The Pros And Cons Of Nuclear Power Plants

Nuclear power plants is a thermal power generator in which heat source is considered a nuclear reactor. Nuclear energy originates from nuclear power plants that split uranium atoms in a process called fission. When fission releases energy, it is used to produce steam; which is used in a turbine to generate electricity (Cohen, n.d.). In a nuclear plants reactor, neutrons from uranium atoms clash with each other. Once electricity is generated a lot of radiation products such as, cesium, tritium, krypton, and forms of iodine are produced (Cohen, n.d.). This becomes very dangerous especially if the design of the reactor is appalling. One mistake can cause the lives of hundreds, if not more, which is exactly what happened in 1986; the Chernobyl

Uranium is a big part of this because it is a perfect atom to split and because it is very powerful. Nuclear power plants use uranium-235. It’s a limited resource, because once we dig up all of it, there will be no way to get more. However, because it is rare in nature, enriched uranium is used more often by “separating out and concentrating the uranium-235 through a gas diffusion process.” This process is how an atomic bomb is activates. However, this is where a nuclear reactor comes in. It stops the chain from turning into a really big and disastrous explosion. What happens is controlled rods made of the material like cadmium, hafnium, and boron are inserted to absorb some of the neutron. Therefore, he point of this is, when energy is released, electricity is generated. Many individuals are against this because in order to make this happen, nuclear plants need to be made. This causes a lot of environmental scares and health concerns. Nevertheless, this didn’t stop nuclear plants from constructing because, energy is a high

On April 25, when the crew would conduct a routine shutdown, the crew at the fourth reactor were running a test to determine how the long the turbines would spin to generate power to the circulating pumps ("Chernobyl Accident 1986.", n.d.). This test was being done because there were new regulator designs. Due to the fact that the previous year, the power from the turbine was running too fast. Therefore, the crew was making sure the new design was working properly. However, during the process of shutting down the reactor, it was being very unstable. The design of the control rods caused an extreme power surge once they were inserted back into the reactor. In addition, when hot fuel was interacting with cooled water to produce steam, it led to fuel fragmentation and increase in pressure. This meant that the reactor would start to fall apart and decimate. Also, because there was too much pressure in the reactor, the cover plate became moderately detached. Due to this occurrence, the control rods jammed up, causing a steam explosion that left the crew exposed to fission in the atmosphere ("Chernobyl Accident 1986.", n.d.). In addition, there was a second explosion where fragments from the fuel channels were being thrown out, as well as extremely hot graphite pieces. A total of 2 individuals died because of these explosions. Also, once the fires were becoming bigger and bigger, firemen were being injured and killed