Nuclear Energy

As the need for electricity increases through time, it's important to find options for future complications. Nuclear power has both negative and positive attributes in producing electrical energy. Despite the negative, I believe it's a good choice to make for when we can no longer depend on other sources such as natural gas because it is cheaper and more â€Å"green†. Of course, there are other sources that could also be considered such as wind power, solar power, or coal. In my opinion, these are not as superior as nuclear power for several reasons. As global warming becomes a bigger concern, options such as natural gas and coal are eliminated because of environmental hazards. This leaves wind power, solar power, and nuclear power. Wind power and solar power are not bad options. In fact, they are probably the smartest and most â€Å"green† inventions for producing electricity. Like most things, however, they have a few flaws. For example, in a CNBC news article, â€Å"Primer: Nuclear Power† it stated that wind power and solar power produces the least amount of energy for the highest price. Another article, â€Å"Nuclear Power is Nuclear† said wind power is not only expensive but also dangerous to birds. The article said a proximately 75,000- 250,000 birds die each year by crashing into the spinning generator! With knowing that both wind power and solar power are cost-defective and knowing that coal and natural gas is harmful to the environment, what makes nuclear energy so great? Well, from an economic standpoint, nuclear energy is the cheapest to produce and produces the most. Nuclear plants now produce electricity for 1. 76 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared to 2. 47 cents for coal or 6. 78 cents for natural gas. † (Primer: Nuclear Power). As for the environment and people, it is a very safe process (in most cases) and does not produce global warming. Some people, like me, might have corresponded nuclear weapons to nuclear energy, which might have put you to look at nuclear energy from a negative perspective. But knowing and understanding how it works, shows that it is safer then you may expect. However, if an accident would occur it wouldn't be very good because of radiation poisoning that could spread and can cause a lot of cancers and other defects and diseases. Although the chances of this happening are very small and hopefully through time safety will progress. With these facts and statistics, nuclear power shows a cleaner and cheaper way for producing electricity in the future. With nuclear energy only being 20% of our power, hopefully nuclear plants would increase as well as their safety. Nuclear Energy Nuclear Energy is defined as the energy  that is released  when atomic nuclei either split or fuse. After a careful consideration of the amount of conventional fuels available and their consumption, it becomes very clear that nuclear energy will be used predominantly in the future. Moreover, it offers an attractive alternative to the conventional fuels that generally contribute to global warming.  In comparison to fossil fuels and hydroelectric power, nuclear energy provides a safer and cleaner option. Moreover, the quantity of uranium, which is used as nuclear fuel, is much more abundant than fossil fuels (Miller, 2004).Another advantage in using nuclear energy is that it is comparatively cheaper and environmentally safe, because the waste matter from such fuel is safely stored. In the United States of America, each and every nuclear power plant is controlled by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Moreover, these nuclear facilities have to strictly adhere to the safety standard s set by this regulatory body (Cabreza).A very important benefit of nuclear energy lies in the fact that it drastically reduces dependence on oil imports. Furthermore, this source of energy requires a lot of personnel, which helps to decrease unemployment. Nuclear energy is not only very efficient but also cost-effective, due to the minimal variance in the price of uranium, the optimal performance and frequent modernization of nuclear power plants. At present, a fifth of the total electricity needs of the U.S are catered to by nuclear (Cabreza).In comparison to nuclear energy, coal the conventional source of energy is much more dangerous. Coal releases a number of pollutants and carcinogens when burned. Further, the annual casualties amongst coal miners, due to accidents, are around a hundred. Nuclear power is far safer in comparison to coal or hydropower (Miller, 2004).  The nuclear fuel used in nuclear reactors is Uranium-235 and the mechanism by which nuclear fission energy is released is given by the equation:  10n + 235 92U —> 9236Kr + 14156 Ba +200 MeV+ 3 1 0n (3-3: Nuclear Fission).Uranium-235 releases 3.7 million times the amount of energy that coal can release. Due to the use of nuclear energy, two and a half billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions are not released into the atmosphere every year (Why use Nuclear Power?, 2006).In view of the above facts, it is imperative for the world to adopt nuclear energy for all their energy requirements. Nuclear power is clean, cost-effective, reliable and safe power. No major nuclear accidents have taken place in the U.S.   In its entire history, only a single accident took place in 1979. In that incident there was a partial reactor core meltdown at Three Mile Island (Accident of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant).However, this accident served to illustrate the effectiveness of the various safety measures that had been adopted in nuclear power plants. Radiation from the core of the reactor could not come out of the reactor due to the highly effective walls and no member of the public or personnel of the facility sustained even an injury.  Moreover, with the amount of subsequent research that was conducted after this accident, the possibility of the recurrence of such an incident is very remote. Considerable attention has been paid to recycling spent fuel and thereby reducing the amount of nuclear waste. In view of these facts the day is not far off when nuclear fuel will completely replace fossil fuels.ReferencesWhy use Nuclear Power? (2006, October 22). Retrieved May 3, 2007, from The Virtual Nuclear Tourist: http://www.nucleartourist.com/basics/reasons1.htm Nuclear Energy As the need for electricity increases through time, it's important to find options for future complications. Nuclear power has both negative and positive attributes in producing electrical energy. Despite the negative, I believe it's a good choice to make for when we can no longer depend on other sources such as natural gas because it is cheaper and more â€Å"green†. Of course, there are other sources that could also be considered such as wind power, solar power, or coal. In my opinion, these are not as superior as nuclear power for several reasons. As global warming becomes a bigger concern, options such as natural gas and coal are eliminated because of environmental hazards. This leaves wind power, solar power, and nuclear power. Wind power and solar power are not bad options. In fact, they are probably the smartest and most â€Å"green† inventions for producing electricity. Like most things, however, they have a few flaws. For example, in a CNBC news article, â€Å"Primer: Nuclear Power† it stated that wind power and solar power produces the least amount of energy for the highest price. Another article, â€Å"Nuclear Power is Nuclear† said wind power is not only expensive but also dangerous to birds. The article said a proximately 75,000- 250,000 birds die each year by crashing into the spinning generator! With knowing that both wind power and solar power are cost-defective and knowing that coal and natural gas is harmful to the environment, what makes nuclear energy so great? Well, from an economic standpoint, nuclear energy is the cheapest to produce and produces the most. Nuclear plants now produce electricity for 1. 76 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared to 2. 47 cents for coal or 6. 78 cents for natural gas. † (Primer: Nuclear Power). As for the environment and people, it is a very safe process (in most cases) and does not produce global warming. Some people, like me, might have corresponded nuclear weapons to nuclear energy, which might have put you to look at nuclear energy from a negative perspective. But knowing and understanding how it works, shows that it is safer then you may expect. However, if an accident would occur it wouldn't be very good because of radiation poisoning that could spread and can cause a lot of cancers and other defects and diseases. Although the chances of this happening are very small and hopefully through time safety will progress. With these facts and statistics, nuclear power shows a cleaner and cheaper way for producing electricity in the future. With nuclear energy only being 20% of our power, hopefully nuclear plants would increase as well as their safety.