The Element That Changed The World

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.

Creating nuclear power is a complex process that takes a lot of resources and has little room for error. The uranium, which is the main element of choice for this process, is turned into pellets, and then rods which are bundled together. The bundles are then submerged in water to keep them cool, otherwise they would overheat and eventually melt. To prevent overheating, a control rod is placed in the bundles to absorb the neutrons given off. The bundles of uranium are very high sources of heat. The rods heat the water, which evaporates and the steam then turns a turbine to create energy. If the core were to get too hot, it can go into meltdown. A meltdown is when a nuclear core becomes too hot and begins to melt, causing the core to send out

The Atomic Age, composed of complex and controversial issues, has forever changed our world and the way in which we live.

Nuclear energy was likewise discovered to be useful in naval tactics and in sourcing electricity. As technology has significantly advanced and knowledge has expanded beyond measures, the realm of nuclear engineering has indeed achieved scientific milestones. In practice of modern times, nuclear energy is manufactured within power plants, capable of supporting an outstanding amount of electricity (World Nuclear Association). However, this limited method of energy production is thought to be dangerous. Nuclear engineering is certainly one complex subject and is foreign to the majority of the world population. Within a nuclear power plant, reactors are employed to force uranium ions to undergo the process of nuclear fission; nuclear fission is the separation of atoms, the smallest unit of matter. This splitting of uranium ions releases energy, thus, producing usable heat. Heat is crucial to not only nuclear energy production; rather, heat is necessary in all power plants. Such will then become the steam that gyrates turbines. These turbines are coupled with electromagnets which, finally, yield electricity (How Nuclear Reactors Work). One foremost flaw of nuclear power is the consequential radioactive waste that must be monitored for a long while following disposal. Nevertheless, as resources upon this planet are surely depleting, original forms of energy production are mandatory. In consideration of such, nuclear power plants have proved to be both efficient

Small pellets of slightly enriched uranium would be put into containers called fuel rods, then set up into a line, called a fuel assembly, and positioned into a pressure tube. The tube, cooled by pressurized water, is allowed to boil until reaching about 290 degrees Celsius. The assembly can be lifted into and out of the reactor, allowing fuel replenishment during reactor operation. Graphite blocks surround the pressure tubes in order to act as a moderator to “slow down the neutrons released during fission so that a continuous fission chain can be maintained.” Boron carbide control rods are also supposed to absorb neutrons in order to provide automatic, manual, or emergency control. If there were ever a deviation in operation parameters, the rods would be dropped into the core to reduce or stop reactor activity. Although, Chernobyl had certain measures in place to stop a reactor in case of emergency or overheating, the reactors had characteristics deemed unsafe (“Appendix to Nuclear Power Reactors”).

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.

Can you imagine finding that a local power plant near you exploded and now there is radiation in the air you breath? That’s what the people at Chernobyl went through. People think Chernobyl exploded for many different reasons. The explosion caused many illnesses and affected many children. There were many things wrong with Chernobyl and its reactors. Many people still died even after they were evacuated from their homes, some people even chose to stay in the contaminated areas. The Chernobyl accident was caused by humid air, and it hurt lots of people.

the advent of the nuclear age brought with it increased concern about national security as well as human survival. since the first atomic bomb was exploded over hiroshima on august 6 1945 advances in nuclear technology and delivery systems have only served to enhance the potential dangers. whereas almost 100,000 people lost their lives on the fateful day in hiroshima, nuclear weapons currently threaten the lives of hundreds of millions. the nuclear revolution has resulted in the develpment of bombs measured in

Nuclear power plant works in similar fashion, but, in nuclear power plant the radioactive material goes under nuclear fission, nuclear fission is splitting of uranium atoms which starts when a neutron, a small particle inside the nucleus of an atom hits different atoms around it and starts almost never ending chain reaction along, with tremendous amount of heat energy. This reaction comes to stop when control rods are introduced into the water which slows down the process of reaction and makes it stable. After that the heat energy converts the water inside the tubes into the steam, and steam rotates the turbines to generate electricity, but in nuclear power plant there should be constant flow of water. If there is no constant flow of water

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.

One nuclear power plant with a footprint of one square mile provides the energy equivalent of 20 square miles of solar panels, 1200 windmills, or the entire Hoover Dam. All of this power comes without any greenhouse gas emission although they do produce nuclear waste. Unfortunately most nuclear energy comes at the risk of a potential nuclear meltdown like Chernobyl or Fukushima. While nuclear meltdowns are rare there does exist a potential nuclear fuel that promises even cheaper energy, with no chance of a nuclear meltdown, and significantly less nuclear waste. Thorium is a radioactive element close to uranium on the periodic table, named after the Norse warrior god Thor, which promises large amount of safe nuclear energy. The first thorium reactor was the Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) constructed at Oak Ridge National Laboratories in 1964. “In place of the familiar fuel rods of modern nuclear plants, the MSR used liquid fuel—hot fluoride salt containing dissolved fissile material in a solution roughly the viscosity of water at operating temperature” (Hargraves 304). It operated from 1965 until 1969 without issue before it was decommissioned (Hargraves 304). It was determined that uranium used in a Light Water Reactor (LWR) was the quickest easiest way to power a nuclear submarine. Also the waste from the uranium LWR can be used to make bombs. While both of those reasons made sense during the

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded April 25-26, 1986, near the town of Pripyat, Ukraine. At the time of the incident, Chernobyl’s reactors were owned and operated by the Soviet Ministry of Power and Electrification. The design of the reactor was unique to the Soviets and was called an RBMK, which stands for Large Power Boiling Reactor. Like the reactors in the United States, the Chernobyl reactors used ordinary water to cool the fuel but use graphite to moderate the neutrons produced in fission (Klevans, Farber). Another significant difference is Soviet reactors at the time did not have steel-lined, concrete-walled operating buildings like the ones in Western Europe, North America and Asia. The changes between the US and Soviet designs of their nuclear reactors at low power operation and under the right circumstances, the power of the Soviet reactors could increase in an uncontrolled and devestating way.

Anyway, the heat, heats up water which becomes steam and rises turning turbines to produce electricity.

This energy produces heat and warms the reactors cooling agent (usually water, liquid metal or molted salt)

As pictured on the previous page, a nuclear power plant has many components to it, and all of which are critical. Nuclear reactors, such as the one that partially melted, are producers and controllers of nuclear energy. They create steam by