Nuclear Energy - Is it a viable source of power?

Question

Well Ur comments and research will be very usefull to me as i am going to say this all in my PUPLIC SPEECH competition on this topic.....

Answer 1

you're going to speak in public, and it's important, and you're not doing active research but just leaving a note in Yahoo! Answers? Geez, you'll probably earn all the success you merit!

anyway, nuclear power is used to generate a significant share of electricity in many countries.

It produces pretty nasty waste that remains radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years, and the transport of fuel and/or waste is pretty tricky / risky, and the reprocessing of it also is.

But it generates no greenhouse gases, and there is enough uranium to supply mankind for many millions of years, whereas fossil fuels can still power us for about 100 years, at best (I mean oil plus coal plus gas).

Answer 2

Ok, where to start. How about some credentials. I'm a nuclear engineer. Ironically, I'm studying the idea of nuclear fusion here on earth. First, the only "disaster" in the US has been Three Mile Island, and no radiation was released. Our reactor designs have always been much better than the russian designs, especially in the containment. Waste is merely a political problem. We know how to reprocess the waste, 96% of what comes out of a reactor is burnable Uranium. The other 4% can be gotten rid of in other types of reactors that still generate power. We can even "transmute" radioactive elements into non-radioactive elements (think alchemy). As for the fact that very little of what is mined can be used as fuel, that is incorrect. There are many types of reactors, but I will highlight one that can burn U-238, or the 99.8% that you see on the periodic table. It is called a fast reactor. Ignorance about nuclear energy is the biggest thing against reactors. I guess thats why the US plans to build 34 of them over the next 15 years (Just announced).

Answer 3

Nuclear Power Plants- a big kettle which uses a nuclear reaction (uranium fission) to boil water and turn it into steam and shoot it through a turbine which turns magnets and moves electrons to create electricity.

It is a NON renewable source of energy because the uranium is dug up from the ground after being depsited there billions of years ago from an exploding star. ie. it is star dust!

Only a small amount of the uranium dug up is usable for power plants. And when it gets used, it generates WAY more waste than was used.

Nuclear waste is radioactive and leads to deformed children. It needs to be stored deep underground to be safe.

It is gives alot of energy though, compared to coal power plants and renewable sources like wind turbines, solar arrays and hydro plants.

They are a viable alternative to the greenhouse gas emitting power plants. Which are extremely ineficient and are the primary cause of human induced climate change.

They could be used as a transitional tool. From coal fired power plants (which also create steam to spin turbines) to renewable energy systems. Just to take off some of the load from building new infrastucture.

Answer 4

Of course it is viable. If it wasn't, then all the proponents of renewable energy - hydroelectric, wind, tide, wave, solar, geothermal - would have SOLID NUMBERS to prove that these could supply all the world's energy needs and avoid any difficulties with nuclear power. But they never produce these numbers. All you get from them is that renewables can produce 4 per cent, 10 per cent, maybe up to 20 per cent. Only nuclear can safely fill the gap in the short term. Yes, it has problems, but they CAN be solved, and the problem of greenhouse gas generation by fossil fuel power stations has NO SOLUTION.

Answer 5

Yes nuclear energy is a very viable source of energy, as is coal, natural gas, wind and tidal flow. However all these have their drawbacks by producing waste or by upsetting the ecology. The most promising form of energy production is from our sun,

Answer 6

Nuclear power IS the only viable power source currently available that really deserves more research. It justifies itself and the only reason people can't trust it is because they can't trust themselves. However since people are now aware of the grave consequences of nuclear weapons they're bound to be more careful, even with legit reactors.

Answer 7

It produces power, but the side-effects are devastating, including contaminating the environment, mutating creatures and toxic hazards.
Also there is the hazard of another Chernobyl happening.