Nuclear energy may be looked at in a negative light, but anyone who understands the process and production that goes into creating nuclear energy can see that there are advantages with the energy source as well. These advantages help make nuclear energy one of our best sources of energy and the question just depends on whether the good outweighs the bad and if nuclear energy is really worth it [1].
We should understand the way that nuclear energy and it’s advantages, you need to know the process that goes behind creating nuclear energy. First, uranium is taken from natural resources and then put through an enrichment process that makes the uranium ready for the nuclear reactor. Once the uranium is ready, it goes through a process known as "fission" [1].
Nuclear fission, this process splits one atom into two and that splitting causes a chain reaction through the whole element. This chain reaction creates heat energy that is used to boil water and create high pressured steam. The steam spins and powers a turbine connected to a generator that provides electricity.For example the energy it releases is 10 million times greater than is released by the burning of an atom of fossil fuel. Besides it would take many hectares of land covered with solar collectors,wind farms or hydro-electric dams to equal this power [1].
Next, advantage are the greenhouse gasses are not released by nuclear power plant. Even when accounting the is fossil fuel used in mining uranium,to processing it,the building and decommissioning of the nuclear plant, the picture remains good from this perspective. Less than one-hundredth of carbon dioxide gas is produced by nuclear power plants compared to coal or gas-fired energy plants. This means nuclear energy also emits less greenhouse gas than renewable energy sources such as hydro, wind, solar and biomass. Ofcourse, others have contrary views to these claims about the advantages of nuclear energy.From this, we can see the nuclear reactors do not burn any fossil fuels so the plants do not give off any emissions or pollution into the air. This is very beneficial because pollution and burning has caused a greenhouse effect that could dramatically affect future generations [2].
The ability availability of uranium is an advantage of using nuclear energy. Uranium is obtained from open-cut mines and is not expensive to mine. The world reserves are estimated to last anywhere between 6 to 150 years, to even hundreds of centuries, depending on who is the commentator, and depending on the type of reactor they have in mind. The present reactors only use some 1% of the energy available in uranium but in future fast breeder reactors could recycle spent fuel rods at a 99% efficiency rate. The potency and quantity of radio active waste material from such reactors is much less than that of current thermal reactors [2].
Finally, the nuclear energy is a compact fuel which makes it easy to transport easily It reduces dependency on the fossil fuel. In Medical also nuclear energy used in radiotherapy used in special medical conditions like cancer, where it weakens or destroys the particular cells. The advantages of Nuclear Energy are growing day by day with the new inventions as the scientists around the world are working on it so thoroughly.Even the with all of the benefits coming from nuclear power plants, there are still some big dangers. Explosions or meltdowns in plants can spread harmful radiation through the air, potentially causing diseases like cancer and sometimes death [3].
References
[1] - http://www.ehow.com/about_4579502_what-advantages-using-nuclear-energy.html
[2] - http://www.alternate-energy-sources.com/advantages-of-nuclear-energy.html
[3]- http://topissues21.blogspot.com/2011/08/advantages-of-nuclear-energy.html
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