Nuclear energy

By Nathan beach

What is it Nuclear power, or nuclear energy, is the use of exothermic nuclear processes, to generate useful heat and electricity.
HISTORY The pursuit of nuclear energy for electricity generation began soon after the discovery in the early 20th century that radioactive elements, such as radium, released immense amounts of energy, according to the principle of massenergy equivalence. However, means of harnessing such energy was impractical, because intensely radioactive elements were, by their very nature, short-lived (high energy release is correlated with short half-lives). However, the dream of harnessing "atomic energy" was quite strong, even though it was dismissed by such fathers of nuclear physics like Ernest Rutherford as "moonshine." This situation, however, changed in the late 1930s, with the discovery of nuclear fission. In 1932, James Chadwick discovered the neutron, which was immediately recognized as a potential tool for nuclear experimentation because of its lack of an electric charge. Experimentation with bombardment of materials with neutrons led Frdric and Irne Joliot-Curie to discover induced radioactivity in 1934, which allowed the creation of radium-like elements at much less the price of natural radium. Further work by Enrico Fermi in the 1930s focused on using slow neutrons to increase the effectiveness of induced radioactivity. Experiments bombarding uranium with neutrons led Fermi to believe he had created a new, transuranic element, which was dubbed hesperium. Antoine Henri Becquerel created nuclear energy

Is it renewable

No

COST

$40 million
https://www.navy.com/careers/nuclearenergy.html www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJfIbBDR3e8

Advantages and disadvantages of nuclear energy

Advantages A third of the energy produced in Europe comes from nuclear energy, this implies that emit 700 million tons of CO2 and other contaminants generated from the burning of fossil fuels.

Currently consume more fossil fuels which are produced so that in the not too distant future these resources are exhausted. One of the great advantages of using nuclear energy is the ratio o the amount of fuel used and the energy obtained. This also translates into savings in transport, waste, etc. As an alternative to fossil fuels as carbon oil, would avoid the problem of so-called global warming, qual, is believed to have an important influence that change global climate. Improve the quality of the air we breathe with all that this would imply the decline of disease and quality of life. On this last point it should be noted that it really has a major influence on global warming are emissions from road transport and that generated by power generation fuels folic , fossils are relatively few. Still, one of the applications of nuclear energy (but little used) is to convert it into mechanical energy for transport. Currently electricity generation is by nuclear fission reactions, but if nuclear fusion as practicable, provide the following advantages: Would get a fuel source inexhaustible. In the reactor would avoid accidents by chain reactions that occur in the fissions. Waste generated are much less radioactive.

disadvantages The main drawback and what makes it more dangerous is it safe to use the responsibility rests with the people. Irresponsible decisions can lead to accidents at nuclear power plants but, even worse, can be used for military purposes as demonstrated in the history of nuclear energy in the first time that nuclear energy was used after appropriate investigations was to attack Japan i World War II with two nuclear bombs. A civil level, one of the main drawbacks is the generation of nuclear waste and the difficulty to manage them as they take many years to lose its radioactivity and dangerous. Just a positive impact on climate change because the main source of emissions is road transport. In the main countries of nuclear energy production to keep constant the number of operating reactors should be built 80 new reactors over the next ten years.

While it is economically profitable from the standpoint of fuel consumed on energy obtained is not whether analyzed costs construcciny launch of a nuclear plant given that , for example in Spain, the lifetime of nuclear power plants is 40 years. Disadvantages increased security now with international terrorism. In addition to the proliferation of nuclear power obligaraa plutonium recourse to fuel. Although security systems are very advanced nuclear fission reactions generate some chain reactions that control the systems if fallasen provoke a radioactive explosion.

Examples in the U.S.A

Government policy is central to any discussion of nuclear power in the USA. The development of nuclear power began as a government program in 1945 following on from the Manhattan Project to develop the wartime atomic bomb. The first nuclear reactor to produce electricity did so at the National Reactor Testing Station (NRTS) in Idaho in December 1951, as the US government reoriented significant resources to the development of civilian use of nuclear power. In the mid-1950s, production of electricity from nuclear power was opened up to private industry. The world's first large-scale nuclear power plant at Shippingport, Pennsylvania, was owned by the US Atomic Energy Commission, but built and operated by the Duquesne Light and Power Company on a site owned by the utility company near Pittsburgh. Today, almost all the commercial reactors in the USA are owned by private companies, and nuclear industry as a whole has far greater private participation, and less concentration, than any other country.

Yet, the government remains more involved in commercial nuclear power than in any other industry in the USA. There are lengthy, detailed requirements for the construction and operation of all reactors and conversion, enrichment, fuel fabrication, mining and milling facilities. The review process preceding the construction of new reactors can take 3-5 years. The US government, through its own national research laboratories and projects at university and industry facilities, is the main source of funding for advanced reactor and fuel cycle research. It also promises to provide incentives for building new plants through loan guarantees and tax credits, although owners have to raise their own capital. US domestic energy policy is also closely linked to foreign, trade and defence policy on such matters as mitigating climate change and nuclear non-proliferation (of weapons).
As of late 2013, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was reviewing nine applications for combined construction and operating licences (COLs) to build 14 new nuclear reactors, as well as three design certification applications for new reactor types (EPR, ESBWR & APWR) and two design certification renewals (both ABWR). The NRCs FY 2014 budget for oversight of the 100 operating power reactors was $1055 million, including six reviews of extended power uprate requests (and eight others) and 10 licence renewal applications. The budget includes nuclear materials and waste safety. State and local governments also have a major impact on the framework and economics of the US nuclear power industry. Deregulation of electricity prices in some states in the 1990s led to greater concentration in nuclear power production. In 1976, a voter referendum in California led to a law that prohibited the construction of new nuclear plants in the nation's largest state and the prohibition still remains in effect. Opposition in the state of Nevada was a key factor in the decision by the new Democratic administration of Barack Obama in early 2009 to abandon the government's long-standing plans for a 70,000 tonne geological repository in that state for disposal of the high-level nuclear waste that has accumulated at reactor sites across the nation.

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Sources http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/CountryProfiles/Countries-T-Z/USA--Nuclear-Power-Policy/ http://ofnuclearenergy.com/advantages-anddisadvantages-of-nuclear-energy.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power