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Nuclear energy is one of the most popular, most efficient, and most controversial energy sources in

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Nuclear energy is one of the most popular, most efficient, and most controversial energy sources in the world. Countries such as Russia, South Korea, the United States, Germany, France, and China all in the nuclear power game, it is sure to become an even bigger source of energy than it is already. In America, nuclear energy produces close to 20 percent of the nation’s electricity, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute. Due to nuclear energy’s many positives, it is easy to overlook the possible consequences. But before you can look at the positives, or negatives, of nuclear energy, you must first understand how it works.
Nuclear power is similar to power that is created by wind, solar, and coal plants. There are two types of nuclear …show more content…

The fragments that result from fission are not made up of the same element as the original atom. Fission is almost always a man made process. Nuclear fission is the cause of explosion that occurs in nuclear weapons. Man made fission is created by the collision of two subatomic particles. During a nuclear reaction, a subatomic particle comes into contact with an atomic nucleus, changing it in the process. The most common fission process is binary fission, simply because it is the most probable. Fission with a heavy nucleus needs an input of energy in the range of 7 to 8 million electron volts to overcome the force that holds a nucleus in its spherical shape.
Radiation is made up of subatomic particles that travel at 186,000 miles per second. Radiation can reach deep down inside the human body and create cancer. Radiation is a natural occurrence in our environment, and we are hit about 15,000 particles at all times. The chance of a particle of radiation penetrating your body is about one in 30 million billion, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute. A material is called radioactive when it actively emits radiation. There is no possible way for our body to tell if radiation comes from a natural source or not. The risk of getting a genetic disease from doses of radiation is lower than that of developing cancer from radiation. The risk of contracting cancer from radiation is about 0.002 percent. Levels of

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