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Effects Of Nuclear Power On The Future

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Evaluation of Nuclear Power in the Future Nuclear power is one of the most controversial forms of energy in the modern world; the destructive power of nuclear armaments has led to a worldwide fear of nuclear energy in all of its forms. But as scientific communities continue to learn more about nuclear power, as well as ways to make it more practical in the competitive energy market, it may soon see an increase in use in the United States. This necessitates the consideration of possible improvements to nuclear power plants that would warrant an increase in their use. If the United States is to invest its money and time into nuclear power, it must first evaluate the potential improvements to plant efficiency, maintenance, and other factors, …show more content…

al.). This combination of fuel reprocessing and reactors that can burn said fuel would allow more power to be extracted from the name quantity of uranium. Meanwhile, other scientists are developing methods to increase plant efficiency without changing the fuel. Jacopo Buongiorno, nuclear science and engineering director at MIT, has developed a method of permeating water with “tiny particles of oxides and metals only billionths of a meter in diameter,” or nanoparticles, creating a substance known as “nano-spiked water,” which can “remove up to two times more heat than ordinary water” (Halber). Nuclear reactors generate electricity by utilizing the energy produced from “burning” uranium to evaporate water into steam, which is then used to turn a turbine. Nano-spiked water can absorb substantially more heat from the fused uranium, meaning less of the energy produced in the form of heat is lost and more energy will be produced with the same quantity of fuel. However, both of these methods have limitations, and are not immediately implementable. Although “pyrometallurgical recycling technology [. . .] has been successfully demonstrated on a pilot level in operating power plants, both in the U.S. and in Russia,” it is not yet commercially usable, while

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