ipl-logo

Transformative Essay: The Use Of Nuclear Energy

729 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Development of nuclear energy essay

When it gets dark, what is one of the first things you may do? Turn on a light, right? Have you ever stopped to think about where the electricity comes from to make that light work? If not, you are not alone. If you reside in the eastern part of the United States, you will find a very high concentration of nuclear power plants. So, there is a good chance that the electricity you have in your home is provided by one of these plants. This type of energy was thought to be a wonderful thing when it was first discovered, however, there are many procedures needed to keep it safe and disposal of its waste has become a serious problem.

Nuclear Energy began to emerge in 1895 when a scientist named, Wilhelm Rontgen, discovered the X-ray. During …show more content…

They both heat water that produces steam and that steam is used to turn turbines which produce electricity. However, nuclear energy is produced by fission. Fission energy occurs when one atom splits in two. When this happens, an extreme amount of energy is created. Uranium is used because it is an unstable mineral that is constantly breaking down or decaying, so it undergoes fission but at a very slow rate. To increase the speed of fission, a free neutron is fired into the nucleus of the Uranium atom where the nucleus absorbs it. The atom then becomes unstable and the atom splits …show more content…

The Chernobyl disaster was caused by the reactor overheating and the cooling water turned to steam which allowed the inside pressure to explode out of the building. The reactor in this plant was not kept in a containment vessel. The Three Mile Island disaster was due to a failed coolant system and the reactor melted down, however, since it was kept in a containment vessel, there was no explosion and very little radioactive steam was released into the atmosphere. The Fukushima disaster was caused by a Tsunami. The shock from the earthquake caused the reactors to all shut down, however, power was lost, and the reactors overheated and melted down and several explosions allowed radioactive material to

Show More
Related
382 Words | 2 Pages

In chapter four of the novel Wormwood Forest by Mary Mycio, Mycio explains the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear reaction, and how it had changed the ecosystem drastically. Chernobyl was a nuclear power plant in Pripyat, Ukraine that was operational during the time of the Cold War. This power plant had a sudden power surge in its reactor Unit 4, which resulted in a devastating incident. This caused large amounts of radioactive materials to be released into the air, and causing a level seven nuclear disaster, the highest level possible. After reading this chapter, it made me consider the bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima 70 years ago, and the level seven nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan.

Read More
160 Words | 1 Pages

Power plants burn fuel to produce heat to generate energy; however, nuclear power plants use the heat given off fission to turn water into steam. Nuclear energy is without a doubt a great way to power our homes because, Nuclear power plants are safer than other energy alternatives. Nuclear plants are safer than other energy alternatives. Coal is responsible for five times more deaths than nuclear power plants, coal also causes over one thousands more serious causes of illness than nuclear. Nuclear plants produce steam while coal plants, heat water by burning coal that produces greenhouse emissions.

Read More
607 Words | 3 Pages

Nuclear power produces fewer carbon emissions than traditional energy sources because energy is not produced by burning molecules but splitting atoms. ‘An energy mix including nuclear power has the lowest impact on wildlife and Ecosystems’ as shown by a Conservation Biology paper. Consequently, greenhouse gas emissions have reduced by nearly half which shows the benefits and popularity of nuclear power use. Nuclear power has many environmental benefits such as small waste production, leaves no adverse effect on water, land or any habitats. By reducing fossil fuel consumption and switching to Nuclear Energy, we will sustain the environment, quality of air, improving the overall quality of

Read More
1244 Words | 5 Pages

On August 6, 1945, the United States of America detonated two atomic bombs over Japan in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Along with chernobyl, this is often the first thought when people hear nuclear power. Nuclear power’s fear is justified when many consider the radiation. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “The average annual radiation dose per person in the U.S. is 6.2 millisieverts (620 millirem)”. Fifty two percent comes from background radiation, another forty eight comes from medical radiation; thus, the chances are everyone is getting above average dosage of radiation from just existing.

Read More
576 Words | 3 Pages

Nuclear power plants provide a valuable alternative to fossil fuel plants because they do not release tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This is an important environmental factor because carbon dioxide contributes to climate change. Not only do nuclear plants produce less carbon dioxide than coal burning plants, they actually release less radioactivity when they are working properly (Brain). Clearly, the environment benefits more from the use of nuclear power plants rather than fossil fuel plants.

Read More
771 Words | 4 Pages

An increase in radiation or humidity could mean there is a leak. There are systems that control, manage, and even stop the chain reaction as required, such as the Emergency Core Cooling System, which ensures that cooling water is abundantly available to cool the reactor in the event of an

Read More
992 Words | 4 Pages

Overall nuclear energy supplies at least 25 percent of our total electricity needs and are used

Read More
885 Words | 4 Pages

The reactors at three nuclear stations closest to the epicenter were automatically shut down following the earthquake, which cut the main power to the cooling systems. Normally backup generators would start to maintain the cooling process, however flooding caused by the earthquake damaged those generators. The Fukushimi Daiichi plant suffered the worst damage and without the backup generators the cooling systems failed in three reactors. Subsequently leading to overheating and a partial meltdown of the fuel rods. The following days after the earthquake, radiation levels began to rise in the surrounding areas, the severity level of the nuclear emergency was raised to the highest level on the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Read More
900 Words | 4 Pages

The energy released when the splitting, or fission, occurs is tremendous - enough to power a bomb. But before the bomb was built there were a bunch of problems the scientist had run into and had to fix. After the scientist discovered how to make the bomb they made

Read More
557 Words | 3 Pages

In order to use a nuclear material such as Uranium, it has to go through many processes to become usable. Its main two uses are for nuclear weapons and also for energy. Nuclear energy by definition is “By separating an atom into two lighter atoms, there is a net loss of mass. This mass is not exactly lost but rather transformed into massive amounts of energy.

Read More
1220 Words | 5 Pages

Nuclear power uses nuclear reactions to release nuclear energy to produce heat, which is then used in steam turbines to make electricity in a nuclear power plant. Nuclear energy is being used in more than 30 countries around the world. Worldwide, there are over 400 commercial nuclear reactors producing energy for 31 countries. As we know, the main source of energy used in France is Nuclear energy. Although it creates most of its electricity from fossil fuels and hydroelectric energy, France has the largest share of nuclear electricity in the world.

Read More
1284 Words | 6 Pages

In this diagram, a neutron is absorbed by a uranium-235 nucleus, as a result, it turns of a small period of time to an excited uranium-236 nucleus, with the excitation energy provided by the kinetic energy of the neutron plus the forces that bind to the neutron. The uranium-236 then splits into two, smaller, lighter, fast-moving elements (these are known as fission products) and releases three free neutrons as well as gamma rays. Fusion and fission are nuclear reactions. Fusion is the binding of two atoms to produce a heavier atom while fission is splitting of an atom. Fusion releases more energy than fission and powers the stars.

Read More
3678 Words | 15 Pages

“Nuclear power will help provide the electricity that our growing economy needs without increasing emissions. This is truly an environmentally responsible source of energy.” Michael Burgess Prior to the introduction of nuclear energy, fossil fuel was thought to be the only available source in producing energy. Although fossil fuel, such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas, contains high energy value, it produces too many harmful byproducts that ultimately pollute our environment. With the rising concerns over global warming as more and more greenhouse gases accumulate in our Earth’s atmosphere, many voice such opinions that new alternative, yet sustainable method must be adopted to produce energy.

Read More
1167 Words | 5 Pages

On March 11, 2011, one of the most powerful earthquakes recorded in Japan and the following tsunami stroke the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station on the east coast of Japan. The massive tsunami flooded the power station, including its backup generator, disabling the cooling water system of the reactors. In the next few days, explosions damaged the station and the explosions of used nuclear rods occurred with radiation released (Yergin, 2011:458-459). Hence, Fukushima disaster was ranked as the level 7 nuclear disaster in the history along with Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The radioactive materials have released into the air and ocean thus aroused the panic in the neighboring countries, including Taiwan (Guardian, Mar 17, 2011).

Read More
944 Words | 4 Pages

It is true that there have been major accidents at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima. However those are the only accidents that have occurred in a total of 16,000 cumulative reactor years (“Safety of Nuclear Power Reactors”). The actual amount of accidents that happens are quite low. Moreover, even when those accidents happen, the radiation that you would receive would (normally) be the same or less than what you would receive from natural sources (Lynas). Thus, if those accidents happen, and it is very unlikely that they will, they will not give you any adverse effects when handled

Read More

More about Transformative Essay: The Use Of Nuclear Energy

Related Topics

Open Document