Given its high capacity output, nuclear power has become a stable of multiple energy sources around the world. The potential for huge power capacities make it an attractive prospect for any grid, with a single plant able to significantly enhance any country’s generation capabilities. Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind haven’t yet proven themselves as viable solutions to meet the population's wide-scale energy needs. With constantly growing energy demands, it’s important that we explore nuclear as a dependable energy source. The process used to produce nuclear energy is called fission. Nuclear fission occurs when the atom of a nucleus is split, releasing very large amount of energy. In nuclear power plants, atoms are continuously split that provide high amounts of sustainable energy for a long period of time. Below you will find the pros that led to the revival of Nuclear energy.
The intensive development of Nuclear energy can be considered as a means to combat global warming. Every year nuclear power plants in Europe allow to avoid the emission of 700 million tons of CO2, and those in Japan allow to avoid 270 million tons of CO2. Compared to coal, oil and other electric generating plants, nuclear offers the lowest greenhouse gas release. CO2, methane and similar gases, known for depleting Earth’s atmosphere, have notoriously been an issue in the climate change debate. Due to this fact, nuclear energy should once again be looked at for power production.
Did you know that a single uranium, which is about the size of a peanut, can produce as much energy as 800 kg of coal? Nuclear energy sources have higher density than fossil fuels and release massive amount of energy. A relatively small amount of uranium can be used to fuel a 1000 megawatts electric plant, providing enough electricity to power a city of about half a million people. Renewable sources such as solar and wind provide only enough power to meet residential or office needs. They don’t yet have the capacity of Nuclear to handle large-scale power needs, in this industrialized world.
Nuclear power units can produce power continuously for several months without any interruption. Current uranium reserves expected to last for more than 70 years from now, nuclear energy offers high reliability compared to other energy sources. Quite possibly the most important benefit of Nuclear energy is that it doesn’t rely on fossil fuels. This means it’s not affected by the unpredictability of oil and gas costs.
Although, there were some accidents in the past such as Chernobyl, Fukushima and Middle island which brought massive destruction because of being careless. This type of accidents can be prevented by feeling a good degree of responsibility toward the control of Nuclear power reactors.
