Nuclear Power and Power Plant Essays

Submitted By roberts1202
Words: 1946
Pages: 8
Open Document
Robert Shen
Mrs. Brown
Period 3
March 25, 2015
Nuclear Energy
Nuclear energy is one of most potential energy resource available right. Nuclear Energy is one of the most potential energy in the world. There is only 100 nuclear power plant operating during 2014, but they produce 5.5% of total electricity in the world. The Nuclear fuel, uranium, is a radioactive element. Nuclear energy has a lot of advantage. First, uranium, nuclear fuel, is a high energy element. Second, Nuclear power plant doesn’t emit carbon dioxide, which is a major cause of global warming. Third, nuclear power is one of the cheapest power resource available.
According to Euro Nuclear Organization, 1 kg of natural uranium corresponds to nearly 10,000 kg of mineral oil or 14,000 kg of coal. This means that you can save a lot of money on labors, transportation. In August 8 2011, the price of uranium is US $115 per kilogram. At the same time, the price of coal is around US $9.2 per kilogram. Form the math, we can know that for $115 of uranium can produce the same amount of energy as $128800 of coal. We can saving a lot of money just on resource price by using nuclear power. The saving of resource price will lower to price to generate energy, and it reflect on the electricity price that is on our utility bills.
A lot of people against the nuclear power is saying that the nuclear reactor is very costly. A lot of time the government doesn’t plan very well. So when they starts to build a nuclear reactor, sometime they found out that this place has a lot of work to do before building a reactor,Which makes the actual cost a lot higher than the actual cost. When this happened, the government will have no choice but abandoned the unfinished reactor. This kind of situation will only waste a lot of money and labor. And even a well-planned nuclear power plant will still cost much more than fossil-fuel power station. One of the advantage that nuclear reactor has is that a newer designed nuclear power station can last from 40-60 years, some nuclear power can even last about 65 years. In general, a fossil-fuel power plant can only last about 40-50 years. And the total cost to produce electricity by nuclear power is 27.42 dollar/MWh, but the total cost to generate electricity by coal is 37.20 dollars/MWh. So it is costly to build a nuclear power plant, but in a long run, it is actually cheaper than coal power station.
Another advantage that nuclear power plant has is that it doesn’t emit carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is one of the cause of global warming. And the coal power plant in the United States emit 1,562 million tons of carbon dioxide. That is 76% from CO2 emission from U.S. electricity generation, and around 29% of total U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. In nuclear power plant, the generator itself doesn’t emit carbon dioxide, all the emission is limited to the fuel mining and transportation. And it is less than one percent of CO2 emission that are associated with electricity generation. Nuclear power plant has a huge advantage on CO2 emission.
Even though that nuclear power plant doesn’t have CO2 emission, but it is also very dangerous. There are a lot of nuclear disaster in the history, such as Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear disaster, Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and Three Mile Island Accident. Chernobyl and Fukushima accident are two of the most serious nuclear accident in the history. The aftermath of Chernobyl nuclear disaster was that the whole city had to be abandoned. The same situation happened in the Fukushima Nuclear accident. Over thousand of people die in the accident, and hundreds of thousands of child has genetic defects. It seem like that there is serious safety concern on nuclear power plant, but the following datas will proof that the point is wrong. Every Trillion Walt electricity generated, there will be average of 342 death of workers associated with coal power plant, and there will be average of 883 death associated with hydroelectric power plant,
Show More

Related Documents: Nuclear Power and Power Plant Essays

The Effects Of Nuclear Power Plants

Nuclear power plants provide the most economically efficient, safe, and sustainable source of power generation available to our generation; however it comes with it’s own set of issues that must be dealt with to mitigate any potential harm to the environment or population. One of the larger issues is that once the reactor has attained initial criticality, it is never truly “off”. The reactor will still produce heat due to decay of non-stable isotopes within it caused by fission. Because decay…

Words 1202 - Pages 5

Nuclear power plant Essay

Kim­Tuyen Le B4 Nuclear Power Plant Persuasive Essay Nuclear power has been around since the first atomic plant was made operational on December 2, 1942. These plants are an efficient way of producing electricity. They can power every electronic item we use today, from TV’s to computers and everything in between. As great as they may seem, how do we deal with the radioactive waste left over? The answer is, we don’t. Until we find a better way of dealing with this waste, we should hold off on converting fossil…

Words 376 - Pages 2

Environment: Nuclear Power Plants Essay

(2013) pp. 2101-2106 © Research India Publications http://www.ripublication.com/ijaer.htm Nuclear Energy and Environmental Sustainability: Issues and Challenges Harinder Singh Department of Law, Punjabi University, Patiala. Abstract Nuclear Energy is the use of ‘Exothermic Nuclear Processes’ to generate useful heat and electricity in India. This term ‘exothermic reaction’ includes both nuclear fission and nuclear decay of radioactive materials such as Uranium U-235 and U-238, Radium (Ra+), Rubidium…

Words 1920 - Pages 8

The Pros And Cons Of The Nuclear Power Plant

Explosions? Let’s stop them while ahead! A Nuclear Power Plant wouldn’t be good Southern Indiana because over the years of trying to succeed the process of the Nuclear Power Plant there has been increasing of deaths from the 1952 to 2011. Also the increase of money going into them and the sickness that could follow. In this paper you will have the opportunities to read the increase of deaths, waste of money going into theses buildings, that could be useful to benefiting less deaths, and other ways…

Words 742 - Pages 3

Japan: Nuclear Power Plants Essay

Nuclear power in Japan 1a) Nuclear power in Japan is really important for the country as Japan is struggling with the rising imports. A reason why Japan needs nuclear power is because they import around 84% of its energy supplies and they only have a few natural resources of their own. Originally Japan was reliant on fossil fuel imports, mainly oil coming from the Middle East. This was important as oil fuelled around 66% of the electricity in 1974. In 1973 there was an oil shock which made fuel…

Words 3116 - Pages 13

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

researchers from Kyoto Prefectural University showed that the soil surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is still contaminated with radioactive cesium. There is a high risk that the atoms from the radioactive cesium could transfer to food crops. The event that caused the soil to be contaminated was the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The earthquake and tsunami hit the Fukushima plant multiple times, which caused it to emit a “radioactive plume” into the atmosphere. This “radioactive…

Words 364 - Pages 2

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Disaster Essay

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Disaster It is a silent enemy, it has no odor, no smell, no shape, yet it is one of man’s deadliest foes. Radiation is not something most people face on a daily basis, but for the town of Prypiat in the Ukraine it is a barren wasteland because of it. The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster was the worst nuclear catastrophe to have ever occurred and, is a perfect example of what can happen when the blind and unmasked furry of atomic power is left unharnessed…

Words 2988 - Pages 12

Energy: Energy and Nuclear Power Plant Essay

and with one flick the lights are turned on; but have you ever stopped to think where the power comes from when we flip a switch? What powers the electricity and how is that power emitted into our homes each and every day? Most homes rely on electricity to power “refrigerators, space and water heaters, lighting, and power appliances and equipment.” (Electricity Explained) I rely on electricity to power most of these items in my home; without them I would not be able to heat the water for a shower…

Words 1112 - Pages 5

The Cost Of Nuclear Energy

The nuclear energy was the best way for now, because the way we use to generate the eclectic is almost use all of the unrenewable energy to generate the electric and the nuclear power will actually be the nuclear energy. The way the nuclear power have the advantage of was the cost money of buying the ground will be more less than the other way it have . The nuclear power is the way to generate the heat by the nuclear reaction, and through the steam turbine to generate the electricity in the nuclear…

Words 975 - Pages 4

Pros And Cons Of Nuclear Power

sources should be of interest to you. Nuclear power is one of the world’s most used energy resources derived from nuclear reactors. Many homes, industries, and companies use nuclear power. Today nuclear power rivals several other renewable and nonrenewable resources of energy because it is cost competitive and carbon free. Nuclear power is beneficial to society because it is relatively low costing, environmentally friendly, and a reliable energy source. Nuclear power was not always used for energy production…

Words 866 - Pages 4