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Autumn Ferdig
English 1010
Mrs. Trealese
13 April 2017
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Autumn Ferdig
English 1010
Mrs. Trealese
4/13/2017
Statement of topic
In this paper, I will be looking at the use of nuclear power around the world. I chose this
topic because as an engineering student I am fascinated by the potential of nuclear energy and
why people are for or against it. I also want to see the effect it has on the environment compared
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to justify the use of nuclear power to replace fossil fuels.
Scope
I will be talking about the history of nuclear science, the state of nuclear power in the US
and the rest of the developed world, how nuclear power effects the environment, and the
different types of reactors, the fuels they use. I will not be looking at renewable energy as a
Research section
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Uranium was discovered in 1789 by Martin Klaproth. He named it after the planet
Uranus. In 1902 Ernest Rutherford identified alpha and beta particles come from nucleus during
decay of Uranium. Alpha particles are made up of two protons and two neutrons. Beta particles
are neutrons that decay into a proton and an electron. Building on that knowledge, in 1911
that Uranium decays into radium and that elements can have more than one atomic mass because
The most critical achievement and subsequent discovery was when in 1917, Ernest
Rutherford split the atom. This was a critical moment because, in that action heat is released and
he realized that the heat could be harnessed as a form of energy and nuclear power became a
The first nuclear reactor proof in concept was part of the Manhattan Project and was built
in 1942. It was not until December of 1951 however that the first nuclear reactor in the world
came on-line just outside of Arco, Idaho. First nuclear reactor to produce electricity was known
as Experimental Breeder Reactor 1 or EBR-1. It was only used to power the building that it was
in and to perform experiments with the new technology. From those critical discoveries and
experiments we now know about and can harness the nuclear energy from radioactive elements.
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Nuclear energy is the energy that released during nuclear decay of radioactive elements.
Nuclear decay is the process of the nucleus of the atoms breaking down. This releases heat
energy that we can harness in our power plants. Radioactive elements are present in the Earths
crust, and can be mined with other natural resources, because radioactive elements usually occur
with other elements, they have to be isolated to utilize their energy. The mechanism that causes
the breakdown within the elements is still not completely understood, but we do know that it
occurs as the elements try to move to a more stable state. Nuclear power plants harness this
energy by using the heat released by decay to make steam that in then is used to turn turbines
The element that is commonly used in reactors is Uranium the two isotopes that uranium
comes in are 235 and 238. Uranium-238 is the most common isotope because it is more stable
The more stable an element is the less potential energy it has but it is safer and easier it is to
work with. Enrichment can be used to maximize the energy while slightly reducing the risks.
Enrichment when scientists increase the proportion of U-235 to that of 238 this increases the
energy that is released during fission. Nuclear fission is the prosses of a nucleus of an atom splits
spontaneously or after collision with other particles this is also known as nuclear decay.
The state of nuclear power in the US and the rest of the developed world.
The first nuclear power plant that was used to supply power into the electrical grid came
online June 26, 1954 in Obninsk, Russia. It produced at the rate of 5 megawatts. MWe is the
electric output of a power plant. This is calculated by the amount of heat produced by the
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reaction multiplied but the efficiency of the plant. The efficiency is determined by how little
energy is lost in the transfer of power. The efficiency of that fist plant was 16%.
The first reactor that came online as part of the power grid in the United States was
used to power Shippingport on the Ohio River in December of 1957. It had a 60 Megawatt
capacity, and an efficiency of 25%. Many other countries followed with nuclear power plants.
. Today there are 488 nuclear reactors in operation in 31 countries. The oldest that is still
in operation is in Tarapur, India. It is 47 years old and since it came online it has produced
40,074 gigawatt/hours of electricity. The newest reactor to come online is in Yang Jiang, China
in January of this year. It has a 1000 megawatt capacity and is 34% efficient so you can see the
significant improvement in nuclear technology over the 63 years it has been in use. Most people
would probably be surprised that there are so many reactors that supply so much of the worlds
power. Many people have only ever heard of three (World Nuclear Association).
One of the most famous reactors that everyone has heard of is Chernobyl. This is the site
of one of the largest nuclear disasters ever. It happened on April 26, 1986 in the USSR in modern
day Ukraine close to the border of Belarus. It happened when reactor 4 blew up during a safety
test. The ironic thing is that the melt down occurred because of the safety test of the facility. The
safety test was designed to figure out what would happen if power was cut to the reactors water
supply pumps. The problem was that Reactor 4 should not have been in operation because it was
The second problem is that the test they ran should have been run between 700-1000
megawatts the test was run at 200 megawatts. An engineering flaw in the reactor made it
unstable at low power. When they started the test they had to drop the power down but it dropped
to zero megawatts. After this, the boron control rods were taken out to start up the reactor.
Because the Boron gathers up the energy that is released during nuclear decay. After starting the
test the they had trouble getting water to the reactor causing a hot spot to form at the bottom of
the reactor. This caused steam to build up which then caused a power surge. To try to keep the
power surge under control they dropped the boron rods back in, but it made the unstable reactor
more unstable, which made the reactor explode. This melt down caused an environmental
The second reactor that people may have heard of is Three-mile island. In Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania, on March 28, 1979. Unit two had a minor problem in an electrical system when a
single circuit in the secondary cooling system failed. This made the reactor automatically shut
down. The problem occurred during the shutdown when valve that was supposed to close down
didnt close fully and the reactor coolant leaked out. When the coolant leaked the reactor
overheated. The second failure came because the gauges that should have alerted the engineers
did not indicate the problem, but the safety systems began to operate and the engineers thought
that the safety mechanisms were malfunctioning and shut those down. It wasnt until later that
they realized the problem. The good news was that this reactor had enough safety built in that
there was no environmental disaster, the plant was just too damaged to bring it back on line.
Most of the hysteria about the malfunction came because of how the media was informed and
because, ironically, there was a movie about a nuclear disaster coverup that was released that
The third power plant disaster that happened occurred in Fukushima Daiichi, Japan on
March 11, 2011. It happened after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and a tsunami hit Japan. The
earthquake caused the reactors to go into immediate shut down. The reactor was partially
damaged in the quake, but all nuclear material was safely contained. Everything was fine until
the tsunami hit. The tsunami wave measured 15 meters which is about 50 feet high struck the
power plant and caused the backup generators to fail causing a power outage in the critical
cooling system causing meltdown in three of the four reactors at Daiichi. Though they had
planned for the earthquake and even a tsunami it was the sheer size of the event that they could
not have anticipated. The primary environmental impact occurred in the ocean where irradiated
water was released and in the area surrounding the power to the north and west. 81,000 were
originally displaced, however the government has been actively working to remove the
To date there have been 610 nuclear power plants brought on line and only three have
ever had a serious accident, and they are the only three that get talked about. People focus on the
potential for harm without realizing the extraordinary potential for good that they represent. By
comparison over the same period of time there have been over 188 oil spills that I found listed
on the internet.
The nuclear reactor isnt perfect but neither are other forms there are many more oil and
gas related disasters. But we cant look back and say nuclear power wont work because of the
events at Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and Fukushima. They were freak accidents that occurred
only 3 out of 610 times a plant was built and technology has moved forward since then. The 610
power plants does not include the very many nuclear reactors that are being used in other ways to
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generate power. The United States Navy has been using nuclear reactors in their subs since 1954
with the USS Nautilus. They are converting their full fleet over to nuclear power.
on developing nuclear power plants the first is set to open this year. In an interview with the
Bulletin the UAE leading nuclear engineer Hamad Alkaabi was asked why the UAE wasnt
working on developing solar power The UAE is probably one of the most aggressive countries
in terms of developing the renewable sector. However, by our assessment, renewables can only
meet a small portion of the demand in the future. Our expectation is it would reach maximum by
2020 (Alkaabi).
One ton of coal equals 2 megawatts of energy. If you compare that to the 1000
megawatts of the new China reactor it would 500 tons of coal to produce the same result and the
nuclear plant, and it is energy that is completely free of carbon emissions. NASA calculated that
nuclear power prevented and average of 64 gigatons of CO2 emissions from being released into
the atmosphere between 1971 and 2009. They estimate that that is the equivalent the last 35
Ethics summery
The ethics of this situation are environmental because nuclear power plants dont release
carbon emissions it is a clean energy. It is efficient and becoming more economical. It has a
small footprint and is relatively safe. The use of this energy removes the need for moving oil at
great risk to the environment and the need for oil fracking which is damaging to the environment
and causing tectonic movement. Though not renewable it is very long lasting.
Proposal of action
First we need to lift all moratoriums on building new Nuclear plants. Then over the next
ten years we should start converting old power plants to nuclear plants. Next we should fund
research and development not just nuclear but other sustainable forms of energy.
Conclusion
If we can move past the hysteria of three nuclear incidents there is a great deal to be
gained from this technology. It is not only long lasting and efficient, but also very sustainable.
More over if explored, its applications could go far beyond that of power plants and fleets of
ships to the roadways of the world eliminating CO2 emissions and other pollutants from our
environment. We should trust the science and move forward with nuclear energy.
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