Nuclear Energy; An Atomic Idea

Finding a way around global warming is one of many scientific anomalies. Some would say harnessing power from wind, water, or stay with fossil fuels is the way to go, however, I say that we should use nuclear energy. The idea of nuclear power came from the Germans before World War Two. Albert Einstein wrote a letter to President Roosevelt saying that they needed to harness the nuclear energy into a weapon before the Nazis did.

We did, forming the Manhattan Project to make a super bomb. The first controlled nuclear chain reaction happened at the University of Chicago in 1942, and the first real reactor was made in Tennessee in the late 1940’s. Nuclear reactors have been built around the world since, being the second provider of energy below fossil fuels. Nuclear energy is the only reasonable source for today’s, and tomorrow’s, economy, world, and health. Nuclear power produces more power while also emitting less waste.

One pound of uranium equals over 3 million pounds of coal. One ton of natural uranium can produce more than 40 million kilowatt-hours of electricity. This is equivalent to burning 16,000 tons of coal or 80,000 barrels of oil. Nuclear reactors are very large but they produce immense amounts of electricity. An average power plant produces 12.

2 billion kilowatts in an hour. That would be able to power a single house for about 173,973 years! Uranium is also about 70 percent more dense than coal making it much easier to store in large amounts, related to the amount of energy. Opposers to nuclear energy would say that it’s to dangerous of an alternative. If a reactor has a meltdown, thousands can die like in Chernobyl, and Fukushima. Another problem is the waste.

Instead of emitting gasses, nuclear energy’s waste is depleted Uranium. Depleted Uranium is almost impossible to destroy, the only way to deal with it is to safely store it for long periods of time. Two ways we can do that no not disturb the public is to make tanks underground or under mountains to get the waste out of the way, or we could put it into a space station, or a rocket and send it flying into space. The space idea hasn’t been thought through all the way and could make problems for the future but our reactors have been using the underground alternative. As for the safety, reactors are dangerous but n the right hands, they can work safely and efficiently.

I hope that you can now see why we need to use nuclear energy more. Nuclear energy produces more power, less waste, and the uranium is much easier to store than coal. If we proceed the way that we are, this world could be destroyed faster than we think. We need to switch to nuclear energy. Bibliography “Nuclear Power Technology.” Www.

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