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Nuclear power is one of the most modern and dangerous forms of energy generation in use today. Since the discovery of atomic energy in the 1940’s, it has been the cause of thousands of deaths, but has also been the subject of some of the most amazing discoveries in the 20th century. At one time, the amazing amount of energy that could be released from a small amount of fuel seemed to be the answer to all of our energy problems, but today, we are able to see the dangers in this kind of energy generation.
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Nuclear Fission is the form of power generation used in power plants today. It is a slow and controlled release of energy generated by splitting atoms. Nuclear Fusion (not Fission) is the quick and dangerous release of energy produced from joining atoms. This is the destructive force that was used to kill thousands of Japanese civilians during World War II. The sun also uses fusion to release the energy we see as sunlight and feel as heat.
Nuclear power is the most efficient form of energy production in use today. A tiny piece of Uranium about the size of a golf ball has the same amount of stored energy as 2,300,000 pounds of coal! That’s 19 ½ train cars of coal! This tremendous amount of energy is released from the Uranium in a nuclear reactor. The nuclear reactor is much like a furnace for Uranium. Within this reactor, an amazing reaction takes place which releases energy, some in the form of heat. The heat energy released is used to boil water. The boiled water is moved to a heat exchanger, which transfers the heat from the water which contacted the reactor to fresh water. The fresh water is converted to steam, and the steam turns a turbine.
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The amazing reaction that is carried out in the reactor splits atoms into two smaller isotopes. An atom is set up much like a solar system. The nucleus of the atom is like the sun. The planets are like the electrons revolving around the sun (or nucleus). Within the reactor, a donor neuron collides head on with a U235 (Uranium) atom. The donor neuron begins to orbit the nucleus of the Uranium. This orbiting causes the nucleus to become unstable. The unstable form of the nucleus is called oscillation, or simply vibration. One billionth of a second after the donor neuron joins the atom, the atom splits into two new "fission fragments". During this split, huge amounts of energy are released in two forms. The first form is the release of 2-3 neurons. The second form of energy release is the separation of the two new atoms. The seperation of the atoms releases energy by flying at tremendous speeds in opposite directions due to the opposite (both positive) forces. The 2-3 neurons released during the reaction are free to join new atoms and cause them to split also. This is called a chain reaction, and carries on until all the Uranium is split.
The energy released during the reaction in the nuclear reactor absorbed by water that flows around the reactor in pipes. The water in the pipes becomes very hot and is pumped into a heat exchanger. The heat exchanger transfers the heat from the pipes to fresh water. The fresh water turns to steam, and powers a generator. The water in the steam is condensed and collected in the huge towers near the power plant, and is re-used.
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This amazing reaction was once thought to be the panacea for energy problems on earth, but today, nuclear energy plants are on the decline. There are two main reasons for the decline in their use. The first reason is the expense to run the plant. Nuclear power is much more expensive than coal or oil power. People are not willing to pay more for their electricity because it is nuclear. The second reason is environmental jeopardy. The waste produced from the nuclear plants remains dangerous for thousands of years. There also is the possibility of a nuclear meltdown that could end life as we know it on earth. As of now, nuclear power is one of the best ways to create energy, but as we enter the new millennium, we must look for better and safer ways to generate electricity . You must continue the search for others!
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 Lilly from United States contributed:
I think you got something wrong. I think both fusion and fission have been used in nuclear weapons. Fission was used in the bombs dropped on Japan at the end of WWII. Could you please investigate it?
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Cute G from Sri Lanka contributed:
Inergy is facsinatang!
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Onno Faber from The Netherlands contributed:
In resonpse to the contribution of Lilly, nuclear fission cannot be controlled yet. They have it working already, but at this time, it is still impossible to keep the process under control. The "chain reaction" of the atoms with nuclear fusion is controlled by removing neutrons from the reactor. If they stop doing this, the reactor will explode. They haven't figured out a well working method for fission yet, but i'm sure they will in the future.
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Joe from United States contributed:
Recently, when I visited a landfill in my locale, I learned a very interesting fact. The manager of the landfill informed me that after a landfill has existed for several years (as the one I was visiting had), they produce some kind of gas. I can't remember if he said it was natural gas or not - I think he said it was methane. If so, methane, according to my dictionary, is a major constituent of natural gas. I remember well the torch from the landfill that burned on methane from the lower layers of decomposing garbage. The landfill produced so much gas that the flame (sizewise, in the neighborhood of five basketballs) burned all day and all night. Another interesting fact: the torch was the main deterrent of the odor emitted from the dump.
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Joe from United States contributed:
Isn't the energy released from atoms based on Einstein's famous law (E=MC^2)? I always thought that the actual energy (in the form of heat) came from the conversion of the matter, or atoms, into energy. From his law, you can see that a small amount of matter can make an enormous amount of energy (you multiply the matter by the speed of light). Conversely, I think it would take an enormous amount of energy to make a small amount of mass.
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Sk from The Netherlands contributed:
I do hope you understand that to get the needed hydrogen you will need a normal power source to split it from water?
You seem to be suggesting hydrogen is an infinite power source - but there are no free sources of hydrogen on Earth.
Fuel cells can make cars more efficient, but they are not a source of energy.
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S.k. from The Netherlands contributed:
Lilly is correct: the bombs dropped on Japan were fission bombs (Uranium and Plutonium).
Also, there is no way a nuclear meltdown could "end life as we know it on Earth" - that is physically impossible, and one has to doubt both the motivations and the intelligence of people who claim such things. Furthermore, nuclear energy is certainly not much more expensive than coal or oil.
It's interesting to see that under the heading "facts" there are hardly any facts, just opinions.
In view of these and other facts there can be no other conclusion than that this site is a propaganda effort, and not even a well-researched one. I certainly hope no one is taking it seriously.
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Victor Campos from Chile contributed:
I would like to help you with the translations. I am not an expert or something like that but if you like I can correct or modify what you have to give sense on your texts like this:
Albert Einstein nació en Ulm, Alemania la 14 de marzo de 1879. Cinco años más tarde, en 1884, él y su familia se trasladaron a Munich debido al nuevo trabajo de su padre. En 1901 lo naturalizaban como ciudadano suizo. Ocho años más tarde cuando Einstein era suizo a el le agradó el trabajo de su profesor de física teórica en la universidad de Zurich. A partir la 1911 a 1912 él tenía el mismo trabajo que un profesor en Praga. En 1913 lo eligieron para formar parte de la academia de ciencia en Berlín. Einstein recibió el reconocimiento de su pais natal Alemania obteniendo así la nacionalidad alemana en 1914. Él trabajó por 19 años como profesor en Berlín. A partir la 1920 a 1946 Él podía - oficialmente - ser profesor especial en Leiden, Holanda, también, pero debido a su emigración, él no trabajó para la universidad durante mucho tiempo antes de 1946. Debido al movimiento NAZI, Einstein renunció la ciudadanía alemana en 1933. Él se trasladó a los Estados Unidos y trabajó como profesor en Princeton, New Jersey hasta 1945. Él se hizo oficialmente americano en 1941. Albert Einstein murió el 18 de abril de 1955.
VCC
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Kirit M from India contributed:
to fuse two nuclei why don't we use the property that two similar charges moving in the same direction attract each other.
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Robert Michaels from United States contributed:
In the section concerning tools used circa 3,500 B.C., no mention was made of electricity. I saw a clay pot with two electrodes in it, with a wire connected to each electrode, dating back to 5,000 B.C. in the museum in Cairo, and another on Crete. So far, I have never seen any reports about this. Can anyone elaborate on this?
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Tony Gee from United States contributed:
i have a question:-how can the copper wire fields of the dyamo keep putting out electrons of a endless amount without being replaced after all electrons are used up. in the copper wire ,won't the copper wire turn into a isotope?i am a senior citizen retired electronic tech.and the idea came to my head.while i was working on my electron flow model.i am on a fixed income and live in a condo in ft.myers,fla. and my space is limited to play.thank you for any help or direction you you can give me.
tony gee(eltony2c@aol.com)
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Aaron from Australia contributed:
It is necessary to utilise one of our country's major resources. It is in abundace in Australia and especially in Victoria where I live. Recently there have been substantial advances in coal power technology to reduce emmissions. Also the brown coal mined in Victoria is relatively clean of sulphur compounds like found in Europe and America. In Victoria the air quality is comparitively good because of these properties. Also we must not forget the communities in rural Victoria which rely on employment from these plants. Many families some even living under the poverty line rely on the power companies as a source of income. Entering a new millenium being left with an inheritance of environmental problems, it is all good and well to point the finger at different industies, but it is evident that alot work is being done to rectify the problem, and new technologies are always being developed to produce cleaner emissions. My tip is if you wish to be a true environmentalist and help to man-kind, you must look at
issues on a more local level aswell. If you have a passion to help the society and the Earth, a comprimise must be reached and we must consider people less fortunate than ourselves.
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T. Adkins from United States contributed:
Nuclear FUSION is not yet fully controlled. However, research using the NSTX reactor at the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab (www.pppl.gov) is getting close.
Both nuclear fission and fusion are used in bombs. Fission bombs are what we call "atomic" bombs. Fusion bombs are "Hydrogen bombs" and use a fission bomb to start the fusion reaction. Fusion only occurs at very high temperatures and pressures. However, fusion is a much more efficient source of energy than anything we have now. Roughly 5.5 lbs of the three fuels (1 lb. Deuterium, 3 lbs. Lithium-6, and 1.5 lbs of Tritium) will produce the same energy (1 gigawatt) as 9,000 tons of coal. Where the coal plant produces 30,000 tons of CO2, 600 tons of SO2, and 80 tons of NO2 the fusion reaction only produces 4 pounds of Helium.
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