Nuclear Energy

‘1930’, the period when nuclear power began to ruminate, a brilliant physicist, Enrico

Fermi, first showed that neutrons could split atoms. A few years into the future, in 1942 he

invented the world’s first man-made nuclear reactor. However, to the uneducated minds, what is

the significance to this accomplishment?

In simple terms, nuclear energy can be defined as the energy released during nuclear

fission or fusion. It is the energy in the nucleus, or core, of an atom. Nuclear power is then

generated by splitting these atoms. As stated previously, nuclear energy can be produced by the

nuclear reactions of fission or fusion.​​When a large atom splits into two or even smaller ones,

this is known as nuclear fission while fusion is when two or more lighter atoms join into a larger

one. For nuclear fission, uranium is the most widely used fuel for nuclear plants while the two

heavy isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium and tritium, are the primary fuels utilized in nuclear

fusion devices. These nuclear reactions have been deemed useful as it is used to help generate

electricity, however nuclear energy can also be very harmful.

Why exactly is nuclear energy beneficial? As the world advances, and inventors make

even greater inventions, the energy demands increase. Nuclear energy has the technology

required to produce energy on a large scale. It accounts for twenty percent of the electricity

produced in the United States of America. In terms of operation, a nuclear plant is far less

expensive than coal, gas or any fossil fuel plant and discharges less pollution. Nuclear power

plants do not contribute as much to greenhouse gas emissions as other plants have evidently

done, such as a coal power plant. Also, the fuel required to supply a nuclear power plant in

comparison to other plants is much smaller. This is because the magnitude of energy released

from a nuclear fission reaction is exceedingly greater than the other plants. In essence, nuclear
energy is very efficient and does not add to the rate of climate change when generating

electricity.

Nuclear energy has been proven to be useful to this generation, however there have been

nuclear catastrophes that have led people to think otherwise. The negative impact that nuclear

energy has on human life had taken place in the year of 1986, in the city of Chernobyl, Soviet

Union. The nuclear accident resulted in serious radiation sickness and contamination, which had

later on caused loss of lives and deformed livestock. Thirty six years later and the city of

Chernobyl is still inhabitable due to the exposure of radiation. The initial cost to build a nuclear

power plant is very expensive which leads to another disadvantage of nuclear energy.

Construction could take up to ten years with billions of dollars being invested which ultimately

limits the amount of countries that are actually able to have a nuclear power plant to only a few.

In conclusion, I believe that the pros outweigh the cons when it comes to nuclear energy.

Though it is expensive to build a nuclear power plant, the operation of generating electricity is

less costly than other power plants and greenhouse gas emissions are significantly lower. Nuclear

catastrophes do not happen often and for the most part I believe there are measures in which they

can be prevented. Nuclear energy has many benefits.