Asked By: Ilovetoask - 6/15/2008

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Advantages are no greenhouse gases and 0 emissions. disadvantages are no place to safely store all the spent fuel rods.
here is my term paper on the subject. i hope it helps
Joseph McCudden
June 2, 2008
IDS 125: Environmental Collapse
Term Paper

Benefits of Nuclear Power Plants

The United States of America needs to start building nuclear power plants to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. “Without nuclear power the United States will have difficulty in … providing electricity to manufacturing industries,” (American ceramic society bulletin p 20). The United States has not built a new nuclear power plant in nearly three decades. In the United States nuclear power only accounts for approximately twenty percent of our total power production but varies state to state. Currently thirty one states have nuclear reactors and Illinois leads the United States by producing 11,379 Mega Watts (MW). In order for the United States to keep up with their energy demands we need to invest in nuclear power. By creating these power plants we can reduce our dependence on foreign oil which could also help lower the rising gas prices.
Nuclear power has always been a viable solution to our energy needs but because of two famous nuclear accidents the public has shunned this technology. The first being the Chernobyl incident where reactor four exploded due to a stream buildup releasing large amounts of radiation over hundreds of kilometers. The second famous nuclear accident happened in the United States at Three Mile Island where there was a partial melt down and a small amount of radioactive gas was released in to the air. The amount of radiation released was less than a person is exposed to on average from cosmic rays. The reactors that the untied states have built have far more security and redundant safety systems to prevent any Chernobyl-like accident. Although Three Mile Island and Chernobyl are not the single cause for the stop of new nuclear power plants they did not help the cause. “Construction delays, cost overruns, high interest rates, systemic safety issues, a whole lot of no-nuke protesters, and a surprising dropoff (sp) in electricity demand, all of which predate 1979. Three Mile Island didn’t kill the nuclear dream. It was just another nail in the coffin” (Whitford, David).
Since Three Mile Island every American nuclear power plant now has a minimum of two inspectors from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission at all times. Inside the control room they have a no dangling rule. This means nothing can be hanging off your shirt and nothing on your head that could fall off and hit a button that is better left untouched. On December 2, 1942 Enrico Fermi is said to have coined the acronym SCRAM. SCRAM stands for Safety Control Rod Ax Man. This was a very important job that a colleague of Fermi, Norman Hillberry. Hillberry stood next to the rope that raised and lowered the control rods, if needed Hillberry could cut the rope with and ax lowering the control rods and stop the reaction in seconds. The control room has a SCRAM button although the control rods are now lowered mechanically and there is no one with an ax to lower the rods. Every person who works in the control room spends a week in training and testing every few months in a custom simulator that is exactly the same as the control room they work in back at their plant. Spent fuel rods are currently stored on site in forty feet.
There are main types of nuclear reactors which are either thermal reactors or fast reactors. A thermal reactor is one where the neutrons that are created by fission before starting more fission reactions. Fission is the splitting of atoms in which large amounts of energy are released along with neutrons. This process can happen naturally or artificially by firing neutrons at atoms. Most of the thermal reactors use the isotope uranium-235 and the most common thermal reactor is the Light Water Reactors (LWRs). There are two types of LWRs, the boiling water reactor and the pressurized water reactor. The maximum operating temperature for water is about 300 degrees Celsius and operates at about 32?fficiency. There are two ways to increase the efficiency. They are either to raise the temperature of the water in the reactor or lower the temperature of the return water to something cooler than it is now. Although it is ideal to lower the cooling temperature it is easier to increase the temperature of the water in the reactor so alternatives to water are currently being researched.
The other type of nuclear reactor, the fast reactor, the neutrons are produced the same way as in a thermal reactor but the neutrons in the fast reactor are not slowed down before creating more fission reactions. These reactors have the versatility to use many different types of fuels besides uranium-235; they can also use transuranic metatarsals. Transuranic materials are elements that have a higher atomic number than uranium and all of them are created artificially.
Economically speaking new nuclear power plants would save billions of dollars a year on oil. One uranium fuel pellet, which is about the size of the end of your pinky, has the equivalent to 1780 pounds of coal, 149 gallons of oil, or 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas. Not only will the untied states save money on oil but the individual customers will save any where from .8 cents to 7.9 cents per kilowatt hour depending what one’s power plant is currently using for fuel. Currently we get most of our nuclear fuel from Russia but, there is an enriching plant in Eunice, New Mexico. This plant will hopefully bring economic stability to an area that is very unstable. That stability can only happen if the United States starts to build more nuclear power plants. Not only will new nuclear power plants help with our growing electricity and oil needs but also have benefits in making hydrogen for hydrogen powered cars, extracting oil from sand and shale, and purifying water. Nuclear power plants help nature out to because most humans do not want to be around one but animals do not care. Nuclear plants do not make a lot of noise, they do not poison the air with smoke like coal burning plants, and they do not kill birds like wind turbines occasionally do.
Nuclear power plants are looking to the future with two new designs that have never been used in the United States before. One design is by Westinghouse that is projected to produce 1.1 gigawatts power from two steam generators. The two steam generators are connected to a main reactor and have a number of safety systems that do not need electricity or cooling water to work. It also requires half the valves and about one sixth of the piping that a similar power plant with the same power output would have. This means that there are less moving parts so a less chance of a valve failing or having pipes corrode and burst. The other design is by General Electric and it is called the Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor. This is a big step forward because the recirculation pumps and safety system pumps have been replaced by gravity-driven water circulation and passive safety systems. These simple systems are said to cut construction and operation costs and reduce the chance for mechanical failure.
As great as nuclear power sounds it does also have its drawbacks. When thinking about solving some of the problems, one would look to France because of their extensive history with nuclear power. For most problems this works but currently France has the same problem as the United States as to where to dispose of the spent fuel rods safely. France tries to solve this problem by reprocessing the spent fuels rods. This process involves soaking the rods in acid to extract plutonium and enriched uranium. Unfortunately reprocessing releases massive amounts of radioactive gases and liquids which can harm the environment more than the spent fuel rods alone. Another problem is that during droughts reactors have to slow down or shut down because of the lack of water that is needed for cooling. In a 2003 heat wave, in France, shutdown seventeen reactors because the temperature of the river rose to high and endangered the aquatic life.
These reactors produce 549 billion kWh and France only consumes 482 billion kWh and exports 60-70 billion kWh each year.
Nuclear power is a great short term fix for our current global warming situation. Right now nuclear power is the best because it is cheaper and more efficient than using wind or solar power. Unfortunately with nuclear power comes the task of disposing of the spent fuel rods. Currently in the United States there is no central location to store these fuel rods, but they are trying to store it in Yucca Mountain in Nevada. No spent fuel rods have been put there yet because of safety concerns. This is the main concern about nuclear power and this is why it is only a short term fix. Money needs to invested in both wind and solar to make them more efficient. There are less environmental concerns with using solar or wind power because like nuclear power there are no greenhouse gases but unlike nuclear power wind and solar do not have a radioactive component. There are some environmental issues with solar and wind power but nothing in comparison to the potential hazards of radioactive material leaking out. Another reason that reactors are only a short term solution is because as temperatures rise and heat wave frequencies increase water availability will decrease making it harder and harder to cool the reactors and eventually price nuclear energy out of business. That is why nuclear power will be a short term fix while we improve solar and wind technologies to make those technologies more cost effective and efficient.
Nuclear power is a good solution to help reduce greenhouse gases which will help slow global warming. But, becau

Answered By: J Mac - 6/15/2008