Nuclear Energy Disadvantages

Nuclear power plants should not be built due to the biological effects it poses during a meltdown. Radiation is exposed to inhabitants during a meltdown but many people are not aware of the horrific effects. An example of this is explained in the article “Biological Effects on Radiation”. “The higher the radiation dose, the sooner the effects of radiation will appear…this syndrome was observed in many atomic bomb survivors in…1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident…of these, 28 died within the first three months from their radiation injuries. Two more patients died during the first days…” (2012).

often seen as heath and safety hazards, the nuclear fission based facilities offer the current best

Nuclear fission is a reaction in which heavy nuclei, such as Uranium and Plutonium, are broken into smaller nuclei releasing heat, which is transformed into another form of energy such as, mechanical or electrical. For a long time people have been using nuclear fission as an efficient and sustainable source of energy. However, the use of this form of energy is associated with a unique set of consequences including environmental, social and ethical. In this paper I will discuss nuclear energy and its impact on the environment.

On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake damaged a large portion of the eastern coast of Japan and formed a tsunami that caused nuclear reactors to become unstable. These three nuclear reactors that became unstable, made an already devastated place turn into a very hazardous place to be. The tsunami alone did insurmountable damage to the buildings on the east coast, this also resulted in thousands of people’s deaths. The tsunami blocked multiple roads and highways, cut off water and electricity for millions of households, and created an unfortunate situation for the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plants. The nuclear power plants and the tsunami created a national crisis in Japan

Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission, splitting atoms in two, which releases energy in the process to generate heat and electricity. Heat created by fission drives the turbines that generate electricity. When nuclear power was first created it was predicted that it would be very successful. It was also predicted that nuclear power would be “too cheap to meter,” that is electricity would be very cheap so either consumers would not be charged for electricity at all or the prices would be very low (Cohn, 1997). Although nuclear power is still in use today the initial success of nuclear industry eventually declined. Nuclear industry and its supporters claim that nuclear power is environmentally friendly, inexpensive, and safe,

It has been nearly seven years since the nuclear power plant accident in Fukushima, Japan. It was on March 11, 2011 when the pacific coast of Honshu, the largest island in Japan, was hit by a forceful earthquake of magnitude of 9.0 and following tsunami. The powerful waves came in all the way up to ten kilometers inland and the result was over twenty thousand people dead or missing and an enormous amount of vital infrastructure damage including the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.1 There were six reactors operating in the region at the time and three of them reached full meltdown due to the failure of the cooling system caused mainly by the tsunami, releasing dozens of radioactive elements into the

Fortunately, alternative energy technologies exist which can completely alleviate this danger. These technologies include solar, wind, and biodiesel sources for clean renewable energy production. Should these technologies be implemented worldwide on an industrial scale, they can protect and sustain a healthy environment by providing an eco-friendly replacement for nuclear power. This paper will provide a chronicle of selected worldwide nuclear incidents in

Nuclear power is composed with uranium ore that is extracted from a rock where uranium is made out of. Uranium is typically the most common element found, that it appears more often than silver and gold. Usually found in the earth’s crust , soil, rivers, rocks and even oceans. The use of uranium is to generate heat, produce nuclear weapon, armor plating and as a colorant for uranium glass. Anyways nuclear energy is use to create electricity, reactors and produce power plants. The way that nuclear produces electricity is the same process as every power plant, but before anything the nuclear energy must be released from the atom. This then goes into a nuclear fission that splits the atoms to than create energy.

A massive amounts of heat produced during the fission process is used to produce electricity while releasing no harmful byproduct. Therefore, it is one of the cleanest and most ecofriendly ways to obtain energy and it should solve all our energy problems. However, there are a quite few disadvantages related to nuclear power generation that overcome its benefits. Building the nuclear power plant is very expensive due to longer construction times for radiation, insulation, security, and safety purposes. The waste from nuclear power plants is highly radioactive and potentially dangerous, if not handled carefully. The nuclear power waste can stay radioactive for thousands of years and must be stored deep in earth and away from the population, which is another very expensive and risky process. Because of the Three Mile Island accident, Chernobyl disaster and Fukushima nuclear accident, people have the biggest fear of nuclear radiation that has longer and real impact on life. All energy sources have some risk. The risks associated with nuclear energy are likely to be much less than those associated with fossil fuels. However, nuclear energy has a potential for devastating accidents, which surpasses everything that could occur with fossil fuels. It is also capable of destroying civilization the same way as nuclear weapons. Moreover, the long-term radiation danger of nuclear waste is a huge burden on humankind. Even though nuclear energy is a viable way to generate clean energy, it has grown more slowly than projected because of safety, security, and economic problems. The overall risks of nuclear accidents are much too high to overcome its benefits. Instead, we should improve and develop more on renewable energy sources to meet our energy

Fukushima Daiichi is the prime example of what happens when mother nature decides to pay a surprise inspection of one of mankind’s manmade modern marvels. It doesn’t take a genius to see the benefits of nuclear power. It does take a genius however to engineer a facility that can hold up safely against anything life can throw at it. Since man has focused his attention on nuclear energy as a power source in the mid twentieth century only a handful of major nuclear accidents, or disasters, have occurred. Fukushima Daiichi was among the handful of major nuclear accidents. On the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES), a scale that rates nuclear accidents from 1-7 with seven being the

Nuclear fission is either a nuclear reaction or a radioactive decay process in which the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts, as shown in Fig 1. The discovery of fission in the 1930’s showed us that the heaviest of the nuclei’s were loosely bound in their ground state. An excitation energy of as little as a few percent of their total binding energy is sufficient to induce the breakdown of the nuclei, into two pieces, releasing a vast quantity of energy in the order of around 200 MeV. Therefore, compared to fossil fuels like oil, natural gas or coal the specific energy content for nuclear fuel is roughly 108 times larger. This figure alone identifies the importance of fission in nuclear technology and production of

There were incidents in the past with nuclear reactors that caused disastrous problems for the civilians and the environment. As explained before with the Chernobyl accident and the Fukushima incident, nuclear plants can be terrifying when there are accidents or natural disasters. With Small Modular Reactors that can bring down the chances of accidents happen and if something unfortunate were to happen it would be much more easily controlled. With the Chernobyl accident, the reason why there was a problem was because of human error. The operating team in charge of the Chernobyl Plant did not take all the safety precautions in running the plant so when something went wrong, they failed to control the problem and it got out of hand and cause

The brink of extinction for every living organism is coming to its deadline. Having any sort of nuclear power is a possible chance of having a nuclear disaster. There are numerous places that suffered from nuclear disasters throughout the world. Ranging from power plant breakdowns all the way to nuclear explosions. The use of nuclear weapons is an extreme threat to the whole world. One bomb can wipe out a city effortlessly and leave dangerous chemicals in the air. The sheer volume of resources just to obtain nuclear power is just bearable; the fact that the majority of the resources are nonrenewable resources. Therefore all of the treats is a tremendous hazard to the people, the environment, and the entire world and which is why nuclear power

Tragic, devastating nuclear events occurred in Chernobyl and Fukushima negatively impacting the environment and health of people in the surrounding area. As the result of oversight and human errors, these issues could be categorized as megadisasters caused by manmade catastrophe. This essay will highlight the issues with nuclear power plants that lead to incidences and horrific fallout, as is featured in both highlighted nuclear events. Through a comparison of the nuclear events at Chernobyl and Fukushima, this essay hopes to shed light on the value and dangers of nuclear energy. Through identifying issues with nuclear power, issues such as the lack of preparedness, contingency planning, and adequate public awareness can be challenged and

These power plants are big targets for terrorism because of a few reasons. One if terrorists decide that they want to wipe out a town they put a bomb on the power plant and that will cause a big explosion. Also they could cause leaks in the plant and that cause nuclear waste to leak out into anytown or waters and harm or