Robbins.Lee.wiki.spring.2011

Nuclear Fission

As Benjamin Franklin put it, “energy and persistence conquer all things”. Although Franklin was not referring to the physics definition (the ability to do work or move an object), the quote applies in the sense that the world revolves around energy. Without energy, essentially the world as we know it would end. Humans around the globe have become heavily reliant on energy. Most of this is extracted from fossil fuels. This supply of energy has been powering us as people for years, but not without consequences for using it. The burning of fossil fuels largely contributes to the crisis of global warming. The CO2 that is emitted warms the planet’s climate. This climate change has become increasingly important. It poses a threat on our way of living. Climate change can result in the polar ice caps melting, for example, flooding the oceans. Thus, the media has brought attention to the problem of burning fossil fuels. With the media shining a light on the subject, political forces have stepped in to figure out solutions. Politicians have been pushing their respective ideas regarding alternative energy. New energy proposals range from wind turbines to extracting energy from tidal waves to nuclear power. Three politicians in particular stand out when seeking clean energy standards. The first is Al Gore who ran in the 2000 Presidential Election. He was the first major candidate for the Green Party. The other two are the authors of The American Clean Energy and Security Act. California Democratic Representative Henry Waxman and Massachusetts Democratic Representative Edward Markey both fight for environmental protection. They wrote this bill to be passed by congress to protect the average citizen from the effects of climate change. The guidelines in the bill revolve around reducing the amount of heat trapping gases such as CO2. There is a cap placed on the national emission of greenhouses gases. The cap reduces over the time period from 2012 to 2050. These reductions revolve around economic interests. Among providing standards, the bill also requires funding to be given for new clean energy technologies and research and development in energy efficiency. For security reasons many of the details explaining exactly how a nuclear power plant works are not made public, the basics of how power plants operate however, are. It is a common fear, and misconception, that nuclear power plants produce contaminated energy that is distributed to the general public and if it is used will cause radiation poisoning. Nuclear power plants are steam operated power plants. A fuel rod containing a radioactive element, Uranium 237 being the most commonly used, is placed in a reaction chamber. Control rods are installed in the reaction chamber as well. Control rods are rods that are either made up of or have in them an abundant amount of an element that absorbs neutrons. The reaction chamber also has pipes that travel through containers of water. The water in these containers is heated and turned into steam; the steam rises and goes through a turbine. The turbine turns a generator and creates electricity that is moved out to be used. The spent steam drops from the turbine and is cooled and condensed by water in a condenser, usually a shell and tube style. The condensed water is then pumped back into the containers that it started into to repeat the process all over again. The coolant water is vented out of coolant towers as clean safe steam. This constant need for cool water makes it so nuclear power plants always need to be built alongside a large body of cool water or a river.

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The process by which the heat is created in the reaction chamber is called fission. Fission is the breaking apart of the atom, in this case the Uranium atom. To start the reaction a neutron is fired into the piece of Uranium. That neutron hits the nucleus of one Uranium atom. The force of that hit, the makeup of the Uranium, and the stability of the Uranium causes the Uranium atom to separate. It separates into two, these new daughter isotopes are identical to each other, and have a different atomic number and structure from the Uranium that they came from. The daughter isotopes are usually are still radioactive. In addition to the two daughter isotopes the reaction also causes the release of more neutrons and a great deal of heat. The neutrons are released at a great force and each go off to collide with more Uranium atoms that in turn release more neutrons and even more heat. This process will continue until there are no more Uranium atoms to collide with. [] [] Many people believe that nuclear power plants are not safe. After the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York City on September 11th 2001, many people have been very afraid of another terrorist attack that will cost even more people their lives. One place people feel will be targeted is nuclear power plants. People feel that nuclear power plants will be targeted because they are located relatively close to populated cities and towns and could be very deadly if they were attacked. Many people feel that if a terrorist were to fly a plane into a nuclear power plant, it would be the same as dropping a nuclear bomb.

Many people feel that the land would be destroyed, many people anywhere near the plant would be killed instantaneously, and even more people would die later from exposure to radiation. One of the long term fears of a terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant would be the cancer that people would pass on to their children if they were exposed to radiation. This is a big fear because the radiation could be carried in a radioactive cloud, and spread to people that were not close to the plant during the time of the attack. There would also be no way of containing the radioactive cloud once it was released. Many people also believe that even without the threat of terrorism, nuclear power plants are not safe. In an interview, with someone who wished to remain anonymous, the interviewee expressed that the possibility of an accident or leaks that will have the same or worse effects as the accident in Chernobyl were too high and not worth all the benefits that nuclear energy could produce (personal communication, November 29, 2007). [] []

The nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine had an accident that caused the power plant to blow up. The explosion created a reaction that was similar to the effects of having a nuclear bomb dropped on the city. Many people who live close to nuclear power plants are afraid that any small mistake or accident will trigger an explosion that will devastate their city and lives. But because there are so many things that could go wrong in a nuclear power plant, extra care is put into the designs that will make sure the power plant is safe. It is true that since September 11th 2001, the danger of having terrorists attack nuclear power plants has risen, but with the rise in the risk, the protection surrounding nuclear power plants has also risen. Nuclear power plants have concrete walls made thick enough to stop an airplane, and armed personnel that patrol the perimeter and the building to make sure that no other type of attack can be launched against the power plant (US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 2007). This links to a video that shows a jet straped to tracks that is 'flown' into a concrete wall that is the sam make up and demensions of the walls around power plants. After the plane hits the wall, the wall remains standing and for the most part intact. The plane on the other hand, is atomized.

@http://youtu.be/25vlt7swhCM The safety of the power plant with regard to accidents and leaks is also well protected. Because of the president set by the accident atChernobyl, nuclear power plants built since have had many different types of fail-safe equipment and procedures built into the plant (Barth & Spencer, 2005). For example, overheating, if the reactor vessel where the radioactive elements are held over heats and threatens to blow up or just gets a little too hot, the monitoring equipment will the shut the reactor down. The monitoring equipment will drop elements into the reactor vessel that will stop the nuclear reaction and stop all power production. There are many back up procedures that will be triggered if the first malfunctions are not enough. Since the accident at Chernobyl in 1986, more information has been discovered and better technology has been produced. The combination of more information, better technology, and the weight of past accidents and attacks has made it so nuclear power plants are better prepared to prevent accidents and attacks and are safe overall. One of the main concerns about the use of nuclear energy is the disposal of radioactive waste. Nuclear power comes from radioactive elements decaying. When radioactive elements decay, they split and form other elements. Most of the time, the elements that are formed are also radioactive. Most of the newly formed radioactive elements cannot be used to power the plant. The elements have to be removed from the plant and stored. The elements are still radioactive, and will be form many years, so they cannot be stored near large populations of people or any body of water. If the elements are stored near large populations, the radioactive elements could infect the population with radiation poison. The effects of radiation poison can cause cancer. The radiation mutates a person’s DNA, this causes not just that person but any children born to him or her after he or she gets radiation poison could have the cancer as well. Knowing both the detrimental and long term effects that nuclear waste could cause the International Atomic Energy Agency stated in its radiation protection code that “the storage of radioactive waste must ensure that both human health and the environment will be protected, both now and in the future, without imposing undue burdens on future generations”. The disposal place is located underground and away from large populations. Yucca Mountain in Nevada is having a complex built under it to hold nuclear waste.

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The mountain is a good location to hold the waste because it is far from large populations, and it provides a large amount of land to surround the radioactive material. The complex is being built underneath the mountain so it has more land protection from the elements and is out of the way of anybody walking into or too close to the complex by mistake. Having the complex underground also provides protection from any air born attacks that might be launched against it. The radioactive material is stored in cases that are made to hold radioactive material for a very long time. Once the radioactive material is placed in its holder and stored, it is not touched again for a long time; until it is removed because it is no longer radioactive. This limits the possibility of having the cases leak and the chance of the material being agitated and becoming dangerous. The disposal of the radioactive element should not be considered a danger to the environment because the elements would decay naturally. The elements have been decaying for longer than people have known about them, and the environment that they were in has not suffered because of the decay. The decay of radioactive elements is a natural process. As long as people are afraid of the consequences of negligence then the disposal of nuclear waste will be closely watched and safe. Although the cost of running a nuclear power plant is high it is worth the money. Many of the high costs are the start up costs. Once the disposal complex and transportation is built the cost of nuclear energy will drop and become very affordable. Once the start-up costs are paid and the nuclear power industry is up and running nuclear energy is likely to be cheaper than coal produced energy. Nuclear power plants will have to cover the costs of the actual plant and the disposal plant. Because radioactive elements will emit energy for a very long time, nuclear power plants will not have to keep replacing its power source. Coal powered power plants have to cover the costs of the actual plant, the disposal of filters, and the supply of coal. Coal powered plants are powered by the burning of coal, once the coal is burnt the power plant has to get more and more coal or the plant will not produce any power. The continuous need of coal is very expensive and the more coal is mined the harder and more expensive it is to get. Coal, while cheaper now, will only get more and more expensive. Nuclear energy, on the other hand, is a little expensive now, but will get cheaper in the near future if people take an interest in it. The elements that are needed to power nuclear power plants are abundant. The radioactive elements are found naturally and do not need to be made in labs by any chemicals in order to be harnessed and used to create electricity. The process that must be used to obtain radioactive elements to use in nuclear power plants is the same process that is used to extract coal, mining. Mining is dangerous but the danger of mining does not increase or decrease because of the rock that is being extracted; the mining of rocks that produce radioactive elements is just as dangerous as the mining of coal. The deeper miners have to go into the earth the more dangerous the mining becomes. Because the radioactive elements will last longer than coal does there will not have to be as much mining. Coal mines are getting deeper and deeper fast, because coal is being burnt to produce electricity. Nuclear power plants will not need to use as much to produce electricity and therefore will not have to mine as much. Nuclear energy is long lasting and powerful. The radioactive elements that are used to power nuclear power plants have a very long half life. A half life is the amount of time it takes half of the radioactive element to decay into a different element. The long half life makes the element stay radioactive and able to power the power plant for a very long time. The power that the elements release is very powerful and constant. The power that each individual element produce does not taper off when the element starts to reach the end of its half life, the intensity of the power stays constant. The power that is emitted by radioactive elements is also constant in the sense that it does not emit power in small bursts, but a steady stream of power. The consistency of nuclear power makes it very reliable and therefore a good source of power to harness. Nuclear energy is cleaner than other energy sources. Energy production is largely to blame for global warming and other environmental problems (Goldemberg, Johansson, Reddy, Williams, 2001). Radioactive decay, the process that nuclear power plants harnesses for energy, is a process that happens naturally. This means that even without humans involved radioactive elements will be emitting energy. Nuclear power plants are just harnessing that energy, and converting it to electricity that can be used by everyone. Nuclear power plants do not put hazardous gases into the air like coal plants do. If people become more dependent on nuclear produced electricity than coal produced electricity than the environment, especially the atmosphere, will become much cleaner. The disposal of nuclear waste is not as hazardous as the disposal of the filters that coal plants are demanded by law to have on smoke stacks. Nuclear waste is radioactive elements that can be found naturally in nature. The radioactive elements will decay into other elements that are not radioactive. Once the elements are no longer radioactive they can be moved and put anywhere because they are no longer dangerous to any plant, animal, or the environment. Filters on smoke stacks are also stored under ground, but unlike nuclear waste they do not change into anything that is safe for the environment. The smoke stack filters do not decompose well and will be underground for a very long time not getting much cleaner while making the earth around them more polluted and dangerous. Nuclear energy is a relatively new style of generating electricity and is in its beginning stages. There are already plans and research for more advanced, more powerful, and cleaner nuclear power plants. One of the newer plants continues to use the spent fuel rods as the power source for another power plant. This will reduce the amount of hazardous material that the plant produces and it will cut down on the overall costs of using nuclear power plants. For nuclear energy to become a steady and affordable source of energy, people need to become more excepting and open to the idea of nuclear energy. Radioactive decay is a natural process that people can harness to generate power; people should not be afraid of harnessing this natural process. Nuclear elements are decaying now. This natural process can be used as an energy source. This source is always pushed to the back because people believe that it is too dangerous to use. But it is too dangerous for the earth for people to continue to rely on gas and coal, especially if there is another cleaner source of energy readily available.

Important Quotes

All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk. [|**Ronald Reagan**][]

Almost every way we make electricity today, except for the emerging renewables and nuclear, puts out CO2. And so, what we're going to have to do at a global scale, is create a new system. And so, we need energy miracles. [|**Bill Gates**][]

[|The time for nuclear is right. We are just at a very unique time in energy markets and for the role of nuclear energy.] [|Michael Parker]

http://www.quotesea.com/quotes/with/nuclear-energy/4

References

Barth, R., & Spencer, J. (2005, November). Vulnerable no more. //Power Engineering, 109//(11).

Retrieved November 27, 2007 from EBSCO Host.

Goldemberg, J., Johansson, T. B., Reddy, A. K. N., & Williams, R. H. (2001, September).

Energy for the new millennium. //AMBIO: A Journal of the Human// //Environment, 30//(6).

Retrieved from BioOne on November 27, 2007.

International Atomic Energy Agency. (n. d.) //IAEA radiation protection.// Retrieved November 13,

2007 from http://www-ns.iaea.org/standards/default.htm.

US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. (2007, September 19). //Security.// Retrieved November 13,

2007 from http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students/waste.html.