Nuclear Energy In Canada

Nuclear energy is the world's largest source of emission-free energy. Nuclear power plants produce no controlled air pollutants, such as sulfur and particulates, or greenhouse gases. "Renewables" like solar, wind and biomass can help. But only nuclear power offers clean, environmentally friendly energy on a massive scale. The use of nuclear energy in place of other energy sources helps to keep the air clean, preserve the Earth's climate, avoid ground-level ozone formation and prevent acid rain. “Currently, there are 103 commercial nuclear power plants producing electricity in the United States, located at 64 sites in 31 states. They are, on average, 24 years old, and

Firstly, the atomic incidents of Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania and Chernobyl in Russia are often mentioned as examples for nuclear plants being unsafe. In both cases failures of workers led to a meltdown in the reactors and increased radiation in the surrounding area (Henderson 12-17). And as the recent disaster in Japan shows, a nuclear crisis cannot only be caused by human mishaps, but also by unpredictable and untamable natural hazards. Consequently, nuclear crises cannot be predicted or prevented completely. Nuclear plants are, furthermore, considered uneconomical because in the eighties the construction costs of nuclear plants were underestimated and exceeded the estimation by $100 billion (Henderson 103). Therefore, the nuclear power opponents are arguing that nuclear power is burdening the American economy unnecessarily. According to the nuclear physicist Jeff Eerkens, antinuclear groups are also claiming that nuclear power is not necessary for the future since renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal power will be providing sufficient energy for the United States, and are at the same time much cheaper than the costly nuclear power plants (Eerkens 20). Over all, opponents consider nuclear power to risky and inefficient to “deserve further support from U.S. taxpayers” (Henderson 104).

The use of nuclear power can have several negative impacts on the economy. The use of nuclear power can be costly. The building of the plants can cost between $12 - $18

Nuclear Energy in Canada accounts for over half the nations energy supply. This large amount of output is dependent on the sustainability of the plant production and government policy towards it. With many of the Kilowatt Hours (KwH) being exported to nations across the sea (World Nuclear Association 2013). Exports have skyrocketed due to our position on a global scale of uranium supply, second behind Russia. Canadian industries and production campaigns use Nuclear Energy as their main supply. “About 59% of Canada 's electricity comes from nuclear power, with 19 reactors mostly in Ontario providing 13.5 GWe of power capacity” (World Nuclear Association 2013). Currently there are nuclear plants active in Pickering, Darlington and Bruce.

The purpose is to compare the methods of Electrical Generation in Canada and France. The outcome on my research is to provide information on the most and least sources of electricity generations in both of these countries. The energy sources that I am comparing are Liquids and Petroleum, Natural Gas, Coal, Nuclear, Hydroelectric, Wind, Solar, Geothermal, Tidal/Wave Power and Biofuels.

Nuclear power provided 11 percent of the world 's electricity production in 2014. In 2016, 13 countries relied on nuclear energy to supply at least one-quarter of their total electricity.

Nuclear power is harnessed from the energy retained inside of an atom’s nucleus. This energy bindes the atom together and, when released, can be used to produce electricity. In order for this energy to be released, however, it must be subjected to either nuclear fusion, the combination of several atoms to form one larger atom, or to nuclear fission, the division of larger atoms into several smaller atoms. Nuclear power plants, first introduced in 1954, use this second method in the production of electricity. Inside of a nuclear power plant, uranium atoms are split and their nuclear energy released, creating the heat necessary to produce the steam that powers turbine generators and create electricity. Nuclear energy is often referred to as a “clean” energy source because, unlike fossil fuels, its production does not result in the generation of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. Many endorse the use of nuclear energy because it is efficient, providing large amounts of energy in exchange for small amounts of fuel, reliable, as it can be produced almost all day and night, year round, and affordable, costing about 2.4 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2012 compared to fossil fuels, which cost about 3.27 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2012. However, the use of nuclear power also has several significant disadvantages. Its main downside lies in the threats nuclear power plants present in the forms of radioactive waste and nuclear meltdowns.

Canada is considered a world leader in energy production and the role that energy and power play in the Canadian and global economy is vastly important. At the present time the global energy industry is in the process of a significant world wide restructuring and the environment in Canada is at the forefront of this change. The energy system in Canada is involved in many facets of Canadian life including environmental, economic and social fabric of Canada. Due to its influences in so many arenas it is important for governments, business and industry, key stakeholders and the general public to have a clear understanding of the role energy plays and should play, in Canada as

Alternative energy has been a major focus of many countries for a few decades now in order to

For example, France has 80% of their entire energy production powered by Nuclear power. Nuclear power also powers 20% of America, if it can power that much, it could power the whole U.S.A. Nuclear energy is also a good choice because, it can run in any weather, even in droughts, night time, and when it is not windy, unlike wind, hydro, and solar power, as said in www.conserve-energy-future.com.

“Even when nuclear energy is produced without incident, the science itself creates vast quantities of toxic waste, which is impossible to discard” (Dupea, n. pag.). Because of the fact that there is no way to safely dispose of nuclear energy and waste, many issues have arose. There are many more safe and more reliable sources and ways to produce energy that involves less risks. Countries need to eliminate the use of nuclear energy due to the problems it causes. Some of the largest issues with nuclear energy are the building process of nuclear power plants is expensive and time consuming, there are many safety concerns and the potential risks to people and the environment.

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

Nuclear power is expensive to build, expensive to maintain, and expensive to replace if something goes wrong. One facility in a multiple facility plant can cost up to $9 billion dollars to build, and more money to maintain. The whole world will require many nuclear power plants to provide energy, which will be expensive. If completed it will reduce pollution, but not fix the pollution

As each year passes, more and more electricity will be made as a result of increased nuclear power plants around the world. The economic benefits of nuclear energy are equally advantageous as the environmental aspects.

In New York State we have four nuclear power plants. These nuclear power plants contribute to the economy, society and the environment. The Nuclear power plants are “Entergy’s Fitzpatrick in Scriba and Indian Point in Buchanan, and Exelon’s Ginna in Ontario and Nine mile point in Scriba - provide New York households and employers with over 5,000 megawatts (MW)of emissions-free electricity and nearly 42 million megawatt hours (MWh) of annual electricity generation.” (Investment Weekly News, 2015)