The Pros And Cons Of Nuclear Power

614 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Nuclear power research essays

Nuclear power, or nuclear energy, is the use of exothermic nuclear processes,[1] to generate useful heat and electricity. The term includes nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion. Presently the nuclear fission of elements in the actinide series of the periodic table produce the vast majority of nuclear energy in the direct service of humankind, with nuclear decay processes, primarily in the form of geothermal energy, and radioisotope thermoelectric generators, in niche uses making up the rest. Nuclear (fission) power stations, excluding the contribution from naval nuclear fission reactors, provided about 5.7% of the world's energy and 13% of the world's electricity in 2012.[2] In 2013, the IAEA report that there are 437 operational nuclear power reactors,[3] in 31 countries,[4] although not every reactor is producing electricity.[5] In addition, there are approximately 140 naval vessels using nuclear propulsion in operation, powered by some 180 reactors.[6][7][8] As of 2013, attaining a net energy gain from sustained nuclear fusion reactions, excluding natural fusion power...

Show More
Related

  • Nuclear Power Essay

    1281 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nuclear power has grown to be a big percentage of the world’s energy. As of January 18, 2013 in 31 countries 437 nuclear power plant units with an installed electric net capacity of about 372 GW are in operation and 68 plants with an installed capacity of 65 GW are in 15 countries under construction. As of end 2011 the total electricity production since 1951 amounts to 69,760 billion kWh. The cumulative operating experience amounted to 15, 15,080 years by end of 2012. (European Nuclear Society) The change that nuclear power has brought to the world has led to benefits in today’s energy’s usage.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Nuclear Waste

    728 Words  | 2 Pages

    Radioactive Waste One of the most talked about opposition to nuclear fission is the radioactive waste it produces. Radioactive waste is what is left behind after using a reactor to make electricity. There are two levels of waste, low and high, but both are regulated by the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. High level waste is made up of fuel that’s been used directly in the reactor, which is highly radioactive but can still be disposed of. Low-level waste is the contaminated items that have been exposed to radiation.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Speech On Nuclear Energy

    877 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nuclear energy is a very powerful source of energy. Just a little bit is required to make large amounts of electricity, which powers 1 in 5 households in the U.S. Nuclear energy has been advanced over the years and has been relied on heavily by many countries today.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Fukushima Nuclear Power

    1379 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nuclear Power comes from the process of splitting Uranium Atoms (also called fission), which in turn releases copious amounts of energy in the form of heat. When the atoms are arranged in a reactor, the splitting of an atom will cause nearby atoms to split, forming a chain reaction. As the energy is released, it is sent through coolant tanks full of water, which is then heated into steam. The steam is channeled and used to spin a turbine, which in turn powers a generator,

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Nuclear Weapons

    1221 Words  | 3 Pages

    Eric Schollser argues in his paper “Today’s Nuclear Dilemma,” that the nuclear weapons in the world, and the issues that they are associated with, should be of major concern to today’s society. Nuclear Weapons were of world wide concern during the time of the Cold War. These weapons, and their ability to cause colossal devastation, brought nightmares into reality as the threat of nuclear war was a serious and imminent issue. The US and Russia both built up their inventories of these pieces of artillery, along with the rest of their arsenals, in an attempt to overpower the other. This past terror has become a renewed concern because many of the countries with these nuclear weapons in their control have started to update their collections. One

    Read More

  • Problems Facing Breeder Reactors as a Future Energy Source

    2569 Words  | 6 Pages

    Non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels have been used up by society on a daily basis and have forced the world to find a new, clean energy source. The rising price of oil and the constant emission of carbon dioxide are proof that in the future our lives will be much harder to live. One answer to this problem is nuclear power, which has shown its efficiency during the times of World War II but has not been used commercially due to the challenges of dealing with nuclear waste and proliferation. In today?s modern era, nuclear power has been used in liquid metal fast breeder reactors, reactors that use uranium-238 to produce plutonium-239.

    Read More

  • Nuclear Power Essay

    698 Words  | 2 Pages

    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)

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Nuclear Waste

    1753 Words  | 4 Pages

    “There are 61 commercially operating nuclear power plants with 99 nuclear reactors in 30 states in the United States” (U.S Energy Information Administration). An energy crisis is going on right now. This crisis includes the consumption of fossil fuels that leave the world free of pollution, while still creating the same amount of energy. The idea of using nuclear energy came around the 1960’s as countries who were involved in World War II needed to get an upper hand on weapons, specifically bombs. This was made possible when german scientists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman fired neutrons into uranium 235, which in turn led to the discovery of a self-sustaining chain reaction. This experiment led to the creation of the atomic bomb and the nuclear

    Read More

  • Nuclear Energy Essay

    998 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nuclear power is the generation of electricity from an atomic reaction. (World Statistics: Nuclear Energy Around the World n.d.) Though it produces zero carbon emissions there has been a decline in support for nuclear power and increased its support for alternative energies in the pursuit for a fossil free energy sector. Factors that have resulted in the reduction of support for nuclear energy include nuclear accidents and waste and the positives of renewable energy which include clean energy, sustainable and reduced health and environmental risks.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Nuclear Power

    274 Words  | 1 Pages

    Nuclear Power, The generation of power using highly radiated uranium pellets in fuel rods used to heat up water and run turbines. This is why Congressman Bill Nelson should not support the building of a new nuclear power plant in the state of Florida.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Nuclear Weapons

    1262 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1945, when the Americans bombed Hiroshima, Japan, approximately 140,000 men and women were instantly killed by the effects of American nuclear defense. With such extreme brutality and force how many people must die for one to finally realize the strengths of nuclear bombs and what damage they can cause. Nuclear weapons should be outlawed because they kill thousands of innocent humans at a time, destroy the environment, and inviolate human’s right to moral and personal freedoms.

    Read More

  • Positive Effects of Nuclear Power

    938 Words  | 2 Pages

    The use of nuclear power in the mid-1980s was not a popular idea on account of all the fears that it had presented. The public seemed to have rejected it because of the fear of radiation. The Chernobyl accident in the Soviet Union in April of 1986 reinforced the fears, and gave them an international dimension (Cohen 1). Nevertheless, the public has to come to terms that one of the major requirements for sustaining human progress is an adequate source of energy. The current largest sources of energy are the combustion of coal, oil, and natural gas. Fear of radiation may push nuclear power under the carpet but another fear of the unknown is how costly is this going to be? If we as the public have to overcome the fear of radiation and costly project, we first have to understand the details of nuclear energy. The known is a lot less scary then the unknown. If we could put away all the presumptions we have about this new energy source, then maybe we can understand that this would be a good decision for use in the near future.

    Read More

  • Compare and Contrast of Nuclear Energy and Alternative Energy

    1351 Words  | 3 Pages

    To begin, nuclear power is produced by nuclear fission, which is the splitting of an atom to start a chain reaction (“11 Facts”). This chain reaction produces massive amounts of heat. Nuclear reactors take advantage of this heat by pumping water into the reactor, which in turn produces steam. The steam then becomes pressurized through a pipeline and exits into a turbine (“How do Nuclear”). The pressurized steam causes the turbine blades to spin, producing power which is linked to a generator for use in the main power lines. When the steam passes the turbine blades, it goes past cooled pipes and condensates (“How do Nuclear”). After the condensation process is finished and the steam reverts back to water, it is pumped into the reactor again, thus completing the process of producing nuclear-based power.

    Read More

  • The Impact of Nuclear Power

    1546 Words  | 4 Pages

    Nuclear power, the use of exothermic nuclear processes to produce an enormous amount of electricity and heat for domestic, medical, military and industrial purposes i.e. “By the end of 2012 2346.3 kilowatt hours (KWh) of electricity was generated by nuclear reactors around the world” (International atomic energy agency Vienna, 2013, p.13). However, with that been said it is evident that the process of generating electricity from a nuclear reactor has numerous health and environmental safety issues.

    Read More

  • Advantages and Disadvantages of Nuclear Energy

    1323 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nuclear energy is generated by a process called fission. Fission occurs within the reactor of a nuclear power plant when a neutron is fired at an atom of uranium causing it to split and release subsequent neutrons.1 These are able to crash into other uranium atoms causing a chain reaction and releasing a great deal of heat energy.

    Read More

More about The Pros And Cons Of Nuclear Power

Open Document