The Pros And Cons Of Nuclear Power

Nuclear energy, a concept originally discovered by Enrico Fermi in 1934, has been a subject for mass discussion for quite some time (Kurzegast). Claims have been made both in support and in utter disagreement with the fact that it is a potential way to power the world one day. As with most things, nuclear energy has the potential to be either good or bad, it honestly depends on what it is being used for, a way to cleanly produce energy, or a way to secretly develop nuclear weapons under the assumption all the power plants are doing is making energy, not weapons. Nuclear power has the potential to power the world, and is a source that should be pursued regardless of its dangerous possibilities.

War, what is it good for? Surprisingly enough,

Unfortunately nuclear power’s first official application was not for producing electricity, but rather the explosion in a bomb. Most people know the first atomic bombs were developed during World War II, being dropped on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki (“Hiroshima: The First City Destroyed By A Nuclear Weapon”), however, they likely do not know the full story. The first country that considered the idea of creating nuclear weapons was not America, nor was it Nazi Germany, in fact, it was England. The document, Frisch-Peierls Memorandum, published in March, 1940, highlighted the possibility of an explosion powered by a nuclear chain reaction in uranium (“Atomic Archives”). A group of scientists called the MAUD committee were then positioned into England's finest universities, such as Oxford, Cambridge, and Liverpool (“Atomic Archives”). Two important results came from Cambridge University, one, the uranium chain reaction was discovered to be possible, and two, the elements neptunium and plutonium (named after planets neptune and pluto

Atoms are the smallest an element can be while still maintaining its properties. Atoms have three particles in them, protons, neutrons, and electrons, for nuclear reactions only protons and neutrons need to be explained. Protons are the positive charge in an atom, neutrons have no charge, they are mostly just dead weight, both are in the center of an atoms or the nucleus. The weight of the nucleus is the atom’s atomic mass, so Uranium-235 for instance weighs 235 atomic mass units (amu is the unit of measurement used in chemistry, or daltons if the chemist being asked prefers to sound pretentious)(Campbell & Reece 30). Atoms tend to naturally decay over time, releasing some protons and neutrons, turning them into lighter elements. Nuclear fission, which is what is currently used by most power plants, works by bombarding heavy elements like Uranium-235, which are stable before the reaction, with neutrons. The neutrons are often absorbed by the atoms, causing the atoms to become unstable and break into smaller elements, and energy is produced. The process of fission is typically controlled by a machine called the light water reactor. Light water reactors work in a way that is honestly quite simple (Kurzgesagt), non-irradiated water is used to slow down the neutrons bombardment, the atoms moving around create