Nuclear Power Synthesis Essay

The origins and development of anything are essential to fully understand said element in its full capacity, thus tracing nuclear energy back to its roots is critical. Martin Klaproth discovered uranium in 1789, and the ionization of radiation occurred a century later by Wilhelm Rontgen in 1895. Such began the curiosity of what beta radiation and alpha particles being emitted could do. However, it wasn’t until after World War 2 that nuclear power would be used for energy instead of destruction. Presently, nuclear energy meets about ten percent of the world’s energy demand and thirty percent of the United State’s need, and nearly all nuclear plants are light water reactors (Kurzgesagt 2015). The exploration of this renewable energy’s production

Those 2.4 fast neutrons created through each reaction require a moderator to control the neutron’s energy. Once the uranium is split into two smaller molecules, energy is produced in the form of radiation, which heats the surrounding water, and a tube pumps the steam into a turbine. Once in the turbine, the steam then moves to a generator to create harnessable energy. All the energy resources are naturally occurring and the only intensive component is the use of water, which recirculates through many plants. The waste of nuclear energy is the byproduct of too little water, the plant’s primary cooling element, which then opens up the possibility for a nuclear meltdown. Currently, the only way to dispose of nuclear waste is to bury it up to 1,000 feet below the earth’s surface (WNA 2017). The other byproduct of the reaction is water vapor, which traps heat in the atmosphere as it is a greenhouse gas. However, the severity of water vapor is far less than that of other greenhouse gases, and the replacement of fossil fuels with nuclear power would have a mitigation effect on climate change, deeming it a “clean” source of