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Benefits of Nuclear Energy Explained

Nuclear energy involves splitting atoms in a reactor to generate steam and electricity. It provides about 11% of the world's electricity. While nuclear disasters like Chernobyl and Fukushima cause fear, these were due to poor management, not inherent issues. Nuclear energy has several advantages over other sources: it has the highest capacity factor at 92%, is safer than alternatives like coal which kills over 12,000 annually, and produces very low carbon emissions compared to other sources. Nuclear energy could be part of the solution to climate change by providing sustainable, clean, and reliable power on a large scale.

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Ej Hidalgo
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58 views2 pages

Benefits of Nuclear Energy Explained

Nuclear energy involves splitting atoms in a reactor to generate steam and electricity. It provides about 11% of the world's electricity. While nuclear disasters like Chernobyl and Fukushima cause fear, these were due to poor management, not inherent issues. Nuclear energy has several advantages over other sources: it has the highest capacity factor at 92%, is safer than alternatives like coal which kills over 12,000 annually, and produces very low carbon emissions compared to other sources. Nuclear energy could be part of the solution to climate change by providing sustainable, clean, and reliable power on a large scale.

Uploaded by

Ej Hidalgo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Position Paper on Nuclear Energy

Nuclear energy is defined as energy that comes from splitting atoms in a reactor to heat water

into steam, turn a turbine and then generate electricity. About 11% of the world’s electricity is

provided by nuclear energy and is being operated in 30 countries worldwide. When people hear

about nuclear energy, they only think of negative things such as the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear or

the more recent nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan or nuclear weapons. However, what people

don’t know is that the Chernobyl and the Fukushima accident only happened because of poor

management and rushed operations. What most people also don’t know are the benefits of using

nuclear energy not only to us but also to the environment and what the difference it can do to the

world if we start using it more.

I am going to state the 3 advantages of using nuclear energy as an energy source which are all

according to the World Nuclear Association. First advantage is that nuclear has the highest

capacity factor. Capacity factor is a measure of what percentage of the time a power plant

actually produces energy. Capacity factor is existent in all energy sources and is a problem with

every renewable power plant. It is reported in 2018 that nuclear energy has a capacity factor of

92% which is almost 1.5-2.0 times more than coal and natural gas and 2.5-3.5 times more than

that of solar and wind. Nuclear is reliable than most sources since it delivers electricity 24/7

regardless of the weather. Because of the high capacity factor, nuclear energy produces energy

more than other energy sources. A typical nuclear power plant produces 1 gigawatt of electricity.

Based on the capacity factors, you would need at least 2 coal or 3-4 renewable plant in order to

produce the same amount of electricity.


Second advantage of nuclear energy is that the accidents that can happen in a nuclear power

plant are less destructive than other major industrial accidents. According to a report, 1.8 million

air pollution deaths were actually avoided during the span of 1974-2009 because of the use of

nuclear energy. Coal mining kills 12,000 annually compared to nuclear power of less than 1 and

it is lesser than all the mortality of other energy sources even if you include the Chernobyl and

Fukushima accident. Radiation is also one of what people fear in using nuclear energy however

if you live 50 miles from a nuclear power plant, you would only receive an average of 0.01

millirem annually which is less than eating a banana everday in a year where you will receive 2.6

millirem annually. This is why there’s no doubt that nuclear energy is the safest. The last

advantage of nuclear energy and the most important thing is that it does not directly produce

carbon emissions compared to other energy sources. It only emits carbon dioxide while mining

the uranium and from other processes. Nuclear energy reportedly prevented 64 giga tonnes of

greenhouse gas emissions.

Although there are some problems that we might face when using nuclear energy, it is less

damaging compared to other energy source. If we are looking at the solution to climate change

then nuclear energy is the perfect solution. Nuclear energy is proven worldwide to be

sustainable, clean, reliable and powerful.

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