Nuclear Fission Impact

Disposal of the high level nuclear waste that comes from nuclear power plants continues to be a big problem. It has been challenging and costly to find safe ways to store this waste. According to a report from the U.S National Academy of Sciences, it will take 3 million years for radioactive waste stored in the U.S. as of 1983 to decay to background levels (thinkquest.org). Who wants this amount of waste stored in the environment where they live? Currently in the U.S. nuclear power plants produce 3,000 tons of this high level waste each year (thinkquest.org). If nuclear power continues to be produced, this amount of waste will only continue to increase, causing a bigger dilemma as to what to do with the waste. As the waste is removed from the plant it still contains a high level of radiation. Exposure to radiation whether it occurs in the moving process or leakage from storage not only has a negative impact on the environment but also can pose a major health threat to humans. Based on the level of exposure, symptoms to humans can range from nausea and headaches to damage of nerve cells, loss of white blood cells and even death (think .org). The potential risk of exposure is not worth human life.

There are two major categories of nuclear waste. High-level waste (HLW) and low-level waste (LLW). HLW has high amounts of radioactive materials in a small volume, and it also contains radionuclides with long half-lives .HLW is mainly composed of spent fuel and waste generated by military applications; on the other hand, LLW is generated from mining and excavation activities. [2].

Summary: In this paper I will discuss the overall of nuclear energy to rectify some misconception. I will give the advantages and disadvantages for using nuclear energy and let the readers understand the basic idea of it.

In 1932 Ernest Rutherford found out that when you split lithium atoms by protons energy would be released. Other physics Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein thought that having power like that for something practical was unlikely to even happen in the future Ernest would name it “moonshine”.James Chadwick would discover the neutron the same year and it was recognized as a tool for experimentation because it had a very little charge to it. In 1939 many scientist had told their governments to support the nuclear fission research so they can develop nuclear weapons. In the United States the first reactor was made at the University of Chicago they named it the Chicago Pile-1 it had became part of the Manhattan Project that would make uranium and store plutonium that would be used as the first nuclear weapon that would be dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In 1945 it was said that atomic power would be used in everyday life instead of filling your car with gas three times a week our cars could run on a pallet of energy and we would be able to drive for a full year and this pallet would only be the size of a pill. In 1953 president Eisenhower would give his “Atoms for Peace” speech saying we should make peaceful nuclear power even though the first nuclear powered submarine would be

As we know, greenhouse gases have been one of the major causes for climate change. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the primary source of greenhouse gas emission is from electricity production which is mostly generated by burning fossil fuels. Over several decades, mankind has spent countless amount of resources, trying to find a suitable energy substitute for fossil fuels in order to stabilize climate change. Unsurprisingly, due to its powerful nature, nuclear energy has been one of the most popular and developed technology around the world. In this paper, I am going to discuss the fundamental flaws in nuclear energy, and the potential danger it could bring to not only the mankind today, but also tomorrow. In addition,

Storing nuclear waste is a political problem as no one wants it stored near them, so there is a dispute about where radioactive waste should be stored. But after all the advantages of using nuclear energy outweigh its disadvantages as nuclear plants emit less than one-hundredth of carbon dioxide gas compared to coal or gas-fired energy plants so there is a very little effect on the environment. Humans living next to coal-fired power plants are exposed to higher radiation doses than those living near nuclear plants, where the former is harmful to human health and may be responsible for acid rain. On the other hand dependence on nuclear energy is now increasing in most countries as nuclear reactors use uranium as a fuel which is found everywhere on earth. It is inexpensive and easier to transport than other fuels which makes them less dependent on oil and foreign fuel from other countries.

Nuclear energy is the process of creating useful heat and electricity. The nuclear power debate is a controversy about the deployment and use of nuclear fission reactors to generate electricity from nuclear fuel for civilian purposes. The debate over the expansion of the nuclear energy program has been prominent over the last 4 decades. The debate really escalated during the 1970s and 1980s, when it "reached an intensity unprecedented in the history of technology controversies", in some countries. It is important for the expansion of human life and improving life as we know it. I firmly believe that we need to keep using and expand the use of nuclear energy due to the fact that it eliminates fossil fuel pollutants, it is sustainable and cost effective, and it improves overall human quality of life.

Nuclear Energy has a long history of Grief. Since 1942, Nuclear Energy has grown and spread worldwide. The history of Nuclear Energy begins in 1942 when enrico Fermi created the first nuclear reactor, the Chicago-Pile 1. Enrico left Italy to escape new “Italian racial laws.” He created this reactor by fission. Which is also used as the fuel to the atomic bomb, which came 3 years after at the trinity test

Nuclear energy is the energy released by a nuclear reaction, it uses fuel made from mined and processed uranium to generate heat and electricity. It is the world’s largest emission free energy source. Nuclear energy also has the lowest impact on the environment than other energy sources. But it can still be very harmful because of the radiation is causes and the radioactive waste it produces. Radioactive wastes are the ruins of nuclear materials that are used in providing nuclear energy. These wastes contain high levels of radiation that can be very hazardous to humans and the environment. Some people accept and support the idea of using nuclear energy and others don’t. In the following paragraphs, some major nuclear accidents and the public acceptance of nuclear energy will be discussed.

Throughout the time of nuclear power, scientist have been debating whether or not it was worth the risk for nuclear power. Most people agree that “[it has] the capacity to turn the earth into a desert or make the desert bloom” (4). Nuclear power is ideal in terms that it is efficient and cost effective, but it also has some downfalls. The process creates a lot of nuclear waste that is highly radioactive without a good place of disposing it, not to mention the inherently dangerous risks involved with nuclear power plants, such as explosions.

Atomic energy production is a dangerous technology that must be replaced by eco-friendly energy production methods. Atomic energy production relies upon radioactive materials used as fuel to generate electricity; these fuels are highly toxic and volatile substances that are lethal to all forms of life. In the event of a technical malfunction, or natural disaster, these dangerous substances can escape into the environment where they will remain disruptive for centuries. The nuclear power plant at Fukushima Daiichi in Japan is one such example of this, but alarmingly, many nuclear power plants are built along geological fault lines, in tsunami regions, and other dangerous weather zones all across the globe. The potential for widespread devastation to the environment is real. For this reason alone nuclear energy should be phased out entirely and replaced by a safe alternative.

Currently, nuclear power is harnessed in the form of nuclear fission reactors. These reactors account for roughly 10% of the world’s current energy consumption. However, nuclear fission has proven to be a very volatile process as it produces large amounts of undisposable radioactive waste. Given that fossil fuels are unsustainable in the near future and nuclear fission is a hazardous source of power, nuclear fusion is a promising alternative. Fully optimized fusion reactions are four million times more efficient than fossil fuels and oil. Secondly, a nuclear fusion plant, predicted within the next 20 years, would only consume 250 kilograms of DT reaction fuel per year compared to 2.7 million tons of coal in a coal-fired power plant. Also the byproducts of a fusion reaction are significantly less harmful than those of a fission reaction, which are extremely radioactive. Fusion reactions produce smaller amounts of waste and the radioactive half-lives are much shorter.

Nuclear waste exists in a few forms. One type is called high-level waste, and the other is called low-level waste. High-level waste is for the most part from the utilized fuel rods and different materials exposed to as much radiation as they seem to be. High-level waste can let out a lot of radiation for thousands of years. There is no spot to store this waste that is safe, and it will forever be radioactive. For now, they are put away underground. Some researchers proposed sending it to space, covering it in the center of the earth, covering it in the sea, or burying it under the Antarctic ice. Indeed, even these thoughts have the capability of extremely harming the earth. An example of low-level waste is the waste left in the reactor water. This waste is less radioactive, however is still exceptionally unsafe. Following eighteen months of operation, a nuclear power plant is briefly close down. They have to dispose of the utilized fuel rods and replace them with new ones. The old rods are exceptionally hot and radioactive. Places to store the old fuel rods are very limited, mainly because the government has never designated an official storage place for this high-level waste. So where do you used fuel rods go? Utilized fuel rods are kept at a fuel pool at the plant until they can find a proper storage place for them. Fuel pools were made to keep the fuel rods for brief periods of time. The fuel pool

In 1939, the discovery of nuclear fission unlocked the potential of an entirely different source of power. The utilization of internal energy contained in the atomic nucleus has provided a major solution to present and future power source needs by turning away from fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas and currently encompass three-fourth of world’s energy requirements to cleaner alternatives such as nuclear power and renewables.

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.