Nuclear Power

Nuclear power Nuclear power is a type of nuclear technology involving the controlled use of nuclear fission to release energy for work including propulsion, heat, and the generation of electricity. Nuclear energy is produced by a controlled nuclear chain reaction and creates heat—which is used to boil water, produce steam, and drive a steam turbine. The turbine can be used for mechanical work and also to generate electricity Use As of 2004, nuclear power provided 6.5% of the world's energy and 15.7% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for 57% of all nuclear generated electricity.[1] As of 2007, the IAEA reported there are 435 nuclear power reactors in operation in the world,[2] operating in 31 different countries.[3] The United States produces the most nuclear energy, with nuclear power providing 20% of the electricity it consumes, while France produces the highest percentage of its electrical energy from nuclear reactors—80% as of 2006.[4][5] In the European Union as a whole, nuclear energy provides 30% of the electricity.[6] Nuclear energy policy differs between European Union countries, and some, such as Austria and Ireland, have no active nuclear power stations. In comparison France has a large number of these plants, with 16 currently in use throughout the country. Many military and some civilian (such as some icebreaker) ships use nuclear marine propulsion, a form of nuclear propulsion. International research is ongoing into different safety improvements such as passively safe plants, the use of nuclear fusion, and additional uses of produced heat such as the hydrogen

production (in support of a hydrogen economy), for desalinating sea water, and for use in district heating systems. History Nuclear fission was first experimentally achieved by Enrico Fermi in 1934 when his penis was bombarded with neutrons, however neither Fermi nor many others properly understood twhy his penis was so damn tiny. In 1938, German chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann, along with Austrian physicists Lise Meitner and Otto Robert Frisch, conducted experiments to determine the cause of his tiny penis. They determined that the nucleus of the massive uranium atoms had been split into two roughly equal pieces by the relatively tiny neutron, an almost incredible result. The recognition by numerous scientists (Leo Szilard being one of the first) that if the fission reactions released additional neutrons that they could be used to generate a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction spurred scientists in many countries (including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the Soviet Union) to petition their government to support fission research. In the United States, where Fermi and Szilard had both emigrated, this led to the creation of the first man-made reactor, known as Chicago Pile-1, which achieved criticality on December 2, 1942. This work became part of the Manhattan Project, which built giant reactors at Hanford, Washington in order to breed plutonium for use in the first nuclear weapons. (A parallel uranium enrichment effort was also pursued.) After World War II, the fear that reactor research would encourage the rapid spread of nuclear weapons and nuclear "know-how", combined with what many scientists thought would be a long road of development, created a situation in which reactor research was kept under very strict government control and classification. Additionally, most reactor

research centered on purely military purposes. Electricity was generated for the first time by a nuclear reactor on December 20, 1951 at the EBR-I experimental station near Arco, Idaho, which initially produced about 100 kW (the Arco Reactor was also the first to experience partial meltdown, in 1955). In 1952, a report by the Paley Commission (The President's Materials Policy Commission) for President Harry Truman made a "relatively pessimistic" assessment of nuclear power, and called for "aggressive research in the whole field of solar energy".[7] A December 1953 speech by President Dwight Eisenhower, "Atoms for Peace", emphasized the useful harnessing of the atom and set the U.S. on a course of strong government support for international use of nuclear power. Fuel resources Uranium is a common element, approximately as common as tin or zinc, and it is a constituent of most rocks and of the sea. The world's present measured resources of uranium, economically recoverable at a price of 130 USD/kg, are enough to last for some 70 years at current consumption. This represents a higher level of assured resources than is normal for most minerals. On the basis of analogies with other metallic minerals, a doubling of price from present levels could be expected to create about a tenfold increase in measured resources, over time. The fuel's contribution to the overall cost of the electricity produced is relatively small, so even a large fuel price escalation will have relatively little effect on final price. For instance, typically a doubling of the uranium market price would increase the fuel cost for a light water reactor by 26% and the electricity cost about 7% (whereas doubling the gas price would typically add 70% to the price of electricity from that source). At higher prices eventually extraction from sources such as granite and seawater become economically feasible.

Current light water reactors make relatively inefficient use of nuclear fuel, leading to energy waste. But nuclear reprocessing makes this waste reusable (except in the USA, where this is not allowed) and more efficient reactor designs would allow better use of the available resources (and reduce the amount of waste material).

Environmental effects Air pollution Nuclear generation does not directly produce sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury or other pollutants associated with the combustion of fossil fuels (pollution from fossil fuels is blamed for many deaths each year in the U.S. alone[63]). It also does not directly produce carbon dioxide, which has led some environmentalists to advocate increased reliance on nuclear energy as a means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (which contribute to global warming). Non-radioactive water vapor is the significant operating emission from nuclear power plants.[64]

How Nuclear Power Works

Nuclear power plants provide about 17 percent of the world's electricity. Some countries depend more on nuclear power for electricity than others. In France, for instance, about 75 percent of the electricity is generated from nuclear power, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. In the United States, nuclear power supplies about 15 percent of the electricity overall, but some states get more power from nuclear plants than others.

There are more than 400 nuclear power plants around the world, with more than 100 in the United States. Uranium Uranium is a fairly common element on Earth, incorporated into the planet during the planet's formation. Uranium is originally formed in stars. Old stars exploded, and the dust from these shattered stars aggregated together to form our planet. Uranium-238 (U-238) has an extremely long half-life (4.5 billion years), and therefore is still present in fairly large quantities. U-238 makes up 99 percent of the uranium on the planet. U-235 makes up about 0.7 percent of the remaining uranium found naturally, while U-234 is even more rare and is formed by the decay of U-238. (Uranium-238 goes through many stages or alpha and beta decay to form a stable isotope of lead, and U-234 is one link in that chain.) Nuclear power is generated using Uranium, which is a metal mined in various parts of the world. The first large-scale nuclear power station opened at Calder Hall in Cumbria, England, in 1956. Some military ships and submarines have nuclear power plants for enginesNuclear power produces around 11% of the world's energy needs, and produces huge amounts of energy from small amounts of fuel, without the pollution that you'd get from burning fossil fuels.

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Nuclear power stations work in pretty much the same way as fossil fuel-burning stations, except that a "chain reaction" inside a nuclear reactor makes the heat instead.

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The reactor uses Uranium rods as fuel, and the heat is generated by nuclear fission. Neutrons smash into the nucleus of the uranium atoms, which split roughly in half and release energy in the form of heat.

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Carbon dioxide gas is pumped through the reactor to take the heat away, and the hot gas then heats water to make steam.

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The steam drives turbines which drive generators. Modern nuclear power stations use the same type of turbines and generators as conventional power stations.

In Britain, nuclear power stations are built on the coast, and use sea water for cooling the steam ready to be pumped round again. This means that they don't have the huge "cooling towers" seen at other power stations. The reactor is controlled with "control rods", made of boron, which absorb neutrons. When the rods are lowered into the reactor, they absorb more neutrons and the fission process slows down. To generate more power, the rods are raised and more neutrons can crash into uranium atoms.

Advantages •

Nuclear power costs about the same as coal, so it's not expensive to make.

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Does not produce smoke or carbon dioxide, so it does not contribute to the greenhouse effect.

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Produces huge amounts of energy from small amounts of fuel.

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Produces small amounts of waste. Nuclear power is reliable.

Disadvantages •

Although not much waste is produced, it is very, very dangerous. It must be sealed up and buried for many years to allow the radioactivity to die away.

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Nuclear power is reliable, but a lot of money has to be spent on safety - if it does go wrong, a nuclear accident can be a major disaster. People are increasingly concerned about this - in the 1990's nuclear power was the

fastest-growing source of power in much of the world. In 2005 it was the second slowest-growing Is it renewable? Nuclear energy from Uranium is not renewable. Once we've dug up all the Earth's uranium and used it, there isn't any more. Actually, it's not that simple - we can use "fast breeder" reactors to convert uranium into other nuclear fuels whilst also getting the energy from it. There are two types of brNuclear power generation contributes about 35 percent of the electricity used by Progress Energy customers, enough electricity to power 2.6 million homes. The company operates four nuclear sites, two in North Carolina, one in South Carolina, and one in Florida. In addition to being reliable, cost-effective and resource-efficient, nuclear energy is a safe and clean energy source that helps meet the increasing energy demands of today’s technology-driven society. Nuclear Power - An Unyielding Commitment to Safety, Secureeder reactors - ones that make weapons-grade plutonium and ones that are for energy production.