Background Information
Energy
Today, we use resources quicker than we can find them; soon we will not have much left to rely on. We use too much and we use it too fast. Fossil fuels are being wasted every single minute of every single day. Thus, alternatives are being created. One of which, along with wind, solar, biomass, and wave energy is nuclear energy.
While working on creating nuclear bombs to scare the Soviets after WWII, in 1951 the US government decided that they would try and accumulate nuclear energy into everyday uses.
- Some facts:
- 16% of all electricity is made from nuclear power
- 85% in developed countries
- In 2003 there were 441 nuclear power plants
- Us has 103 plants and that supplies for 20% of the electricity in the country
(NEFS)
Nuclear energy is developed through nuclear fission; which can best be defined as: conversion of the energy within an atom’s nucleus to usable thermal energy by splitting apart atomic nuclei (SBS). Uranium is used, created and mixed, and as a waste product, plutonium is formed. It is calculated that less than 18 pounds of plutonium is needed to make a bomb, therefore as a result and product of all nuclear power plants, in 2000, enough plutonium was formed to create over 34,000 weapons.
The Disaster in Chernobyl
In 1986, Chernobyl, Ukraine suffered from a flaw in a reactor design and in management by the unqualified. A large explosion, releasing 5% of the reactor core resulted in:
-28 died within 4 months from burns and radiation
-19 died soon after
-Many reported cases of thyroid cancer in the area
(CU)
After this tragic accident, the world became very aware of the potential threats nuclear energy holds.
Waste
There is no safe way to thoroughly dispose of this radioactive waste. Many different solutions have been contemplated and the best come up with so far is to store it in a "safe," isolated place until it breaks down. Half- lives are used to show how long it will take half of the waste to decay...
-The half life of Plutonium-239 is 24,000 years (A LONG TIME).
- It takes 10 half lives for the plutonium to be deemed safe and not harmful…240,000 years
- Place proposed to store: Yucca Mountain, Nevada
- Arguments against: it’s too dangerous, harmful, terrorists, and it doesn’t solve any problem that we’re facing
(YM)
(NENW)
Today, the use and reliance on Nuclear energy is still growing rapidly despite many of the problems surrounding the issue.
