Nuclear Power
Essay by review • December 20, 2010 • Essay • 503 Words (3 Pages) • 1,331 Views
Nuclear Power is the electric energy generated using heat produced by an atomic reaction. Now, today in the world most of us would be at loss without electricity in our daily lives. Nuclear power plants produce a sizeable percentage of the world's electricity today. Nuclear power plants provide about 17% of the worlds electricity. It is stated that some countries depend more on nuclear power for electricity than others. In the United States, however, nuclear power plants supplies about 15% of the electricity overall,. There are more than 400 nuclear power plants around the world, with more than 100 in the United States.
A Nuclear power plant is basically a stream power plant that is fueled by a radioactive element, like uranium. The fuel is placed in a reactor and the individual atoms are allowed to split apart. The splitting process known as fission, releases great amounts of energy, this energy is used to heat water until it turns to stream . From there, the mechanics of a stream power plant take over. The stream pushes on turbines, which force coils of wire to interact with a magnetic field. This generates an electric current.
Unlike burning fossil fuels, using nuclear fission to generate electricity produces greenhouse gases. This helps keep the skies clean and doesn't contribute to global warming. The world Nuclear Association estimates that the electricity industry would add 2.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide to the environment each year if it used coal power instead of nuclear. Nuclear Power is also good for the environment because it reduces their dependency on foreign oil.
The fuel used to power nuclear reactions is very compact in comparison to fossil fuels. For example, one pound of uranium can supply the same energy as 3 million pounds of coal. This makes it attractive for the government use in nuclear-powered vehicles like submarines, aircraft
carriers and spacecraft.
One of the biggest problems of using nuclear energy is that a lot of radioactive and toxic waste will be produced. There are also some different kinds of waste, it depends how the energy was produced. For example the waste are produced in the reactor core, or as a result of radioactive contamination, furthermore also as a result of uranium mining, refining and enrichment. About 99% of radiation in nuclear waste is given off from spent fuel rods.
Another big problem is the developing
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