Nuclear Energy Is A Threat Weapon Of Mass Destruction

“Nuclear power is energy that is created by splitting apart the nuclei of atoms” (Merriam Webster Dictionary). Atoms are made of smaller particles. The center of an atom is called the nucleus, which is made of protons and neutrons. Nuclear energy is contained within the nucleus and the strong nuclear force holds the protons and neutrons together.

Nuclear energy, which has historically been depicted as a dangerous and evil energy source, has recently seen renewed attention as an alternative form of energy and has been rehabilitated in the eyes of the public after rising concerns regarding global warming and a rise in the demand of energy (World Nuclear Association 2011). However, due to the March 2011 Fukushima accident,

When someone thinks of problems plaguing the world, nuclear energy is not the first thing that comes to peoples minds these days.[1]Nuclear power was once deemed the new energy of the future.[2]However, numerous nuclear power plant accidents around the world put a damper on that notion.The United States considers itself one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, but 103 nuclear reactors currently operating within her borders, one was bound to fail sometime or another.[3]

For years, many scientists, environmentalists, and energy experts have been studying how human’s creation and use of energy has impacted our environment. These experts have discovered some troubling facts. Most of our country’s energy is created from burning fossil fuels that pollute our atmosphere, contribute to global warming, and thus threaten the future of our planet. But there’s a safe and effective solution to this problem: nuclear power. Nuclear power should be used more in the United States to create clean power that doesn’t pollute our environment, in order to help combat climate change.

After the World War 2 comes to an end, the US government formed together the Atomic Energy Commission to encourage the exploration of more peaceful alternative usage of nuclear materials instead of focusing on creation of weapons of mass destruction. Now almost several decades later, there has been one hundred and four nuclear reactors and counting built throughout the states that are harnessing a great amount of energy to meet the demand of one-fifth

On August 6 and August 9, 1945 in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, survival solely depended on being in the right place at the right time. When American planes dropped the atomic bombs onto the cities of Japan, no one knew what exactly would be the effect of this powerful nuclear weapon. However even years later, innocent Japanese citizens suffer from the experience of these traumatic days during World War II. Despite the horrors, critical information and research was drawn from the development of the atomic bomb and scientists have discovered that there are many benefits of using nuclear energy, in a peaceful manner, in our world as opposed to using other energy sources, such as coal or gas. For example, nuclear energy has

Nuclear power is achieved through fission; the splitting of an atom. Usually, the atom is uranium, the ninety-second element on the periodic table. One of the heavier elements, uranium is unstable and produces an extreme amount of energy when split (Reynoldson 5). Other elements like plutonium can also be used, but plutonium is very rare which results in the majority of nuclear

Uranium, which is the ninety-second element on the periodic table, is a very interesting element. The radioactive uranium is used in atomic bombs. Also, people use it in what is called nuclear power, an energy source that fourteen percent of the world uses. (NPR 3) In a nuclear power plant, a process called fission that uses uranium is used to generate power. During fission, each uranium atom is bombarded by neutrons, causing each uranium atom to turn into one atom of barium, one atom of krypton, and three neutrons. These three neutrons bombard other uranium atoms, resulting in more neutrons being produced and creating a chain reaction. Each time the uranium atom split, energy is released. The leftover atoms are called nuclear waste.

¬Nuclear energy is energy in the nucleus (core) of an atom. Atoms are tiny particles that make up every object in the universe. There is enormous energy in the bonds that hold atoms together. Nuclear energy can be used to make electricity. But first the energy must be released. It can be released from atoms in two ways: nuclear fusion and nuclear fission. In nuclear fusion, energy is released when atoms are combined or fused together to form a larger atom. This is how the sun produces energy. In nuclear fission, atoms are split apart to form smaller atoms, releasing energy. Nuclear power plants use nuclear fission to produce electricity.

The nucleus of a uranium 235 atom when hit by a neutron hit by a certain speed. Fusion produces energy with the combination of the lightest elements and fission splits only the heaviest. The products of fission and fusion tend toward the middle of the ladder. 1 lb. of uranium would produce the combustion of the size of 14,000 tons of coal or 250,000 gallons of gasoline. “When completely fissioned, 1 kg (2.2 pounds) of uranium-235 releases the energy equivalently produced by 17,000 tons, or 17 kilotons, of TNT (Britannica).” The energy is built up and then let loose in a violent explosion, “the detonation of an atomic bomb releases enormous amounts of thermal energy, or heat, achieving temperatures of several million degrees in the exploding bomb itself. This thermal energy creates a large fireball, the heat of which can ignite ground fires that can incinerate an entire small city (Britannica).” Like the days when “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. “Convection currents created by the explosion suck dust and other ground materials up into the fireball, creating the characteristic mushroom-shaped cloud of an atomic explosion. (Britannica).” When the nucleus needs to be put to work to develop a chain reaction through the fission process, like a domino effect. “Plutonium is only found naturally in minute traces, so useable amounts must be produced from uranium. In a nuclear reactor, uranium's heavier U-238 isotope can be forced to acquire extra particles, eventually becoming the plutonium (Inventors).” Plutonium has the same effect as uranium 235, “fission weapons, a mass of fissile material, either enriched uranium or plutonium, is assembled into a supercritical mass—the amount of material needed to start an exponentially growing nuclear chain reaction

The fission of uranium can set up a chain reaction that will keep on releasing energy as long as there are uranium nuclei present. If this chain reaction is allowed to get out of control, energy is released very quickly and the result is a nuclear bomb. Nuclear power stations are designed to keep chain reactions under control.

Nuclear power was the world’s fastest growing form of energy in the 1990’s. However, presently it is the second slowest growing worldwide. Considering that nuclear power accounts for eleven percent of the world’s energy supply, one must ask what happened [Nuclear Power]. Why is it that the growth of nuclear power has almost completely stalled? The simple answer is that after meltdowns such as Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, many people are afraid of nuclear power plants, which causes great opposition to the expansion of the industry. Unfortunately, most people are not well informed about nuclear energy; many do not take the time to view its positives and negatives.

The disastrous meltdowns that cause whole cities to become uninhabitable, as well as leaving families homeless and laborers without jobs, have defined the negative perspective of what people see in nuclear power. However, even after such catastrophes, the pure raw energy output makes nuclear power essential for the future of the human race. As time passes, the world’s energy usage has grown an increasingly massive size every year due to the consumption swell of energy. Despite nuclear plants being a heavily controversial topic internationally, its advantages are very well recognized and it’s causing nuclear plants to slowly become the basis of our growing society.

The world as we know today is dependent on energy. The options we have currently enable us to produce energy economically but at a cost to the environment. As fossil fuel source will be diminishing over time, other alternatives will be needed. An alternative that is presently utilized is nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is currently the most efficacious energy source. Every time the word ‘nuclear’ is mentioned, the first thought that people have is the devastating effects of nuclear energy. Granting it does come with its drawbacks; this form of energy emits far less pollution than conventional power plants. Even though certain disadvantages of nuclear energy are devastating, the advantages contain even greater rewards.

Atomic energy is more commonly known as nuclear energy. Energy released during nuclear fission or fusion, is used to generate electricity. Notably for nuclear fission, many steps must occur to convert nuclear energy into electrical energy. First, a free neutron is directed and expelled at a uranium-235 isotope. The isotope U-235 is important because under certain conditions it can readily be split, yielding a lot of energy. Meanwhile, like all radioactive isotopes, they decay. U-238 decays very slowly, its half-life being about the same as the age of the Earth. This means that it is barely radioactive, less so than many other