Why Do Nuclear Power Plants Use Uranium?

That is true, nuclear plant uses uranium to get energy, normally one gram uranium can generate 8000 times’ energy comparing to traditional fuel like oil or gas. According to Moore (2007), hydroelectric is largely built to capacity; meanwhile wind and solar power are unreliable to provide “baseload” energy especially in large city with huge demand. According to nuclear energy’s efficiency, proponents strong believe government should build nuclear plant to meet the increasing demand of electricity. Also, this group people say not only can uranium provide so much energy but also with no greenhouse emission.

Nuclear energy is gathered by the process of splitting uranium atoms. By splitting these atoms, there is some mass loss, and this mass can then be used as energy. This process is called fission. The heat from this fission is used to turn water into steam, and this steam turns the turbine generator in a reactor, which produces energy. Nuclear power plants have many advantages when compared to other renewable energy sources.

1b/process. “How do we harvest this lost energy,” you might be wondering? Well, nuclear energy receives its power from the fission, or splitting, of atoms in very dense radioactive metals. Once one atom is split, the halves separate into 2 or more less dense atoms, and remaining neutrons can be shot out at high velocities. If these neutrons slam into another atom and are captured by it, that atom has a chance that it too will undergo fission. This cycle of splitting atoms is a chain reaction. Nuclear fission requires power to start the chain reaction, and it needs a certain amount of Uranium, called a critical mass, before this chain reaction can support itself and create excess energy. This excess energy is released as heat, usually into water. This changes the water into steam and is used to turn turbines to produce electricity. According to an article written by the U.S. Dept. of Energy, the first successful attempt at a self-sustaining nuclear reactor was on December 2nd, 1942.

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

During the process of nuclear energy, the nucleus splits and creates fission. Continuingly, heat is released from fission and, consequently, makes water into steam. Then the steam turns a turbine and generates electricity. Furthermore, this kind of energy is very effective and extremely reliable. Moreover, one uranium pellet (about the size of an eraser on the top of a pencil) can create as much energy as 2000 pounds of coal. However, nuclear energy does not rely on weather like windmills and solar panels. So even in bad weather conditions, it is still capable of producing

(19) Nuclear fuel is one of the most efficient means of extracting energy from a fuel source. Nuclear energy comes in two different forms, fusion and fission. Einstein came up with the famous equation E = mc^2 to satisfy these two processes. Fusion is the joining of two smaller nuclei to form a larger nucleus. Fission is when a large nucleus is stuck by one neutron which causes it to split into two smaller nuclei and release three neutrons. Nuclear power plants use fission to generate energy. When you have a large amount of Uranium - 235 the neutrons repeatedly hit another isotope, causing a chain reaction to occur. Therefore, the uranium in the plant has to have enough U-235, otherwise known as enriched uranium, for this to function properly. The enrichment is reached by using an isotope

One of the greatest source of energy that planet Earth has to offer is uranium and the United States should use it in nuclear power plants once we have it in our possession. Uranium is a resource that is located beneath the planet’s surface and once it is extracted by mining it could be used into energy. Along the same lines there are many positive and negative outcomes on using this element. Uranium should be used in the nuclear power plant since these instillations are environment efficient and produce power. Some might agree if a nuclear meltdown would to happen, what would be we do or what will be the casualty if it does happen? Although, if it doesn’t happen, power plants would run smoothly then there will be power

Nuclear energy has been a big issue since 1956 to choose whether or not this large, costly amounts of energy should be used. In the begin of the 1960’s, nuclear energy has gone through multiple changes of its use. Nuclear power was originally used during the Manhattan Project in the development of the atomic bomb. In United States there conferences held to understand what  to do with this, the outcome was, “The MAUD Committee had two summary reports in July 1941. One was on 'Use of Uranium for a Bomb' and the other was on 'Use of Uranium as a Source of Power'. The first report concluded that a bomb was feasible and that one containing some 12 kg of active material would be equivalent to 1,800 tons of TNT and would release large quantities of

When atoms split apart, they can be used to generate electricity. This process is called nuclear fission. Most nuclear power plants use uranium to generate electricity, since its atoms easily split apart, and there is a large quantity of uranium in the world. Only a little amount of uranium is needed to produce a lot of energy. This type of energy is called nuclear energy. Uranium-235 is used to make electricity. To generate electricity from uranium, first, large amounts of uranium pellets are placed inside a nuclear reactor. Inside the uranium

Nuclear energy is becoming more and more common each and every day in America. This essay is on uranium/nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is extremely dangerous when not contained properly and it is highly radioactive. The ore most commonly used is called uranium. There are also many pros and cons to nuclear energy.

Nuclear power is generated from the energy that is released from a heavy nucleus into a lighter, more stable nuclei. The heat produced is used to boil water which drives a steam turbine to generate electricity. This chain reaction process is also called fission. A key element to fuel nuclear plant is uranium. Uranium is considered to be a nonrenewable energy source, even though it is a common metal found in rocks worldwide. U-235 is most commonly used in plants because its atoms are easily split apart. To extract U-235 uranium ore is mined; for the United States, this element is found in the

The purpose of a nuclear power plant is to produce electricity for supporting increases in consumption. Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) defines nuclear energy as “the energy released by a nuclear reaction, especially by fission or fusion. In general terms, nuclear energy uses fuel made from mined and processed uranium to make steam and generate electricity” (ENEC 2011). Nuclear power plant currently producing electricity in the U.S include the Pressurized Water Reactor and the Boiling Water Reactor. To illustrate the importance of nuclear energy to the United States, 20% of our nation’s electricity production comes from the 104 commercially operating reactors (Funk and Socacool 2012). However, security issues surrounding nuclear power lead to the U.S nuclear regulatory agencies imposing strict regulations on the production of nuclear energy.

Nuclear power plants have many great benefits. However, there are also many costs that the general public is very concerned with. These costs include nuclear accidents that lead to catastrophic harmful affects towards the public health and the environment when not careful. This is what makes it a very controversial subject on whether a large city, such as Houston, should rely on nuclear power plants for energy. So, what is nuclear energy and how do nuclear power plants work? Nuclear energy is the product of a neutron splitting a uranium atom. When this happens it produces a very large amount of energy. Then three neutrons from splitting apart a uranium atom then split other uranium atoms and produce even more energy. This process becomes self-sustaining as more atoms are split. The energy created is used to generate steam and the steam is able to spin turbines. When these turbines spin, they can create electricity. This process is similar to the traditional processes of forming energy. However, instead of generating steam, the other processes would burn fossil fuels in order spin the turbines. The burning of fossil fuels contributes to the increase of green house gas emissions, and this can be an environmental concern. This is why nuclear energy is considered a “clean” source of energy since it does not produce any greenhouse gasses. Nuclear power plants have actually become more common because of the benefits. In fact, the US has the largest overall generation of

Plutonium was discovered in 1940 by a team of scientists at the University California. The World Nuclear Association says "plutonium is toxic and therefore must be handled in a responsible manner". They also say, "Over one-third of the energy produced in most nuclear power plants comes from plutonium." Currently there are 99 nuclear reactors in America and they only provide for 20% of the electricity in the United States. But this comes with a price. 99% of the nuclear waste that comes from the reactors is spent fuel. The fuel that is used to power the reactors is extremely radioactive and still stays that way even after it has been used. The amount of waste produced by the reactors is nothing compared to the amount of waste made by electricity plants and other forms of gathering electricity and dispensing it to powerlines. Another good thing about nuclear reactors is that they don’t release hazardous chemicals and fumes in the air like power plants and factories (World Nuclear Association). According to Duke Energy (duke-energy.com) atomic plants are the most reduced cost supplier of huge scale power in the United States.

Nuclear energy is an alternative source of energy that holds great amounts of energy and is one of the future sources of energy for this world. “Nuclear energy is energy in the nucleus (core) of an atom. There is enormous energy in the bonds that hold the nucleus together. Energy is released when those bonds are broken” (Uranium). Unlike a chemical reaction with fossil fuels, nuclear reactions create an even greater amount of energy than fossil fuels. “Nuclear energy can be used to make electricity, but first it must be released it can be released from atoms in two ways: nuclear fusion and nuclear fission” (Uranium). Nuclear energy already provides 1/5 of all the energy in the U.S.,