarce. Fossil fuels and nuclear energy yield well over half of the electricity produced in the nation, but these two sources cause pollution and create radioactive materials. When fossil fuels are gone, a new way to produce electricity must be developed. ... ... middle of paper ... ...actors. Some fusion reactions result in radioactive neutrons that bombard the walls of the reactors so they must be frequently replaced. If certain materials can withstand the shower of so many flying neutrons as well as the high heat of the plasma, then those materials could be used as permanent walls of reactors, lowering the maintenance costs of a fusion reactor. REFERENCES Murray, R. L. Nuclear Energy. Woburn, Massachusetts: Butterworth-Heinemann. Nave, C. R. (2005). Nuclear Fusion. Retrieved July 24, 2005, from the Hyper Physics Website: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/nucene/fusion.html (2005 July 21). Nuclear Fusion. Retrieved July 27, 2005, from the Wikipedia Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fusion Nuclear Fusion Basics. Retrieved July 21, 2005, from the EFDA-JET Website: http://www.jet.efda.org/pages/content/fusion1.html
Plutonium, which is a byproduct of the fission process, can also be used for manufacturing weapons and only requires 2-10kg to develop weapons. The atom bomb that landed in Nagasaki contained plutonium fuel. Depleted uranium, which is the left over from the enrichment process, is used to make military grade armor piercing bullets. These DU penetrators have been used in wars throughout history, the most recent being the Gulf wars. This is a disadvantage because the depleted uranium is toxic and has been scientifically proven to cause birth defects, cancer, and death where it was used.
If a country has high energy intensity, this means that there is a high cost in converting ener...
mining of uranium which is a resource used to creating nuclear weapons also causes nuclear
Cost and availability of fuel is a considerable factor when dealing with nuclear power. Fission requires an element that can be easily split in a particle accelerator, such as uranium or plutonium. Fusion, on the other hand, uses isotopes of hydrogen atoms, specifically deuterium and tritium, that can be obtained from ordinary water. Uranium ores occur naturally in many parts of the world but must go through a costly purification process before used as fuel. The unprocessed ore contains approximately 99.3% uranium-238, a non-fissionable isotope of uranium, and only about 0.7% of U-235 required for fission. One hydrogen atom out of 6700 appears as deuterium, a naturally occurring isotope of hydrogen with an extra neutron, and can easily be separated from the rest. Uranium-235 is a non-renewable resource that will eventually run out, much like the fossil fuels. The abundance of deuterium and lithium provide a virtually unlimited supply of fuel for nuclear fusion. Therefore, nuclear fusion seems to be the better choice.
Uuq-292 lost 3 neutrons, and afterwards the resulting isotope decayed further by alpha emission. 24494Pu + 4820Ca 292114Uuq 289114Uuq + 3(10n), this claims that superheavy elements can be made in the laboratory.
The use of fossil fuels on a large scale, specifically coal, began with the Industrial Revolution in England. Industries/corporations first used coal as a main source of energy to fuel their factories, and it became even more popular when railroads started. According to the United States Energy Department, "...by the early 20th century coal had become the major fuel in the United States, accounting for nearly 75% of the nation's energy requirements." Soon after, newer and cheaper fossil fuels, such as oil and natural gas, were high in demand. Energy Supplies, Sustainability, and Costs, by Sandra Alters, states oil was used as the main source of fuel to heat homes and offices, and gas powered the growing number of cars (57). "Oil shoved aside coal as the world's primary fuel, just as coal had replaced wood", says Tom Mast in Over a Barrel: A Simple Guide to the Oil Shortage (15). Most Americans were not concerned wit...
In addition to the fact that solar, wind, and hydro power are local resources, they are also emission free resources. Emissions and pollution are a key concern with traditional power sources. The coal-fired plants that dominate U.S. energy production also produce more emissions than any other energy source. “Em...
We depend on energy; nothing in our daily lives could be possible without it. Electricity primarily comes from burning fossil fuels or using nuclear reactors. But the plain truth is, we are running out of fossil fuels. Our known oil deposits will run out in approximately 35 years, and if we increase the use of natural gas and coal to make up for the energy loss, our natural gas will last for 45 years and coal deposits will deplete in 75 years.
...ination, hydrogen fuel and solar energy (World Economic Forum 2014). These are technologies that closely related to environmental and recourse preservation, which help the society switch to use renewable energy.
I think that right now, fission is the only way that we can get more
However, with a scarcity of coal, more power would be generated from other sources like nuclear, solar and hydro. However, producing electricity from these sources for huge supply would be difficult.
The Industrial Revolution sparked a need for large sources of energy. Human and animal labor could not provide the power necessary to power industrial machinery, railroads, and ships. The steam engine and later the internal combustion engine provided the bulk of the energy required by the industrial age. Today most nations are still heavily reliant on energy that comes from combustion. Usually coal, petrolium, and natural gas are used. Some hydroelectric, wind power, and nuclear fission sources are used, but in the US they accounted for less than 20% of the total energy consumption in 1997 (1). Many experts are worried that natural resources such as coal and petrolium are being depleted faster than they are being replenished, which could result in an energy crisis. Nuclear fission produces highly radioactive waste that is expensive to dispose of properly. Nuclear fusion reactors would produce much less radioactive waste and would be more efficient than nuclear fission, but to date there have been no nuclear fusion reactors that have generated usable energy output. Why is fusion power, which could be very beneficial, so hard to come by?
Fossil fuels are an unreliable and unsafe source for worldwide energy. Our common fuels will run out as in: Ethanol, Petroleum, and Oil. Honestly we need those fuels for life, to drive cars, four wheelers, lawn mowers, and tractors, etc. If we did not have those things anymore our ways of living will drastically decrease. People in our society are so use to driving vehicles that if that gets taken away World War III would start. We use lawn mowers to cut our grass, to keep our land in shape and pretty. We also use tractors for multiple things not only to keep big pastures in shape, but also to use for logging. People do logging for a living. Without tractors their job would be very intense.(conserve-energy-future.com)
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.
Using fossil fuels such as coal and oil is inefficient, dangerous, and otherwise a process that is known to eventually fail as a long lasting energy source. Yet, there is hope for the future of energy, this new hope has many shapes and forms, but requires a chance to be fully implemented in our everyday life. Such energy sources like solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, and hydro power are the key to our future. These energy sources are proven to be long lasting, safe, more reliable, and the next innovation. In short, all Americans should switch to renewable energy, resulting in a safer and more efficient world.