Introduction
Nuclear energy is the most powerful fuel when compared to fossil fuels. Although nuclear power is dangerous and deadly it supplies about 20% of America's electricity. Nuclear power is efficient over the long term because an average nuclear power station will produce in some cases 1000 more megawatts than a traditional coal generating plant. France powers 80% of its electric grid with nuclear power and reprocesses the nuclear waste that is created in the reactor.
How Nuclear Works?
Nuclear power stations work using fission; the process of splitting atoms to create large amounts of energy. The two key components of nuclear fission are heavy water and uranium 235. Using heavy water, neutrons are aimed at the nuclei of uranium 235 (U-235) atoms. What this does is creates instability in the nuclei of the atoms. This causes the U-235 atoms to split, releasing energy and more neutrons that will continue the process.
Upsides to Nuclear Power
As the world's growing need for more energy accelerates people are looking toward a "nuclear option". Some of the upsides to nuclear energy is the amount of energy that is produced, and the fact that the used fuel can be reprocessed. Nuclear power stations produce astronomically high amounts of electricity, and they generate no air pollution. The San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant shown below is a 2150 MW power station.
This image from Google Earth shows the San Onofre Power Station. The two generators are visible on top of the power plant below the nuclear reactors. Power plants like this one don't produce any sulfurous emissions, they only create water vapor.
Downsides to Nuclear Power
Nuclear, a great source of energy, but there can be consequences of using nuclear energy. After the Uranium-235 is used it leaves behind nuclear waste, which consists of toxic, radioactive substances. The waste can be reprocessed and used again in a power station, but about 9% of the waste is still left over even after reprocessing. Nuclear waste is only one problem; the second part is dealing with it. Most power plants in the United States that run on nuclear energy store waste on site under pools of water. Yucca Mountain in Nevada which may not be completed for another decade will store nuclear waste from power plants.
This brings up a problem; if there are nuclear power plants all around the United States, and they need to get the waste to Nevada for storage how do we transport it safely? This question remains unanswered, if we do begin to transport it using trucks, and there is spill anyone in the vicinity of the spill would die. Not only that, but nuclear material can be fashioned into weapons of mass destruction. Financially a nuclear reactor can take 15-16 years to pay off, and investors are nowhere to be found. Applications to build nuclear power plants are usually 10,000 pages long and can take months to review.