INTRODUCTION

The history of human civilization dictates the fact that every single step of its evolution has been
initiated and shaped by invention of newer ways of harnessing energy. Throughout ages,
discovery of newer energy resources lead to eruptions of technological advancements resulting in
ascension to newer eras of civilization. Aerial, solar, petrochemical and so many other natural
resources have served our civilization more or less to develop through stages up to the present
form. But as it turns out that all of them, more or less, have suffered the same limitations: they
could not for long satisfy the demand. Each of them, at some stage, have failed to satisfy
societys hunger for energy which is ever-growing.
Then comes nuclear energy as a revolutionary form of energy that features neither of the
limitations of the earlier: it is never to run out and is capable of providing much more energy
than the civilization is ever going to feel need of.

Although nuclear energy is supposedly the future, it also is a literal potential danger. It is in
fact a captivated monster; might devour the whole civilization if broken free. And although it
actually has proven its threats to be not empty ones, the civilization yet decides to rely upon it
because despite being utterly dangerous, nuclear energy definitely ensures a future greener
world.

Basically its a process of utilizing the energy released from nuclear reaction (released in the
form of heat) to vaporize water which in turn propels a turbine inside the plant to generate
electricity.

The discovery of this energy is a more than a hundred year old history occurring from the
observation of radioactive emissions from certain elements with the revelation of the fact that
energy is released by decomposition inside the nucleus (the incredibly tiny central region of an
atom), although the source of such energy was yet unknown. Later Albert Einstein's
revolutionary mass-energy formula (E=mc2) revealed the true nature of such energy which came
into experiment through the discovery of Nuclear Fission which incorporated the disintegration
of Uranium nuclei by bombarding those with neutrons to release energy as well as generate more
neutrons. It's called chain reaction because here the every single reaction releases fundamental
particles called neutrons which not only provoke further reactions but also amplifies the rate in a
geometric manner. As a result it is spontaneous and unless controlled and tamed, it releases so
much energy in a moment that it might end up in a tremendous explosion releasing so much
energy that surely would destroy a whole civilization, which would then be an atom bomb
incident. This reaction, however, can be implemented into generation of electricity in a
controlled manner as a very clean and cheap energy source.




A BOON OR A BANE

The main aspect of bringing nuclear energy into power production is controlling. The chain
reaction which might spontaneously is simply dangerous is controlled very strictly in a nuclear
power plant by having the neutrons and other fundamental particles absorbed via graphite core.
Now the logical question would be why dealing with such an ever-dangerous thing like nuclear
energy to produce power. The answer actually comes from the benefits of using Nuclear Energy
which are discussed shortly below.

FROM ECONOMIC POINT OF VIEW:

FUEL-EFFICIENCY

Other possible sources of energy for power plants are combustion based which actually
incorporates the process of burning of carbon atoms to release energy. It appears that nuclear
fission of a Uranium 235 atom releases about 60 million times than the combustion of a carbon
atom would do. According to US Nuclear Energy Institute, one kilogram of natural uranium will
yield about 20,000 times as much energy as the same amount of coal. So a tiny fragment of
radioactive material actually saves the usage of tons of fossil fuels and the cost and pollutions
associated with it.

CHEAPEST ENERGY

In spite of radioactive elements being very costly, nuclear power is rather cheap because of the
fact that it requires incredibly less amount of raw material compared to other generation
technologies. The following graph actually demonstrates how nuclear power generation
dramatically brings the cost of generation down.



Once established, a nuclear power plant is the most-economical-ever power production facility.
The US Nuclear Energy Institute suggests that on an average, for a coal-fired plant 78% of the
cost is the fuel, for a gas-fired plant the figure is 89%, and for nuclear the uranium is about an
incredible 14%. As a result, nuclear power plants provide low-cost, predictable power at stable
prices


ADVANTAGE ON TRANSPORTATION

The incredible amount of power-to-fuel ratio for nuclear power generation provides many
collateral advantages. For example, it saves the transportation burden to a massive extent.
Uranium is a concentrated, low-volume fuel source requiring few incursions into the land for
extraction or transport. Every 28 gram of uranium releases as much energy as produced from 100
metric tons of coal, which is why, its required in small quantities and hence transportation of
this fuel is much easier than fossil fuels.

Moreover, optimal utilization of natural resources in production of energy is a very thoughtful
approach for any nation. It not only enhances the socio-economic condition but also sets example
for the other countries.




RELIABILITY

Fossil-fuelled power plants require frequent and bulky supplies of fuel and always risk disruption
in production in case any sort inconvenience befall the fuel supply. The situation is however not
that complicated at all for nuclear power plant as transportation is not even an issue for it. Solar
or wind power directly depend on and subject to the climate and the natural forces. But nuclear
power plants go on uninterrupted at any condition and produces power 24/7; need to be shut
down for maintenance purposes only. Nuclear power plants have long periods of operation.
Nuclear power plants are designed to operate continuously for long periods of time. They can run
about 540 days before they are shut down for refueling. Thus nuclear plants can contribute to
national energy security and ensure stable nationwide electricity supply.


A POSSIBLE SOLUTION TO ENERGY CRISIS

Although earths fossil fuel resource is vast, it is sure to run out in the upcoming future due to the
ever increasing consumption of fuel. A graph below shows actually how the rate of consumption
of the available energies are increasing in the recent times:



This shows that the growth of hunger for energy is following a pure exponential rate which, if
unchecked, is driving us towards a confirmed energy crisis in the upcoming future when all the
conventionally popular energy sources will run out totally and humankind have to look forward
to any alternative source of energy. As a matter of relief, nuclear energy presents itself as a very
perfect alternative, not only because it can produce millions times more energy than the others
and is quite reliable and provides the assurance of never running out, but it has a huge reserves
thats expected to last for another 100 years at least.

Other aspects of current energy sources such as global warming etc. also need to be considered.
Also there nuclear energy appears to have an upper hand as it is sustainable and clean although
can pose huge health and safety risks and can damage the environment.

AREA SAVING
Because nuclear power plants produce a large amount of electricity in a relatively small space,
they require significantly less land for operation than all other energy sources. For instance, solar
and wind farms must occupy substantially more land, and must be sited in geographically
unpopulated areas far from energy demand. To build the equivalent of a 1,000-megawatt nuclear
plant, a solar park would have to be larger than 35,000 acres, and a wind farm would have to be
150,000 acres or larger. Thats evidently an economic advantage of nuke plants compared to the
production.



FROM ENVIRONMENTAL POINT OF VIEW


In fact, a properly functioning nuclear power plant actually releases less radioactivity into the
atmosphere than a coal-fired power plant, which is quite opposite to the common ideas or belief.
Moreover, nuclear energy is an emission-free energy source because it does not burn anything to
produce electricity Nuclear power plants produce no gases such as nitrogen oxide or sulfur
dioxide that could threaten our atmosphere by causing ground-level ozone formation, smog, and
acid rain. Nor does nuclear energy produce carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases suspected
to cause global warming. Throughout the nuclear fuel cycle, the small volume of waste
byproducts actually created is carefully contained, packaged and safely stored. As a result, the
nuclear energy industry is the only industry established since the industrial revolution that has
managed and accounted for all of its waste, preventing adverse impacts to the environment.


CO
2
EMISSION-FREE

Of all energy sources, nuclear energy has perhaps the lowest impact on the environment
especially in relation to kilowatts produced because nuclear plants dont almost emit CO
2
and
any other sort of harmful gases. Nuclear power plants were responsible for nearly half of the
total voluntary reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in the United States by 1998

The advantage of Nuclear generation over the others is quite evident from the chart below:





Which nuclear energy is the 3
rd
best in CO
2
emission efficiency where it is completely free of
combustion emission.


GREENHOUSE FRIENDLY
Apart from vapour produced in the power plant, nuclear power generation has no emission at all.
This makes it the ultimate Green-house free power generation technology. A chart presented
below shows nuclear generation to the largest-scale generation technology to be free of
greenhouse emissions:



Some of the achievements of nuclear generation in the United States can be mentioned in support
of its environment friendliness, like-

# Between 1973 and 2000 nuclear generation single-handedly avoided the emission of 66.1
million tons of sulfur dioxide and 33.6 million tons of nitrogen oxides in U.S.

# Also, Each year, U.S. nuclear power plants prevent 5.1 million tons of sulfur dioxide, 2.4
million tons of nitrogen oxide, and 164 million metric tons of carbon from entering the earth's
atmosphere.




FLORA AND FAUNA FRIENDLY


Nuclear power also provides water quality and aquatic life conservation. Water discharged from
a nuclear power plant contains no harmful pollutants and meets regulatory standards for
temperature designed to protect aquatic life. This water, used for cooling, never comes in contact
with radioactive materials. If the water from the plant is so warm that it may harm marine life, it
is cooled before it is discharged to its source river, lake, or bay as it is either mixed with water in
a cooling pond or pumped through a cooling tower.

Because the areas around nuclear power plants and their cooling ponds are so clean, they are
often developed as wetlands that provide nesting areas for waterfowl and other birds, new
habitats for fish, and the preservation of other wildlife as well as trees, flowers, and grasses.
Many energy companies have created special nature parks or wildlife sanctuaries on plant sites.




















The world's first nuclear power plant, Russia's Obninsk AP-1, came on line in 1954. There are,
however, 438 nuclear power plants operating in 2010. Another 61 plants are under construction
[source: European Nuclear Society]





The greatest disadvantage of nuclear power generation is that it is Dangerous. In fact it is the
most dangerous element to be possessed by humankind. It contains the potential of destroying
the civilization itself within a fraction of second.

1. Nuclear power plants are extremely costly to construct and initiate. This huge expense burden
actually makes the cheaper power generation costing feature mundane. Areva, the French nuclear
plant operator, for example, offers that 70% of the cost of a kWh of nuclear electricity is accounted for
by the fixed costs from the construction process.

Moreover, construction of a nuclear power plant is such a mammoth task that it requires a huge time
span. This evidently results in accost overrun (mainly from inflation). Cost overrun is so much financial
disadvantageous that In the UK and the US cost overruns on nuclear plants contributed to the
bankruptcies of several utility companies.

Fuel cost in a nuclear power plant is comparatively lower (28% of the aggregated cost). But almost half
the cost of reactor fuel is taken up by enrichment and fabrication, so that the cost of the uranium
concentrate raw material is only half of the operating costs. This reality imply another fact that most of
the cost in a nuke plant is devoured in operation and management.

2. Nuclear Power Contaminates Water Supplies: Cases of water contamination with radioactive
substances has occurred around over a dozen different nuclear sites around the country. Although
ideally a nuclear power plant does not bear any risk of that, practically shows different scenario.
The process of mining materials used in nuclear power plants such as uranium and titanium run a
very high risk of water contamination to nearby rivers and streams as well as ground water
supplies.