Angel investor, business mentor, and speaker Mark Lyttleton has a particular interest in supporting early-stage businesses that impart a positive planetary impact. This article will look at the nuclear power industry and its potential to offer a cleaner, more affordable, and more reliable source of electricity.
For many people, the concept of ‘clean energy’ conjures images of wind turbines or solar panels rather than nuclear power plants. Nuclear is habitually left out of the clean energy conversation. However, in reality, nuclear power is the world’s second-largest source of low-carbon electricity behind wind power.
What Is Nuclear Energy And How Is It Produced?
Nuclear energy is found inside the atom of a nucleus, which is also called the core. After the extraction of the energy from the nucleus, the energy is used to produce electricity from the nuclear reactor. The production of power is done in two ways – nuclear fission and nuclear fusion.
In nuclear fission, a single atom is made to split into two or more nuclei with the help of Uranium which is used as a fuel. The energy that comes out as a result of nuclear fission is used to heat a cooling agent, for example, water. The heat that comes out of the boiling of the water is pressurized and channeled to spin turbines. This, in turn, helps in generating electricity.
The matter with nuclear energy is that there are good effects as well as bad effects. That is, it boils down to how you are going to make use of nuclear power. Nuclear power is associated with some of the most dangerous and deadliest weapons known to humankind, and it can lead to nuclear disasters as well.
However, it cannot be denied that nuclear power is a cleaner alternative to the power generated through fossil fuels. Despite that, some people are still cynical about nuclear power since building a nuclear plant is a lengthy process and requires a lot of capital.
Recently, the European Commission labeled nuclear power as a green source of energy. It took a clear stance on nuclear energy and included it in its classification system, as it established a list of environmentally sustainable activities.
However, according to Earth.org,
“While nuclear energy may be clean and its production emission-free, experts highlight a hidden danger of this power: nuclear waste. The highly radioactive and toxic byproduct from nuclear reactors can remain radioactive for tens of thousands of years. However, this is still considered a much easier environmental problem to solve than climate change.”
Nuclear energy is popular due to the fact that 90% of the waste generated through nuclear energy production can be recycled. Furthermore, the element that is used as a fuel, Uranium, can be treated again and put into another reactor. This is because the nuclear reaction during fission requires only a small amount of energy from the Uranium fuel.
In addition to this, nuclear power has the highest capacity factor, where only low maintenance is required for nuclear plants. These are capable of operating for two to three years until refueling.
Is Nuclear Power All About The Harmful Effects?
Like all energy sources, nuclear has its advantages and disadvantages. The main attraction of nuclear power is its high reliability in all conditions. It is an ‘always on’ power source, making it the ideal candidate for baseload power generation.
There is never an issue of the sun not shining or the wind not blowing with nuclear power. In addition, it is concentrated power – a small amount of raw material can provide a huge amount of power in a much smaller area than other forms of power generation.
Despite its poor public perception relating to the disposal of nuclear waste and the risk of accidents, nuclear energy releases less radiation into the environment than any other major energy source.
In fact, the worst offender is coal, a mineral mined from the earth’s crust that contains substantial concentrations of the radioactive elements thorium and uranium. When coal is burned, its organic materials are turned into gas, with its mineral components becoming concentrated in the remaining waste, which is known as fly ash.
In fact, so much coal is burned globally – producing so much fly ash – that, in reality, coal is the leading source of radioactive releases into the environment.
What Is Good About Nuclear Energy?
Nuclear energy is a clean, reliable source of power. In the entire history of the nuclear energy industry, there have been just three large-scale nuclear accidents.
Since the 1950s, the worst being Chornobyl which was an old, poorly-designed plant, vastly different from the technology used in new plants today.
Despite a great deal of misinformation and misconceptions surrounding the subject, nuclear power is actually a zero-emission energy source. According to the Nuclear Energy Institute, in 2020 alone, the United States avoided more than 471 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions through the adoption of nuclear energy.
The country’s nuclear power industry is doing more to drive down emissions than all other clean energy industries combined.
Unlike burning fossil fuels like natural gas, coal, or oil, nuclear energy does not produce polluting emissions like sulfides, greenhouse gases, and dust, making it one of the most environmentally friendly energy sources available today.
Read Also: How To Start A Green Cleaning Service? | Business Under $100
What Are The Positive Impacts Of Nuclear Power On Our Environment?
The positive impacts of nuclear energy on the Environment are the doubting statements between nuclear energy and global warming issues. Every year nuclear power has electricity usage.
The atmosphere is overburdened with this huge load of the excess use of fossil fuel. And fossil fuels have limitations. Every time over 110 million passengers take the vehicle off the road. Can you understand how much pollution they are making?
Low-carbon energy sources are always the best way to recover any sort of pollutants related to carbon emissions. This is the reason most companies are now focusing on the solutions which are helping to recover climate change and greenhouse emissions.
Here are the advantages of nuclear power on the environment.
- Nuclear energy is much more reliable energy than carbon energy.
- As it doesn’t use fuel energy, there are no harsh impacts on the environment.
- If you want to take part in minimizing the energy gap, then nuclear power is going to be the best solution.
- Cost-effective solutions rather than any of the fuel energy.
- It’s a great movement to recover the issues related to climate change and greenhouse emissions.
- This energy is a much more reliable and cost-effective solution rather than any of the fuel energy.
Nuclear Power Is A Great Initiations Of Making The Earth A Better Place To Live
Nuclear power is an excellent choice for turning earth into a better place to live. What is your opinion? Are you voting for nuclear power or fuel power? You can share your opinion through the comment sections and let us know which power source you are preferring to use. For controlling greenhouse emissions theses, power sources are going to be the best pick.
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