nuclear energy
fusion, the power of plasma
what is nuclear energy
nuclear energy is energy that comes from the nucleus of an atom, protons, neutrons and electrons, nuclear energy is what holds the atom together. In order for people to obtain this energy and turn it into electricity, we must first release it from an atom (the two ways listed below) since we've only figured out how to man-make one of the two forms of energy (fission) , how we get the power we need from nuclear energy is by splitting uranium atoms into two smaller atoms then turn the excess heat given off through the process into electricity. How though? The heat from fission within the reactor is used to boil water and create steam which then turns turbines that drive generators which create electricity. The steam is then cooled back into water and reused in this process.
what types of nuclear energy are there
There is two different types of nuclear energy, fusion and fission. Fusion is combining two or multiple atoms to create a new one. The best example of this is the sun, essentially a giant ball of heated plasma in space. It causes gravitational contraction, which creates a large amount of pressure in its core, which in turn causes its temperature to soar to millions of degrees, which causes hydrogen atoms to fuse and create helium atoms , creating light and heat(energy.) Though we don't have a way to recreate fusion on earth yet, due to the extreme temperatures and pressure, I personally believe we will soon be able to create energy through man made fusion. The second way to produce nuclear energy is through fission, the splitting of an atom to create two smaller atoms, since they need less energy to hold them together as the larger atom did, the excess energy is released as heat and radiation
pros of nuclear energy
- clean safe way of creating electricity
- environmentally friendly
- doesn't burn any coal or fossil fuels
- renewable resource
- no pollutants released into air
- Uranium is a cheap plentiful resource
- there are ways of turning waste into gaseous energy
cons of nuclear energy
- causes nuclear waste
- there is no known way to safely dispose of nuclear waste
- extremely unstable
incidents in the past
Chernobyl
The Chernobyl disaster was one of the worlds largest(level 7), most shocking nuclear catastrophes. On April 26th, 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Pripyat, Ukraine, during an emergency shutdown of the reactor, while failing a power experiment, they experienced an accidental explosion of core. which leaves that area and several hundred feet around it radioactive and inhabitable to this very day
Fukushima Daiichi
Fukushimia Daiichi (the largest nuclear disaster after Chernobyl) was a level 7 nuclear energy incident in March 11th, 20011. It was caused by the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. The damage of the tsunami caused equipment failures, which created a cooling accident that set off a chain of three nuclear meltdowns which released radioactive materials by March 12th,201. Though there were no fatalities linked to short term exposure to radiation from this accident, about 10,000 people died from the explosions in the accident, and the cancer morbidity from Fukushima is estimated between 1,500 and 1,800
Three Mile Island accident
in 1979 at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant(USA) the core of the plant of the #2 reactor melted due to a cooling malfunction. Though there was no injuries or health effects, some radioactive gas was released a couple of days after the accident, but not enough to dose above background levels to locals
My personal theory on how to harness earth's natural nuclear energy
I believe that with a computer program tracking where lightning is likely to strike robotizing the direction of a long copper pole connected to a series of underground capacitors with insulators inside, the machine would catch a lightning bolt, since they try to get to the ground as quickly as possible, then send it to the capacitors combined with insulators would slow the lightning down enough to the point where it would be converted to energy. This would be yet another amazing, clean, environmentally friendly and safe way to create nuclear energy through natural fusion
why is this important
Research shows that within the next 30 years we will no longer be able to use fossil fuels as energy, since nuclear energy is a clean form of producing energy it could very well be the solution to the world energy crisis. though there have been issues with it in the past, with the developing technology and brilliant minds of today and tomorrow, if we were to further our research of incidents in the past such as nuclear power plant breakdowns, we will eventually find a 100% safe way to create nuclear energy as well as find somewhere to store / a way to get rid of the waste. Nuclear energy will help keep the world as we know it and the world ahead us plugged in and progressing.