Australia has mined uranium since 1954, allowing the Australian economy to reap the benefits uranium has to offer (World Nuclear Association, 2017). Australia has the world’s largest resources of uranium, with exports in 2012 valued at $696 million (Geoscience Australia, 2013). As of 2017, there are three operating uranium mines in Australia; The Ranger mine in the Northern Territory and Olympic Dam and the Beverly-Four Mile mine in South Australia. There have also been a number of other mines which have since ceased operation (Kay, n.d.). Although there are a number of evident social and economic benefits, uranium mining is not without consequences and this can be seen through its impact on the Australian environment and hence, the practices …show more content…
U-235, an isotope of Uranium, can be used in a fission bomb due to the fact that when its nucleus splits it gives off additional neutrons which may hit other uranium nuclei, causing them to split. This then creates a chain reaction and is why only small masses of uranium are required to release substantial amounts of energy (Bitesize, 2017). The most infamous example of how uranium has been used in this way, is the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima (Atomic Heritage Foundation, n.d.). The same properties that allow uranium to be used in a bomb, are valued in the world of nuclear energy. Nuclear power stations use energy from uranium to produce electricity and this production accounts for approximately 11 percent of the world’s electricity (Environmental protection Agency, 2016). Such uses are the main drivers for uranium exports and support the uranium industry in Australia, influencing social, economic and political aspects of …show more content…
For example, tailings from uranium mines are often stored in a tailings pond which have the potential to leak and release pollutants in the surrounding area. This is dealt with by creating a layer which prevents liquids from passing through (The Massachusetts institute of Technology, n.d.). The rehabilitation process is also essential to prevent prolonged environmental impacts. A technique that be used in this process is Phytostabilisation, which involves using drought, salt and metal tolerant vegetation to reduce the mobility of heavy metals from tailings. This method also reduces erosion and promotes diversity in the ecosystem. By using native plants, this method would be viable in an an arid and semi arid environment (Mendez and Maier,
Australia’s resources otherwise known as factors of production – natural resources, labour, capital and enterprise, are relatively scarce, resulting in the economic problem of relative scarcity as we cannot satisfy all our needs and wants in Australia as they are unlimited. Collective and individual wants are
...nce World War II to the present day, the technology of nuclear power has increased significantly in terms of energy output and safety. The energy efficiency of nuclear power is far superior to its counterpart fossil fuel and renewable energy. Compared to fossil fuels, tiny amounts of fuel used by nuclear reactors is equivalent to a large sum of coal. This is a no brainer. Why mine a ton of coal when a little uranium can be used to gain the same amount of energy? Not only is it efficient, it’s safe to use. Used fuel is packed away in storage safely, so there isn’t any chance of radiation leaking out. In the present day, nuclear power incidents haven’t been occurring lately. Advancements in technology and equipment used have made nuclear energy a very reliable and safe source of energy. With today’s energy needs, nuclear power has the ability to keep up in the race.
It is concluded that uranium is a long term sustainable power source with an equal number of positives to negatives. In my eyes the rewards it creates outweigh the negatives as the majority of them only happen on very rare occasions. Things like nuclear meltdowns and the issue with storing and mining will soon pass as we learn from past mistakes and develop new methods of storing and mining. Nuclear power is starting to look like the future and uranium is they key we need to unlock it.
Nuclear energy is produced during the process named nuclear fission or nuclear fusion. The development of nuclear energy started in the 20th century and there is now worldwide recognition for using nuclear energy. Popular countries that operates nuclear power are United States, France, Japan, and Russia, the nuclear energy generates up to 6% of the world’s electricity supplies. Even though the energy is mostly used by many countries, but it may causes side effect to the living things in the environment. (WNA, 2012)
Objectives • To evaluate the difficulty of mining and reclamation To calculate costs, expenses, income, and profit from a hands-on mining exercise. • To evaluate the effectiveness of reclamation and its added costs to mining. To describe the increasing rarity of some non-renewable mineral resources. Introduction Minerals play an important role in our day-to-day life, but we often do not contemplate how the minerals are obtained. Minerals are scattered all over the world, just like any other resource.
Lins, C., & Horwitz, E. (2007). Sustainability in the Mining Sector. Retrieved November 6, 2017, from http://www.fbds.org.br/IMG/pdf/doc-295.pdf
The use of nuclear energy has increased in the United States since 1973. Nuclear energy's share of U.S. electricity generation has grown from 4 percent in 1973 to 19 percent in 1998. This is excellent news for the environment. Nuclear energy and hydropower are the cleanest large-scale means of electricity production. Since nuclear power plants do not burn fuel, they emit no combustion byproducts—like carbon dioxide—into the atmosphere (www.nei.org). Nuclear power can come from the fission of Uranium, plutonium or thorium or the fusion of hydrogen into helium. Today uranium (U-235 and U-238) is most commonly used in the production of nuclear energy. The expa...
To some scientist, figuring out a natural process to remove the perchlorates out of the soil is one of the last hurdles. One other problem is finding out how to pollinate the plants. Scientist believe bumblebees are the
Though it has had many negative impacts on the environment in the past, mining is a vital industry completely necessary to our economy and lives. Nearly every item we use or encounter in our day to day lives is mined or contains mined products. Without the excavation of such materials things like computers, televisions, large building structures, electricity, and cars would not be possible. Virtually every technological and medical advance uses minded materials, without which millions would suffer. Some examples of minerals in the home include the telephone which is made from as many as 42 different minerals, including aluminum, beryllium, coal, copper, gold, iron, silver, and talc. A television requires over 35 different minerals, and more than 30 minerals are needed to make a single personal computer. Without boron, copper, gold and quartz, your digital alarm clock would not work. Every American uses an average 47,000 pounds of newly mined materials each year, which is higher than all other countries with the exception of Japan, which is a staggering figure representative of our dependence and need for mined minerals. Coal makes up more than half of nation’s electricity, and will continue to be the largest electrical supplier into 2020 & accounting for some 95 percent of the nation's fossil energy reserves – nine of every ten short-tons of coal mined in the United States is used for electricity generation. As the population of the world grows more mineral resources must be exploited through mining in order to support the rising demand for such products. Though it may present a hazard to the environment and those physically located nears the mines, the materials extracted from mines...
The process of disposing waste, producing food, and purifying bodies of water is useful today. For example, communities that live in the desert, like in the southwestern United States and in the Middle East, can use this process to farm and survive. They can use the newly purified water for their crops or for their own consumption. In addition, when algae purifies water, it releases oxygen.
...d trash on the soil in order to keep the soil fresh. My interest would be like find a material to transform those waste or trash as a <>. By that mean, Farmers, instead of buying chemical products to damage the soil, they would use that possibility to keep the soil safe and sound and save money too. Therefore, in order to improve air quality in my community, those disciplines would be highly required. It will also be very good for the safety of the environment.
Agriculture also leads to soil erosion, both through rainfall and wind. This soil can damage the aquatic ecosystems it ends up in, an...
Phytoremediation is a novel, efficient, environmentally friendly, low-cost technology, which uses plants and trees to clean up soil and water contaminated with heavy metals and/or organic contaminants such as solvents, crude oil, polyaromatic hydrocarbons and other toxic compounds from contaminated environments. This technology is useful for soil and water remediation.
In our days, mining for resources is inevitable. The resources we need are valuable in everyday life. Such resources mined up are coal, copper, gold, silver, and sand. However, mining poses environmental risks that can degrade the quality of soil and water, which can end up effecting us humans if not taken care of and many of the damages are irreversible once they have occurred.
As one of the greatest alternatives to fossil fuels, an important advantage of nuclear energy is the significantly lower emission rate of CO2 in comparison to plants which use coal and natural gas.2 Nuclear power is not reliant on fossil fuels and therefore producing energy by this method reduces pollution and the contribution to climate change. However, whilst the actual process of generating energy releases few emissions, uranium must be mined and purified and in the past this has not always been an environmentally clean process.2 Ultimately, uranium will one day run out, but nuclear reactors are versatile and may also run on Thorium. Despite being finite, this would allow nuclear power stations to function for a longer period of time.