SAFE AND SECURE: HOW IS NUCLEAR ENERGY HARMFUL?

PART 1 :How Is Nuclear Energy Harmful?

Nuclear energy is one of the new energy resources that are growing rapidly, but along with all of the benefits that come with nuclear energy, there are also disadvantages. These disadvantages can be harmful to people, the environment and the world as a whole.The second part of this article will discuss on the security and organization of the nuclear power plant to eliminate the disadvantages.

Function

o    Before you can understand how nuclear is harmful, you must understand the process that goes into creating nuclear energy. First, uranium must be gathered and put through an enrichment process to get it ready for nuclear reactors. The uranium is then put through "fission." Fission is the splitting of an atom and this is the process that actually creates the radioactive material and gives off radiation. That fission process creates a chain reaction between all of the uranium and the heat from this process turns water into steam. That steam spins the turbines and generators to create electricity.

Waste streams

Nuclear power has at least four waste streams that may harm the environment:

• They create spent nuclear fuel at the reactor site (including plutonium waste).
• They produce tailing at uranium mines and mills.
• During operation they routinely release small amounts of radioactive isotopes.
• During accidents they can release large quantities of dangerous radioactive materials.

Features

o    The radiation that is released into the air is harmful to many living things. There is natural radiation that comes from our homes, bodies, and televisions, but the radiation from nuclear waste can add more and create enough to become harmful. If a person is exposed to enough radiation, mutations can occur, mostly to newborns. This includes humans and animals. Unless there is a nuclear disaster or the waste gets into the wrong hands, the everyday exposure from outputted radiation is hardly noticeable.

Considerations

o    Everyday operations in a nuclear plant cannot cause widespread damage, but there are few things that can spread it quickly. Nuclear meltdowns and explosions send radiation into the air at a rapid pace. One of the biggest disasters in history was the Chernobyl explosion. Many lives were lost due to the radiation and mutations occur among newborns around the area as well.
When nuclear power is contained, it is a relatively safe procedure, but when the nuclear power gets into the wrong hands, nuclear weapons can be created. Nuclear weapons are a large aspect of terrorism and the use of nuclear weapons can be harmful to large areas of land.

Effects

o    Radioactive waste also spreads through water that is used at nuclear reactors. This has a huge effect on the surrounding aquatic life and can even cause mutations in fish. Swimming is banned in any water around nuclear plants because the radioactive waste in these waters could be potentially deadly to humans.

Prevention/Solution

o    In order to stop the amount of harm that nuclear energy causes, there are a few steps the government can do. The first is to find proper storage for the radioactive waste. Some prospects have been looked at, but a permanent solution needs to be found to keep people safe. The other step is to seize any nuclear weapons that could mean disaster for the whole world. If the nuclear weapons are destroyed, they cannot be used to inflict harm.

Environmental effects of accidents

Japan towns, villages, and cities around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. In March 2011 an earthquake and tsunami caused damage that led to explosions and partial meltdown at the Fukushima 1 Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. The 20km and 30km areas had evacuation and sheltering orders, and additional administrative districts that had an evacuation order are highlighted.

The 1986 Chernobyl Disaster in the Ukraine was the world's worst nuclear power plant accident. Estimates of its death toll are controversial and range from 4,056 to 985,000. Large amounts of radioactive contamination were spread across Europe, and cesium and strontium contaminated many agricultural products, livestock and soil. The accident necessitated the evacuation of 300,000 people from Kiev, rendering an area of land unusable to humans for an indeterminate period.

Although above article shown that nuclear energy have a great disadvantages, but engineers all around the world have been searching and developing new method to secure the power plant and improve security and process of the nuclear power plant. It will not be an easy task to come out with a solution to this problem, but as long as the society and engineers learn from previous mistake and try to develop a clean and safe nuclear power plant, so that the world will not exhausted of natural resource in 50 to 60 years from now.