Nuclear Energy Essay

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Nuclear energy is produced from the splitting of millions of uranium atoms in a very interesting process called fission. This type of process is used in big power plants where there are numerous tools and machinery that help produce the energy. From generators to pumps to turbines and transformers there are up to 12 main components that all come and work together to create high amounts of electricity. The fission process is used to produce a lot of heat and steam from the reactor where uranium rods are placed. That very hot steam then travels to big turbines and spins them through the generator to generate and produce high amounts of electricity. The electricity then travels to transformers and from there it travels through land wires that run hundreds of miles into cities and towns (World Nuclear Association [WNA], 2014). Our world today is growing every day every year and there will be a time where more and more energy will be needed to sustain human life. The demand for electricity and its value is increasing rapidly and will only continue to do so. The world will need greatly increased energy supply in the next 20 years, especially clean generated electricity [WNA, 2014]. Fourteen percent of the world’s electricity comes from nuclear energy to use. The use and demand for electricity will increase in 2030 by eighty one percent. Therefore, nuclear power plants need to rise to fulfill the demands and needs for the growth of the population. Since the demand for electricity is increasing and with many resources to get electricity from, the use of nuclear energy without constant support will probably decline to around 9 percent or less by 2035. At least two factors will make this quite difficult for nuclear energy to gain a bigger m... ... middle of paper ... ...ved from electricity consumers in which we pay a tenth of a penny for every kilowatt-hour of electricity we use from nuclear power plants. This money cannot be used because there is no waste management program. All this hidden waste was to be removed in 1998 but the government failed to do so. This resulted in about two billion dollars in court awarded damage settlements that was being paid from the taxpayer judgment. Nuclear energy will always be a source for electricity. It has its pros and its cons but nuclear energy is reliable and it will always be available for developing nations. It takes time for countries to build power plants because it isn’t cheap. Also because of high radiation levels, people will always need to be careful when working around uranium because it can cause cancer. Power plants and nuclear energy will always be in use all over the world.

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