Advantages and disadvantages of nuclear power

Advantages and disadvantages of nuclear power Do the advantages of using nuclear power outweigh the disadvantages and thus making it a safe and economical method of generating electricity? At this time it is believed that there are far more disadvantages than advantages when it comes to the use of nuclear power. This report will list the advantages and disadvantages and prove that nuclear power is the next stepping stone in technological advancements and a cleaner future. HYPOTHESIS The advantages of utilizing nuclear power will by far demean the disadvantages and therefore prove that it will be beneficial to make use of nuclear power as an energy source. DISCUSSION ADVANTAGES One of the main advantages of nuclear power is that it does not emit a large quantity of green house gases such as CO2 [1] [2] and thus does not contribute to global warming. In turn this allows for a cleaner global environment. As seen in the below diagram, Coal-fired power stations release 5912000 tons of CO2 per year. Nuclear power stations use less th an a twenty-fifth of that because they only release 230000 tons of CO2 per year. Therefore in the environmental aspect, nuclear power is safe and beneficial for the world s future. Figure 1: A graph of the CO2 Emission by Each Power Source Another advantage of nuclear power is that it has relatively low costs involved in its production [5]. It yields much more electrical energy for each unit of nuclear fuel (uranium rods) used than the conventional fossil fuel power stations (coal) [1] [2]. Due to this it will also cost less to ascertain the resources needed to produce the same amount of energy as fossil fuels as is made evident in the below graph. This results in nuclear fuel costing much less per kilowatt hour for a consumer than any other method of producing electricity [fig. 2]. Therefore nuclear power will be economically beneficial for the world s electricity consuming population. Figure 2: A graph showing the US Electricity Production Costs for 1995 – 2008 An organizat ion known as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is in place to ensure that all nuclear power stations and nuclear activity which occur anywhere in the world is done without error which ultimately makes the use of nuclear power a safer option [7]. They implement standards and regulations which must be adhered to by all nuclear facilities [7]. One of their main tasks is to oversee the installation of the nuclear systems and transportation of nuclear materials to insure safety and security [7]. These monitoring protocols allow the usage of nuclear energy to be safe and secure. Over time improved designs have come about for nuclear reactors such as the advanced reactor in Japan which has been operating since 1996 [6]. The major safety feature in this reactor is its passive safety system. In the event of a malfunction, no intervention from an operator is required thus eliminating the chance of a human error [6]. If this type safety feature was to be implemented in all the curr ent and future nuclear reactors, it would significantly enhance the safety of the nuclear plants. There is a variety of safety features for nuclear reactors one of which is the three barriers between the fuel rods and the environment [6]. The fuel rods are in a solid ceramic pellet which forms the first barrier [6]. These pellets are inside a closed zirconium tube, which forms the second barrier [6]. The final barrier is the containment of the fuel rods. They are stored in a steel pressure vessel and this vessel has walls up to 30cm thick therefore preventing all radioactive radiation from escaping. Other than those safety barriers the whole containment structure has one meter thick reinforced concrete walls [6]. Thus in the event of a human error there are provisions in place to minimize the severity of the error. These measures will increase the safety of using nuclear power plants even more.