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Nuclear Power Plants and Safety

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Nuclear Power Plants and Safety
Nuclear Power Plants and Safety

Since the humans use energy sources such as wood, coal, and oil to produce electricity, people want to use better energy sources to produce electricity more. By the mid twentieth century, scientists found the method of making incredible energy by using uranium as nuclear fission. Today there are about 400 nuclear power plants around the world and more than 100 nuclear power plants in United States (Howstuffworks). In addition, nuclear reactors produced a lot of energy and they affected quality life styles by using nuclear energy (Howstuffworks). Nuclear power plants are providing about 17 percent of electricity of the world and several countries generate electricity about more than 50% of their using by nuclear power plant than other countries (Howstuffworks). However, nuclear power plants have a lot of risks such as accidents and radiation pollution and they also effects to people’s health, minds, life styles, and the relationship between countries even though nuclear power plants are beneficial as energy sources. The government and nuclear engineers may need to make stronger and safer nuclear power plants to produce incredible amounts of electricity since nuclear power plants are not safe enough and some terrible nuclear power plants accidents pollute the environment and people’s health.
Nuclear power plants work with nuclear fission reaction. The origin source of nuclear energy is uranium and it is very “common element on the earth” (Howstuffworks). A uranium nucleus captures the neutrons and it also split very quickly (Howstuffworks). This is called nuclear fission reaction and it releases a lot of energy as “form of heat and gamma radiation” when uranium atoms split (Loewen 523). When a uranium fission reaction happens with incredible high “energy source of heat,” steam turbine generator produces electricity (Howstuffworks). This simple uranium fission reaction produces incredible amounts of energy to use as



Cited: Albright, David., Hibbs, Mark. “What’s North Korea up to, anyway?” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist 47.10 (Dec1991): 10-11 Brown Jr., George E. “U.S. Nuclear Waste Policy: Flawed but Feasible.” Environment 29.8 (Oct 1987): 6 Erikson, Kai. “Radiation’s Lingering Dread.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 47.2 (Mar1991): 34 Lewis, H. W. “The Accident at the Chernobyl’ Nuclear Power Plant and Its Consequences.” Environment 28.9 (Nov1986): 25 Loewen, Eric P. “Heavy-Metal Nuclear Power.” American Scientist 92.6 (Nov/Dec2004): 522-531

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