One_World_Essay-Nuclear_Energy

One World Essay- Nuclear Energy Nuclear energy is mostly considered as a useful source of energy, but it can also be a huge problem for the world. The following essay will be discussing about the advantages and disadvantages of using Nuclear Energy and also discuss on how it helps and affects our both environmentally and politically. Before nuclear energy was created, coal was one of the main sources used to create energy. It is also used now but using coal creates many major problems for example like how coal-burning can produce acid-rain, sulfur oxide discharges, carbon dioxide emissions, hazardous wastes and many other problems. These problems made many scientist concerned about the future ways of accessing energy therefore they started to research on a different way to produce energy without hurting the environment. In the 20th century, the pursuit of nuclear energy for electricity generation began after the discovery of how radioactive elements can release extremely large amounts of energy. But later on in 1930’s, the discovery of nuclear fission started when James Chadwick discovered the neutron. A few years later, Enrico Fermi and some other collaborators discovered that, if various elements are bombarded together by neutrons, then new radioactive elements are produced. In 1939, chemists found that a uranium nucleus, having absorbed a neutron, could split and release energy into two parts, in which one part is called barium. The discovery of nuclear fission was bad because this meant that atomic bombs would be created because the atomic bomb and nuclear reactors work by fission. Evidence of how nuclear fission could be useful and dangerous was when Albert Einstein stated in a letter that “The element uranium may be turned into a new and important source of energy.” and warned that the Germans may use atomic science to create “extremely powerful bombs of a new type.” After World War II, the use of atomic energy finally changed and was used for good and not war. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, electricity was generated for the first time by a nuclear reactor. Ever since, nuclear energy was used to create and produce electricity around the world. It became the most effective and environmentally friendly source of energy used, especially in relation to kilowatts produced, because nuclear plants do not produce any harmful gases unlike coal energy. It requires small area for production and there hasn’t been any significant effect towards water, land, habitat, species and air resources. Nuclear energy has helped the world keep an environmentally friendly society, that is why more and more countries are trying to get access to this kind of source, over 16 countries are now depending on nuclear power for at least a quarter of their electricity, which is quite a lot. In the following graph, you can see that the nuclear energy (gold) produced to some of the countries are quite a lot and it is mostly a quarter of where they get their electricity source. Even though nuclear energy has benefited our world to become a more environmentally friendly society, there are also many limitations and disadvantages on the political issues. This is because of how it carries risks of reactor meltdowns and harmful released radiation. When some countries say that they want to use nuclear energy as a source to make electricity, the world gets nervous because therefore, it would mean that they can also make nuclear weapons such as nuclear bombs. Power plants are not the only source of energy because nuclear weapons can produce even more deadly types or energy. Some countries say that they need that kind of energy to help protect their society and say that it is not a big problem but if you look back into history, nuclear weapons have killed hundreds of thousands of people and with the amount of nuclear weapons created right now; it can actually kill every single person in the world. When nuclear weapons are used, the explosions produce radiations. These radiations harm the cells of the body, and can cause illness and even death. The meltdown (as mentioned before) is one of the common accidents that happen when the fission reaction goes out of control and lead to a nuclear explosion and the emission of great amounts of radiation. A great example of how nuclear energy can kill people is when the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima which killed over 100,000 people. The radiation left from it gave risks to even more people. This shows that nuclear energy/nuclear weapons have caused even worse consequences for our society. Apart from the consequences of being able to create nuclear weapons, nuclear reactors create another problem which is the nuclear waste that is produced after using it. Nuclear waste products are one of the biggest problems of the nuclear power industries today. At first scientists thought that the waste could be recycled and buried, but after several attempts to doing this, they found out that it wasn’t as easy as they imagined. -------------------------------------------- [ 2 ]. Quest, Think. "Coal Energy." Think Quest. Web. 5 Mar. 2011. . [ 3 ]. Takemoto, Yoshifumi, and Alan Katz. "Nuclear Power." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 05 Mar. 2011. . [ 4 ]. Quest, Think. "Nuclear Fission." Think Quest. Web. 5 Mar. 2011. . [ 5 ]. "Nuclear Energy Guide." Council on Foreign Relations. Web. 05 Mar. 2011. . [ 6 ]. Takemoto, Yoshifumi, and Alan Katz. 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