The Role and Impact of Nuclear Energy

in Today’s World

A Research presented to the faculty

of Itlugan National High School
Rosario, Batangas

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Science Technology Engineering and
Mathematics (STEM)

Researcher
Renz Christian G. Galac

December 2020
 Chapter l

The Problem and the Background

Introduction

Nuclear power is a clean and efficient way of boiling water to make steam, which

turns turbines to produce electricity. Nuclear power plants use low-enriched uranium

fuel to produce electricity through a process called fission—the splitting of uranium

atoms in a nuclear reactor. Uranium fuel consists of small, hard ceramic pellets that are

packaged into long, vertical tubes. Bundles of this fuel are inserted into the reactor.

Nuclear power offers many benefits for the environment as well. Power plants

don’t burn any materials so they produce no combustion by-products. Additionally,

because they don’t produce greenhouse gases, nuclear plants help protect air quality

and mitigate climate change. While nuclear energy does have some emissions, the

plant itself does not give off greenhouse gasses. Studies have shown that what life-

cycle emissions that the plants do give off are on a par with renewable energy sources

such as wind power. The WNA reviewed several studies and concluded, "Greenhouse

gas emissions of nuclear power plants are among the lowest of any electricity

generation. Method and on a lifecycle basis are comparable to wind, hydro-electricity

and biomass." Low greenhouse gas emissions can be very attractive to some

consumers. And when it comes to efficiency and reliability, no other electricity source

can match nuclear. Nuclear power plants can continuously generate large-scale,

around-the-clock electricity for many months at a time, without interruption.

 In contrast there are also disadvantages about Nuclear Energy. One of the

reasons that nuclear energy falls under fire so frequently is due to the many

disadvantages it brings like water pollution and waste. When the uranium has finished

splitting, the resulting radioactive by products need to be removed. The NEI highlights

steps for the recycling efforts of this waste product that have been undertaken in recent

years, and how the storage of the by-product that could lead to contamination through

leaks or containment failures can be avoided. According to the Department of Physics

Stanford University, nuclear fission chambers are cooled by water, in both the boiling

water reactors (BWRs) and pressurized water reactors (PWRs). In PWRs, steam is

produced indirectly by running cold water through primary pipes and the secondary

pipes remove the heated water away, so the coolant is not in contact with the reactor. In

BWRs, steam is produced directly as the water runs through the reactor core, so if there

is any leakage of fuel, the water can get contaminated and is transported to the rest of

system.
Objectives of the Study

The general objective of the study is to know the Role and Impact of Nuclear

Energy in Today’s World.

Specifically, the study also aims to:

1. Identify the positive and negative impact of nuclear energy in term of;

1.1 economics,

1.2 environment, and

1.3 health

2. Discuss the impact of nuclear energy in society

Statement of the Problem

The main thrust of the study is to analyze work immersion hours of grade-12

Technical Vocational Livelihood students of Itlugan National High School. Since it is

proven that the amount of time in learning affects the amount of competencies and

expertise of students acquire.

This research also attempts to answer the following questions.

1. What is the demographic profile of the respondents?

1.1 Name (optional)

1.2 Age

2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of having nuclear energy in today’s

world in terms of:

2.1 Economics

2.2 Environment

3. Based on the findings, what propose output may be prepared to know the role and

impact of nuclear energy?

Scope, Limitation and Delamination

The scope of the study focuses on the Role and Impact of Nuclear Energy

in Today’s World. The study will be conducted in Grade-12 Science Technology

Engineering and Mathematics students of Itlugan National High school. The target

respondents of this study are the students has the age of 17-20 years old. The

delimitation of the study are the students in academic track, their performance in class

and junior high school students of Itlugan National High School.

The study is limited to 10 Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics

students of Itlugan National High School.

 CHAPTER II

Review of Related Literature

This chapter presents the related study about the Role and Impact of Nuclear

Energy in Today’s World. It forms the background of the study and provides insight that

helps the researcher conceptualized the study.

Mueller (2020) Natural gas and coal capacity factors are generally lower due to

routine maintenance and/or refuelling at these facilities. Renewable plants are

considered intermittent or variable sources and are mostly limited by a lack of fuel (i.e.

wind, sun, or water). As a result, these plants need a backup power source such as

large-scale storage (not currently available at grid-scale)—or they can be paired with a

reliable baseload power like nuclear energy.

According to Martin (2020) Nuclear power, electricity generated by power plants that

derive their heat from fission in a nuclear reactor. Except for the reactor, which plays the

role of a boiler in a fossil-fuel power plant, a nuclear power plant is similar to a large

coal-fired power plant, with pumps, valves, steam generators, turbines, electric

generators, condensers, and associated equipment.

Rhodes (2018) Nuclear power plants operate at much higher capacity factors

than renewable energy sources or fossil fuels. Capacity factor is a measure of what

percentage of the time a power plant actually produces energy. It’s a problem for all
intermittent energy sources. The sun doesn’t always shine, nor the wind always blow,

nor water always fall through the turbines of a dam.

Rodes (2018) that nuclear is safer than most energy sources and is needed if the

world hopes to radically decrease its carbon emissions.

Moses (2020) Safety is at the heart of everything we do. In our 42 year operating

history, there has never been an incident involving release of radiation offsite from any

of our UK nuclear power stations. Nuclear power is one of the most highly regulated

industries. In the UK, the industry is regulated by the Independent Office for Nuclear

Regulation and the Environment Agency or the Scottish Environment Protection Agency

(SEPA)

According to Cuttler and Pollycove (2009) Energy needs worldwide are expected

to increase for the foreseeable future, but fuel supplies are limited. Nuclear reactors

could supply much of the energy demand in a safe, sustainable manner were it not for

fear of potential releases of radioactivity.

Brook and Ban (2014) Humanity must face the reality that it cannot depend

indefinitely on combustion of coal, gas and oil for most of its energy needs. In the

unavoidable process of gradually replacing fossil fuels, many energy technologies may

be considered and most will be deployed in specific applications.

 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHOD AND PROCEDURE

This chapter presented the methods the researcher used in this study. This

included the research design, respondents of the study, data gathering procedure, and

statistical treatment of data.

Respondents of the Study

The respondents of this study are the grade 12 Science Technology Engineering

and Mathematics students. Selected individuals or groups are part in the gathering of

data to furnish further information on the said students in the study.

Table 1 described the group of respondents. The first column represented the

name of schools, the next column on the other hand showed the number of students for

each school.

Table 1

RESPONDENTS OF THE STUDY

Grade level No. of Students

School: Itlugan Senior High

School
 Respondents (Grade 12
15
STEM Students)

Research Design

In this study the researcher used the descriptive survey method in gathering the

needed information about the role and impact of nuclear energy in today’s world of

grade 12 Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics students in Itlugan

National High School in Division of Batangas. The respondents’ profile were examined

including their name and age most particularly in those which showcase the advantages

and disadvantages of having nuclear energy.

As discussed by Connaway & Powell (2010) “descriptive method is one that

helps to determine if two or more variables are associated with each other by explaining

their relationship but not necessarily implying that this relationship is also a cause. One

type of descriptive method is the survey method which is defined as “the research

strategy where one collects data from all or part of a population to assess the relative

incidence, distribution and interrelations of naturally occurring variables”. It can be

administered either by handing out questionnaires to fill out as in the case of this study

or by interviewing people online.

Statistical Treatment of Data

The following statistical tools were used in tabulating and analyzing the data

derived from the responses of the respondents to the questionnaire.

1. WEIGHTED MEAN – This statistical tool was used to describe the profile of

grade 12 Technical Vocational Livelihood students as regards to their knowledge, skills

and attitude tested in the research.

As presented by Salkind (2007), “weighted mean is similar to arithmetic mean

(the most common type of average) where instead of each data point contributing

equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. A weighted

mean can be computed easily by multiplying the value by the frequency of its

occurrence, adding the total of the products, and then dividing by the total number of

occurrences”. Salkind presented the following formula:

Which means:
 2. STANDARD DEVIATION - Standard deviation is a number used to tell how

measurements for a group are spread out from the average (mean), or expected value.

A low standard deviation means that most of the numbers are very close to the average.

A high standard deviation means that the numbers are spread out.

Data gathering procedure

To gather necessary data needed in this study the researcher will make a

questionnaire and interview questions and interview them online.