Benefits of Nuclear Power Essay Example

Benefits of Nuclear Power Essay Example Benefits of Nuclear Power Essay Benefits of Nuclear Power Essay Only 30 years ago, nuclear energy was an exotic, futuristic technology, and the subject of experimentation. Today, nuclear energy is Americas second largest source of electric power after coal; more than 110 nuclear energy plants supply more electricity than oil, natural gas or hydropower taken together. Nuclear energy is a clean, safe, reliable and competitive energy source. It is the only source of energy that can replace a significant part of fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas), which massively pollute the atmosphere and contribute to the greenhouse effect. In view of the adverse effects of climate change and dwindling oil reserves, it is imperative to promote more efficient use of energy. There is need to employ renewable energies wind and solar – wherever possible, and adopt a more sustainable life style. But this will not be adequate to reduce the accumulation of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and satisfy the needs of industrialization and the aspirations of the developing nations. Presently, the national power generating capacity is about 3,000MWe. At current level, the per capita electricity generation in Nigeria is just about 30 We, some 30 times less than the 1kWe in South Africa. Conventional energy sources in the form of natural gas and fuel oil generate some 69% of the national capacity. The large hydropower stations at Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro have a combined installed capacity of 1830MWe, while the six other small hydropower stations located in various parts of the country have an installed capacity of 37 MWe. The National energy requirement is estimated at over 30,000 MWe. It is not likely that this will be met by the conventional sources presently available in the country. Nuclear power thus offers one of the most viable options that could make up for the shortfall. The Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission is effectively implementing a dedicated strategic plan to introduce 1,000 MWe into the national grid by 2020, and a gradual injection of another 3,000MWe within another 10 years. Probably, the most important cause of worry, all over the world, regarding the implementation of nuclear projects is that the public does not trust the safety of nuclear power plants. As a matter of course, all known power technologies have certain potentially negative aspects. Since it takes time and continuous dialogue to build and maintain trust, the general public must be systematically informed and educated on the issues entailed in our national nuclear power programme. An effective constructive engagement would therefore create better public understanding of the issues: the necessity, benefits and the safety of present day nuclear power project. It is worthy to emphasize that the implementation of a nuclear power project has both local and global impact. In this regard, the concerns of the population of the local environment as well as those of the neighbouring countries must be satisfactorily addressed to earn their confidence and consent. In this connection, the experiences of other countries would be invaluable, in addition to the three cardinal requirements of International Atomic Energy Agency. 2. THE BENEFITS OF NUCLEAR ENERGY Nuclear power is clean, safe, reliable, compact, competitive and practically inexhaustible. Today over 400 nuclear reactors provide base-load electric power in 30 countries. Fifty years old, it is a relatively mature technology with the assurance of even greater improvement in the next generation. 2. 1 CLEAN POWER GENERATION Nuclear energy is environmentally clean – it produces almost no carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxides whatsoever. These gases are produced in vast quantities when fossil fuels are burned. Carbon dioxide is produced when fossil fuels are burned; it is one of the main gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect, leading to atmospheric warming. Coal and oil contain sulphur impurities and when they are burned, sulfur dioxide goes up the stack, leading to acid rain. When any fossil fuel (coal, oil or natural gas) is burned, nitrogen oxides are also produced. These gases cause smog and atmospheric pollution. Nuclear fuel is pure (contains no sulfur), it is not in contact with the air (no nitrogen), and it produces no smoke or exhaust; the entire process is confined in the fuel element. 2. 2 NUCLEAR ENERGY PRICES ARE STABLE A country (or an electric company) can buy years of supply of uranium when the price is low; it doesnt take up much space and can be easily stored until needed. Most countries (or utilities) dont have space to store more han 3 or 6 months supply of fossil fuels. 2. 3 FUEL CYCLE AND SPENT WASTE MANAGEMENT One gram of uranium yields about as much energy as a ton of coal or oil the famous â€Å"factor of a million. † Nuclear waste is correspondingly about a million times smaller than fossil fuel waste, and it is totally confined. In the USA and Sweden, spent fuel is simply stored away. Elsewhere, spent fuel is reprocessed to separate out the 3% of radioactive fission products and heavy elements to be vitrified (cast in glass) for safe and permanent storage. The remaining 97% – plutonium and uranium – is recovered and recycled into new fuel elements to produce more energy. The volume of nuclear waste produced is very small. A typical French family’s use of nuclear energy over a whole lifetime produces vitrified waste the size of a golf ball. Nuclear waste is deposited in deep geological storage sites; it does not enter the biosphere. Its impact on the ecosystems is minimal. Nuclear waste spontaneously decays over time while stable chemical waste, such as arsenic or mercury, lasts forever. Most fossil fuel waste is in the form of gas that goes up the smokestack. Plans are afoot to establish a management facility for the conditioning, storage and disposal of low and intermediate level radioactive wastes in the country. Further, Nigeria intends to enter into appropriate bilateral agreements for her nuclear fuel cycle, and hopefully sign on to the multilateral nuclear fuel supply assurance networks that are being developed in partnership with IAEA. 2. 4 NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS ARE COMPARATIVELY SAFE Nuclear power plants are comparatively safe, as proven by the record of half a century of commercial operation, and with the accumulated experience of more than 12,000 reactor-years. There have been only two serious accidents in the commercial exploitation of nuclear power: The Three Mile Island (TMI) in 1979 (in Pennsylvania, USA) and Chernobyl in 1986 (in the Soviet Union, now in Ukraine). The TMI was the worst accident one can imagine in a western power reactor. The core of the reactor melted down and much of it fell to the bottom of the reactor vessel. The radioactivity released was almost entirely confined within the reinforced concrete containment structure, the air-tight silo-like building which housed the reactor and was designed for that purpose. The small amount of radioactivity which escaped was quite innocuous. As a result, no one at TMI was seriously irradiated nor did anyone die. In fact, Three Mile Island was a real success story for nuclear safety. The worst possible accident thus occurred, a core meltdown, and yet no one died or was even injured. Chernobyl was different. The reactors at Chernobyl had no containment structure. The reactor’s faulty design made it unstable and Chernobyl was operated that moment in a way known to be dangerous. In the execution of a test, all the security systems were deliberately bypassed. An uncontrollable surge in power occurred leading to a steam explosion. The 600-ton graphite moderator then caught fire and burned for several weeks. The smoke carried more than half the radioactive fission products directly into the atmosphere where they were swept far and wide by the winds. Fewer than 32 persons died within a few months, and about 200 more were severely irradiated but survived. The inhabitants of the exclusion zone were also victims as they were hurriedly uprooted, evacuated and resettled elsewhere. On the contrary, coal mine accidents are common occurrences and often cause tens or hundreds of fatalities, reported in a day and forgotten the next, adding up to about 15,000 per year worldwide. The same may be said for oil field accidents. Oil tankers go aground or break-up; accidents occur in refineries, oil and gas platforms have been lost with all hands. Accidents in high pressure gas pipelines are not infrequent. Just one example among many others is the gas pipeline accident at Ghislenghien, Belgium on July 30, 2004, in which 21 persons died and 120 were injured. 2. 5 NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS ARE COMPARATIVELY RELIABLE Nuclear reactors provide base-load power and are available over 90% of the time. Intervals between refueling have been extended while down time for refueling has been reduced. In the USA, these improvements over the years have been the equivalent of adding one reactor a year to the existing fleet. Most reactors are designed for a life of 40 years; many are reaching that age in good condition and extensions of 20 years have usually been granted. 2. 6 NUCLEAR RENERGY IS COMPETITIVE The cost of nuclear power is competitive and stable. The cost of nuclear fuel is a small part of the price of a nuclear kiloWatt-hour, whereas fossil fueled power, especially oil and gas, is at the mercy of the market. 2. 7 NUCLEAR ENERGY FUEL IS INEXHAUSTIBLE Uranium is found everywhere in the crust of the Earth – it is more abundant than tin, for example. Major deposits are found in Canada and Australia. It is estimated that increasing the market price by a factor ten would result in 100 times more uranium coming to market. Eventually we will be able to recover uranium from sea water where 4 billion tons are dissolved. 2. 8 NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS ARE RELATIVELY COMPACT A nuclear power station is very compact, occupying typically the area of a football stadium and its surrounding parking lots. Solar cells, wind turbine farms and growing biomass, all require comparatively much large areas of land. . 9 PROMISING GLOBAL SCENARIO More than 400 nuclear power plants are operating in 25 countries around the world today, supplying almost 17 percent of the worlds electricity. In most countries, nuclear energy plays an even larger role as a source of electricity than in the United States. Many of these nations are building new nuclear energy plants to meet the needs of their growing populations and expanding economies. About 100 new nuclear energy plants are currently being built around the world. 3. 0 CONCLUSION The strengths of the national nuclear power programme are manifold: long term energy security, ready availability of nuclear fuels, capacity to mitigate the consequences of global warming, sustainable socio-economic development accruable from diversification of national energy energy mix, significant spin-off effect accruable from the application of nuclear technology in a wide variety of other sectors, nuclear energy is clean, inexhaustible, compact and has a broader life span, large water and land resources available for nuclear energy production, and enhanced safety, security and safeguards. The opportunities that would accrue to the nation from the deployment of nuclear power plants include: sustainability of power for national development, generation of requisite manpower to man nuclear power plants and the proliferation of other peaceful uses of nuclear energy, spin-off industries inherent in nuclear power programme, employment generation and poverty reduction, research, development and human capacity development, as well as mutually rewarding bilateral, regional and international cooperation agreements. All in all, nuclear energy has proven to be most beneficial to developed and emerging economies. If optimally designed, constructed, operated and maintained, nuclear energy is not only clean, but safe, reliable, durable and competitive.