Hasiholan, 1

Abram Ebenezer Hasiholan (16613252)

Mrs. Nia Kurniasih
Academic Writing 04
December 19, 2013
NUCLEAR AS POWER RESOURCE

6 August 1945, 07:09 AM. A Boeing B-29 Superfortress took off from
Kokuro Island airstrip, a US Army air-force base in Japan. The Enola Gay, the name
of the plane piloted by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets. Jr., flew from Kokuro Island to the
city of Hiroshima. 08:15:00, the Enola Gay dropped a bomb containing 64 kg of
Uranium-235 named The Little Boy from the height of 9470 meters. 08:15:43, the
bomb exploded. It demolished 69% of Hiroshima buildings, killed 80.000 citizens of
Hiroshima and 20.000 soldiers, grounded over 12 km 2 city of Hiroshima based on the
American army estimation. 9 August 1945, 11:01:00, the same bomb but with
different name, The Fat Man containing a core of about 6.4 kg (14 lb)
of plutonium, was dropped over Nagasaki. It successfully destroyed an area with
radius of 1,6 km. Only few people injured in Nagasaki, but it had a big effect to the
World War II. The bombs made Japan surrender in 16 August 1945 from the World
War II. The United States won the war, so did the Allied force in Europe. Not only
finishing the war but it also shocked the whole world. People thought that it was the
most dangerous weapon in the world ever used in a war. Harry S. Truman, President
of the USA at that time, said: I realize the tragic significance of the atomic bomb. It
is an awful responsibility which has come to us. We thank God that it has come to us,
instead of to our enemies and we pray that He may guide us to use it in His ways and
for His purposes. As history written, The Little Boy and The Fat Man are the

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only nuclear atomic bomb used in war. Since that time, people promised not to use
nuclear atomic bomb or anything containing nuclear radioactives as weapon.
After the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, people started to think to
develop nuclear as energy resource. Scientist started to develop the nuclear power.
They used all Lanthanides and Actinides as their development subject and it
accomplished. Since the accomplishment of nuclear development, most country in the
world started to build nuclear reactor and made them as their power resource
unexceptionally two super-power country in the world, United States of America
(USA) and Union of Socialist Soviet Republic (USSR), commonly known as the
Soviet Union. Both the USA and the USSR established a lot of nuclear reactor spread
over their country. Everything went good both in the USA and the USSR, until a
tragic accident happened in city of Pripyat, Ukraine which was the part of Soviet
Union at that time. The disaster began during a systems test on Saturday, 26 April
1986 at reactor number four of the Chernobyl plant, which is near the city
of Pripyat and in proximity to the administrative border with Belarus and
the Dnieper river. There was a sudden and unexpected power surge, and when an
emergency shutdown was attempted, an exponentially larger spike in power output
occurred, which led to a reactor vessel rupture and a series of steam explosions.
These events exposed the graphite moderator of the reactor to air, causing it to
ignite. The fire sent a plume of highly radioactive fallout into the atmosphere and
over an extensive geographical area, including Pripyat. The plume drifted over large
parts of the western Soviet Union and Europe. The nuclear radiation was too high and
very hazardous. People were evacuated from Pripyat and resettled far away from
Pripyat. From 1986 to 2000, 350,400 people were evacuated and resettled from the
most severely contaminated areas of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. According to
official post-Soviet data, about 60% of the fallout landed in Belarus. Until now, the
nuclear radiation within the area where the reactor once established is still high.
There arent any people in that city now. Even plants cannot grow in the soil of
Pripyat anymore. Since that tragedy, every country started to worry about their

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nuclear reactor. The last nuclear reactor accident that occurred in Fukushima reactor
made people more afraid of the using of nuclear energy as power source. But, if we
learn the accident well, we will realize that all of the accident that happened is caused
by the human error, not because of the reaction inside the nuclear reactor. Thats why,
for me, nuclear reactor is, actually and still, good to be a power source. I bravely say
that nuclear energy is good and I supported the using of nuclear energy as power
resource, especially for Indonesia.
Why is it good? First, because it is very safe for human being, even if its
placed near peoples housing. People often say that living near a nuclear power
station is very dangerous because of its radiation. It is completely wrong. Based on
U.S. EPA Office Air and Radiation data on May 2007, radiation from a nuclear power
station is below 0.001 rem (<0.001 rem). The rem itself stands for roentgen
equivalent for man which means it is the amount of radiation dose which our body
will receive from the radiation source. Compared to the dose of X-Ray radiation in
hospital, it produces 0.004 rem radiation. Four times bigger than living near a nuclear
power station. Even the natural radioactivity inside our body is forty times bigger
than living near a nuclear power station. Thats why, we dont have to be afraid of
living near a nuclear power station. Another reason why it is safe for human being is
because the nuclear reactor is nuclear energy is the world's largest source of emissionfree energy. Nuclear power plants produce no controlled air pollutants, such as sulfur
and particulates, or greenhouse gases. The use of nuclear energy in place of other
energy sources helps to keep the air clean, preserve the Earth's climate, avoid groundlevel ozone formation and prevent acid rain. Of all energy sources, nuclear energy has
perhaps the lowest impact on the environment, including water, land, habitat, species,
and air resources. Nuclear energy is the most eco-efficient of all energy sources
because it produces the most electricity relative to its environmental impact. Before
released into environment, the nuclear reaction debris will go through 6 phases of
reducing radiation process so it wont harm the surrounding environment. Nuclear
energy actually lowers greenhouse gas emissions. Nuclear energy advocates contend

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that since no fossil fuels or coals are burned, no carbon dioxide will be released in the
air. On the other hand, when uranium is mined and transferred to a power plant,
carbon dioxide will inevitably be released since mining and transporting requires
burning or fossil fuels. Likewise, generating nuclear fuel sourced from uranium needs
plenty of energy that can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. However, the
emissions are considerably less than greenhouse emissions related to fossil fuel
burning. In essence, if there was a more efficient method for mining and transporting
uranium to and nuclear plants, nuclear energy may be carbon-free.
Second reason why it is good for human being is because nuclear power or
nuclear reaction produce more power than any other power plant. Lets take Jatiluhur
Hydro Plant as an example. Jatiluhur Hydro Plant can hold 2.44 billion cubic meters,
as equal as 2.44 trillion kilograms water or 2.44 billion tons water. With a standard
flow rate of a hydro plant ,79.3 cubic meter per second, it can only produce 187,5
megawatt electricity. While a nuclear reactor can produce 1000 megawatts electricity
with only 75 tons of Uranium-235. Jakarta needs 4250 megawatts electricity whilst
Jatiluhur Hydro Plant can only 187,5 megawatts electricity, its not confusing if
Jakarta often suffers electricity cut out only in a month. Thats why nuclear power is
really helpful to sufficient electricity needs. If we see America now, they have already
built a lot of nuclear reactors spread around the states. They never suffer a lack of
electricity whereas they have a lot of metropolitan city such as New York, Las Vegas,
Los Angeles, Washington, and many more that needs a lot of electricity. Even though
its very expensive to build a nuclear power plant and to buy the radioactive
materials, nuclear power plant has a lot of promising prospects for cover the lack of
electricity power in many country including Indonesia.
Beside two reasons above, next reason why nuclear power is good to be
power resource is because nuclear power plant does not need a lot of maintenance
budget. Nuclear power plants have long periods of operation. Nuclear power plants
are designed to operate continuously for long periods of time. They can run about 540
days before they are shut down for refueling. The longest continuous run by a light

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water reactor is Three Mile Island, in Pennsylvania, USA which completed a 688day run. The longest run of any type of reactor is 894 days, achieved by the Pickering
7 plant, a heavy-water reactor in Ontario, Canada. If we take a look over our power
plant now, some of it looks like abandoned. Why? Because we dont have much
money to do the maintenance of power plant. Moreover, pollution in Indonesia itself
is increasing year by year. The biggest hydro power plant in Indonesia, the Saguling
Hydro Power Plant that established near Citarum river, is now at a critical condition.
Citarum river is very highly polluted now and it could damage the power turbine.
Thats why they need someone that watch over the river so the water wont break the
power plant. But to need hire people or employee, it needs money and the money
source to do such thing as maintenance, paying salary for the workers, etc. is from the
national budget or APBN. The allocation of APBN for maintaining infrastructures
including power plant is only 11%. Government only gives Rp172,792,100,000,000,from Rp1,529,673,100,000,000,-. This is not enough because the amount above is for
budgeting the building of this nation, not only to maintain power plant. Moreover,
corruption in this country is, still, trending and tax is not completely collected. It,
absolutely, does consume a lot of money to build nuclear power plant but it has a lot
of good prospect to cover the energy crisis in the world, including Indonesia.
When talking about the benefits of nuclear energy, it is also crucial to note
that nuclear energy production has resulted in fewer casualties than production of
fossil fuels. The main thing to remember here is that as long as a nuclear power plant
makes use of a nuclear reactor that is expertly designed and managed properly, the
risk of casualties are zero to none.
If we talk about the benefits of nuclear power usage for power source, there
are lots of reason to be told. But it all also depends on the ability of the country to
build, maintain, and responsible for the effect of nuclear power plant. They must have
enough human resources to control the power plant. They must provide enough
money to build and maintain it. The important thing is, they must be ready to face the
worst possibilities like natural disaster that could damage the nuclear plant or human

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error in taking care of the plant. The most feared accident in the world is nuclear
accident because nuclear radiation could cause cancer for human or radioactive
contamination for water supply which could endanger the ecology in Earth. Nuclear
also should not be used for bad purpose. Nuclear is very powerful thats why it should
be well used. Einstein once said: The unleashed power of the atom has changed
everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled
catastrophe. Einstein itself had predicted that the atom power could lead to
catastrophe. We must not use nuclear as the power of destruction. God has created
this world as a good place for living. God has provided us with a lot of resource for
our better living. Earth is our own paradise that is given free from God and we must
keep our present good until we die later.

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