Research Paper On Nuclear Energy

The production of nuclear energy is not as safe and clean as some say that it is. The Oxford Research Group released a report providing evidence that supports this point. It is clear that nuclear power plants do not produce a lot of carbon dioxide when they operate, but it is the mining of uranium and the storing of waste that produces the carbon dioxide pollution.

On April 26, 1986, a nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant experienced a catastrophic meltdown that emitted radioactive material into the atmosphere, killing 31 people.

     The Three Mile Island accident took place in Middletown, Pennsylvania, on March 28, 1979. During this accident even though there was no meltdown, there was some radioactive gas that was let out into the air. As a result more than 50,000 people were evacuated from their homes (Levine 60-3). The Three Mile Island incident had a major impact on public opinion, the construction of nuclear plants, and the future of nuclear power.

On March 11, 2011, Fukushima, Japan; a nuclear powered town, 250 km from Tokyo, was struck with two natural disasters. These further led to three nuclear reactors emptying highly radioactive substances.

On April 26, 1986, at Chernobyl power plant, in Ukraine, testing was being conducted on reactor 4 to see how the reactor would cope with lower power output. After testing was complete, one of the operators forgot to reset the power outage to the 30% standard requirement, therefore it caused a devastating chain of events to occur. Water flow to the reactor increased to counteract the lack of power and radiation building up which was trying to cool the system. The water created large

There have been lots of nuclear accident around the world. One of the accident that had a major impact on the world was the Chernobyl disaster. The disaster took place on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. The disaster was caused by a reaction explosion induced by design faults and staff application errors. The accident took place in the course of scheduled tests to check the power supply mode in the event of external sources loss. Even after 10 days, explosions and ejections of radioactive substances continued. The release of radiation and radioactive substance polluted the places within 30 km of Chernobyl, and those areas have been closed for a long period of

Fukushima Japan is the biggest nuclear disaster and only the second disaster to give off a level seven on the

There are currently over 435 commercial nuclear power reactors operable in 31 countries, and about 70 more reactors are under construction. According to World Nuclear Organization, fourteen of them have been classified as accidents where the public has been exposed to large amounts of radiation. The most devastating of these incidents was the core meltdown of reactor 4 at Chernobyl, better known as the Chernobyl disaster. Today, I am going to tell three things about the Chernobyl. First, I am going to tell you what the Chernobyl disaster was. Second, why the explosion happened. Lastly, what the Chernobyl was after the explosion.

According to source G, Nuclear power plants generate about one-fifth of U.S. electricity. While not as much as fossil fuels, nuclear energy is a more efficient way to produce energy in the future. Nuclear power plants require a small amount of fuel so 2 kg of U-235 can produce as much energy as 9000 pounds of coal. Nuclear power comes from a process called a fission reaction which involve heavier nuclei splitting off into lighter nuclei. Another process called a fusion reaction which involves lighter nuclei combining to heavier nuclei is not used because it requires an enormous amount of heat and energy. U-235 or Th-232 are subjected to nuclear fission which release energy. Energy from this process heats the water which in turn powers homes. Energy from this process heats the water which in turns powers

Tsunamis, forest fires, and hurricanes are all examples of possible disasters, but none of these events have been anything like the disaster of Chernobyl. Chernobyl was a nuclear mistake that had taken place on the date of April 26th 1986 in Ukraine, and is known for when the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant explosion released radioactive contamination all over. This nuclear explosion lead to deaths, evacuations, and abandon cities. Each place affected by this disaster experienced pure chaos due to the short notice to leave their homes, family and friends behind. Chernobyl to this day has impacted the world by alerting people of the widespread possible dangers such as health, environmental, economic and radiation issues.

March 11, 2011 Fukushima, Japan happened. A tsunami flooded and damaged the plants’ five active reactors. The loss of backup electrical power led to eventual overheating and subsequent meltdowns. The INES also labeled this as a seven. Even though this happened in 2011 it is still early to really know the full consequences both human and environmentally of this event. This disaster highlighted the importance of location when building future nuclear power plants.

The Chernobyl disaster was a result of human error, this accident resulted because proper protocols were not followed. The explosion caused a partial meltdown which resulted in the release of radiation levels ranging from 10,000 – 300,000 mSv/hr (Meyer, 2014). The mishap that took place on Three-mile-island was the result of an in-advert discharge to the soil and atmosphere (Meyer, 2014). Although the workers could stop the release immediately, the damage was done. Dozens of fatalities occurred, and many lost their lives subsequently due to acute exposure to the radiation. This

Unlike fossil fuels, nuclear energy has the lowest impact on the environment since it does not release any gases like carbon dioxide, methane which are largely responsible for

There was the extremely severe nuclear disaster which was triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake on 11 March 2011, a level 7 disaster was declared by the International Nuclear Event Scale because of its extensive and devastating effects. As analysing the effect of Fukushima disaster, the radioactive fallout has effects on the human health, the environment, the agriculture and fisheries, even has the implications for the future of nuclear power worldwide (Burnie, 2012). According to the facts, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Disaster cannot be regarded as a natural disaster, it was a profoundly manmade disaster that could and should have been foreseen and prevented (BBC, 2012).

Pollution is another topic with both pros and cons. Fossil fuels release harmful pollutants into the air such as carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide. Nuclear power does not release any of those toxins into the atmosphere. However, a pollution problem with nuclear energy is thermal pollution, where a plant’s “hot effluents” are put into a nearby body of water, and raise the temperature by a small amount but enough to cause a disturbance in the ecosystem of the lake or reservoir. Nevertheless, this could easily be solved by cooling the effluents before releasing them into the water. The other problem facing nuclear energy is waste disposal. Nuclear waste is radioactive and very dangerous. Therefore, it must be kept buried and sealed up for a long period of time until the radioactivity dies [Plasma-Material]. One positive fact about nuclear energy that is not disputed is its abundance.