Science in the news

Disadvantages

However, there are some disadvantages of nuclear power plants.

* The problem of radioactive waste is still an unsolved one. The waste from nuclear energy is extremely dangerous and it has to be carefully looked after for several thousand years

* Nuclear power plants as well as nuclear waste could be preferred targets for terrorist attacks. No atomic energy plant in the world could withstand an attack similar to 9/11 in Yew York. Such a terrorist act would have catastrophic effects for the whole world.

* During the operation of nuclear power plants, radioactive waste is produced, which in turn can be used for the production of nuclear weapons. In addition, the same know-how used to design nuclear power plants can to a certain extent be used to build nuclear weapons (nuclear proliferation).

* The next disadvantage is cost. Nuclear is expensive. Partly due to safety measures and partly because uranium is a rare and expensive fuel.

The main problem is disposal of the waste.

Nevertheless, there are still alternatives that could be used instead of nuclear power plants. Examples of altenatives are wind farms and solar panels.

A group of wind turbines form a Wind Farm. Wind turbines convert the kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy which is then used to drive a generator that converts this energy into electricity. (1). We can use the energy in the wind by building a tall tower, with a large propeller on the top. The wind blows the propeller round, which turns the generator to produce electricity. (2). Advantages of wind turbines is that it is friendly to the surrounding environment, as no fossil fuels are burnt to generate electricity from wind energy, the wind is free and wind turbines take up less space than power stations. Disadvantages of wind turbines is that the making of wind turbines can be very expensive and People feel the countryside should be left in alone for everyone to enjoy it's beauty. (3).

A solar panel is a group of solar cells. Lots of small solar cells spread over a large area can work together to supply enough power to be useful. The more light that hits a cell, the more electricity it produces. Solar panels can be bought and installed on the roof of houses where sun rays are turned into electricity and used in homes. (4). Advantages of solar panels are that they don't contribute to greenhouse effect, they're robust and they reduce energy bills. Disadvantages of solar panels are that you can't use them when its not sunny, they are really expensive and fossil fuels are burnt for their making.

This graph shows the gradual increase of electricity generated in the UK over the years from the 1920's that is just after the first world war to the present day. You can see between 1950 to the 1980's there was a steep increase in the amount of electricity generated. This was due to the industrial development, population expansion and technology advancement after the second world war. This put a great demand on electricity.

Sources 1 and 2 are reliable because I had gotten them from a link from the BBC website which is a well respected and dependendable website which has been around for many years. Sources 3 and 4 were from websites that have links to the greenpeace website. The greenpeace webstie is also a reliable website, however they can be a bit biased which have causes debates on a few topics. The graph that I used was from and examination board called OCR

Overall, I think that the UK does not need anymore nuclear power staions because I feel that the by-products are a contibution to the greenhouse effect. The waste produced by these nuclear power stations are very hard to dispose of. Disposal of the environmental waste from these nuclear plants must be thought out properly or else, this could cause serious evironmental problems. On the other hand the development of wind turbines are enviromnetally friendly and cost effective.