Nuclear PowerBy: Jace Wherry

Nuclear energy is created from the splitting of uranium atoms in a process called fission. Fission releases energy that can be used to make steam, and the steam is used to power a turbine to generate electricity.

At nuclear power plants, the heat to make the steam is created when uranium atoms split – called fission. There is no combustion in a nuclear reactor. Here's how the process works. Pressurized Water Reactors (also known as PWRs) keep water under pressure so that it heats, but does not boil.

Advantages

Nuclear power stations do not produce smoke particles to pollute the atmosphere or emit gases that contribute to acid rain.

Nuclear power stations do not contribute to carbon emissions - no CO2 is given out - it therefore does not contribute to global warming.

Nuclear power produces a small volume of waste (although that waste is radioactive)

Disadvantages

Disposal of nuclear waste is very expensive. As it is radioactive it has to be disposed of in such a way as it will not pollute the environment.

Decommissioning of nuclear power stations is expensive and takes a long time. (In fact we have not yet decommissioned one!)

Nuclear accidents can spread 'radiation producing particles' over a wide area, This radiation harms the cells of the body which can make humans sick or even cause death. Illness can appear or strike people years after they were exposed to nuclear radiation and genetic problems can occur too. A possible type of reactor disaster is known as a meltdown. In a meltdown, the fission reaction of an atom goes out of control, which leads to a nuclear explosion releasing great amounts of radioactive particles into the environment.

World Nuclear Association

Nuclear technology uses the energy released by splitting the atoms of certain elements. It was first developed in the 1940s, and during the Second World War to 1945 research initially focussed on producing bombs by splitting the atoms of particular isotopes of either uranium or plutonium.