Nuclear power......................................

Nuclear energy is the energy produced by carrying out nuclear reactions. It is mostly used in generation of electricity. In the case of military they use nuclear power as power naval vessels. To produce nuclear power a type of nuclear reaction named as nuclear fission is carried out. During this reaction a large number of nucleus splits into smaller nuclei with the simultaneous release of large amount of energy to generate the large power. About 16% of electricity produced in the world today is from the nuclear energy.
Nuclear fission is the great source of energy. It can be better explained with an example- the nuclear fission of Uranium releases 200 M eV energy which is large enough as compared to any other reaction such as oxidation of carbon atom only releases 4 eve. These produced energies are used as fuel. The final result of nuclear power is the release of energy in nuclear fission but it includes further more process like mining and waste disposal which then releases energy. This all process of nuclear reaction is called as nuclear fuel cycle. During the generation of nuclear power, too many radioactive wastes are produced that harms and pollutes the surrounding as well.
The high-level wastes produced from nuclear reaction contains highly toxic materials with long half-lives, such as a few tenths of one percent of plutonium that was in the irradiated fuel, the precaution to keep safe ,these materials must be assured for time periods longer than social orders have existed in the past. Nuclear scientists said that the time required for isolation of such nuclear wastes is much shorter, since only 500 to 1000 years is needed before the hazard posed by nuclear waste falls below that posed by common natural ore deposits in the environment. This may creates harm and destroy human lives. Nuclear power facilities produce a potential hazard and rarely radiation. The major health hazard would be the fraction of core of power reactor that was released in the atmosphere. This release of radioactivity of radiation is unacceptable. The scientist had declared that it would never happen again and steps of precaution are being taken.
Nuclear power plants are run by the radioactive elements like uranium and plutonium. We know that the splitting of uranium atoms during nuclear fissions produces enormous amount of energy. This nuclear energy is converted into heat energy to boil water for the production of steam. The steam thus produced is used to rotate turbines. When the turbine starts rotating, it spins the shaft of generator and makes the coil of wire to produce electricity in the magnetic field. This whole process is done inside the nuclear reactor that controls the whole process of nuclear reaction and maintains if any unbalance happens. In other nuclear reactors this process is slightly changed. In some nuclear reactor, ordinary water is used as coolant and in some reactor high pressure heavy water is used as coolant.
We all know that nothing is perfect in this world. Whatever it may be no any machine is 100% efficient. Thus nuclear reactor is also not 100% efficient. Nuclear power has some benefits and some drawbacks too. Some advantages of nuclear power are discussed below-
Ø Nuclear fission releases large amount of energy that can be used as fuels or any other source of energies.
Ø It is environment friendly as it does not emits any harmful gases.
Ø During nuclear reaction, the deposition of uranium is in abundance as compared to fossil fuel.
We all know that where there is advantage there is some disadvantage too. Nuclear power has some drawback too which is discussed below-
Ø During mining process of nuclear fuel cycle, the exposure of radioactive elements causes cancer and mutation. So it should be handled with care.
Ø Since the power is cheap, but the initial investment is much high.
Ø The radioactive wastes produced in the nuclear reaction are hard to dispose as it can have disastrous effect on the environment.
Ø The nuclear fuel produced can be used for the manufacturing of nuclear weapons and biochemical weapons which indirectly harms the human lives.
Thus the energies produced during nuclear reaction can be used for many purposes but it should be handled with care otherwise it may cause death…..