Replacing the fossil fuels is beneficial to the environmental problems. Many nations have taken action and turned their attention to renewable and clean energy.
In this essay I will focus on a solution to produce sufficient electrical power and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emission. The UAE leader ship currently committed to a 7% renewable energy targeted by 2020. The Abu Dhabi future energy company known as (Masdisar)
Is fully committed to finding low cost energy technologies that can be rolled out on a large scale, giving safe and clean power to many.
Nuclear Energy
The main reason why people want to see nuclear power being used more is that it doesn't depend on small supply of fossil fuels, and is environmentally and clean unlike fossil fuels.
Why I think there should be a nuclear power plant built in the UAE. Among the many benefits of nuclear power, the main advantage is that this type of power is that it is a clean way to produce energy as it does not result in the emission of any of the poisonous gases like carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide or nitrogen dioxide. In today’s world when pollution of the atmosphere is one of our main worries, an option such as this is definitely preferable compared to burning of fossil fuels, which causes so much pollution. When compared to the fossil fuel waste, the nuclear waste which occurs due to the production of nuclear power is not only small in quantity but also remains confined so as not to affect anyone in its surroundings.
This turns out to be one of the main benefits of nuclear power and why The UAE should start considering it, as compared to the chemical waste like arsenic, mercury or poisonous gases which cause global warming, acid rain and smog. Nuclear power is safe and even though there have been a number of serious accidents, such as in Japan and Chernobyl, these are sporadic incidents when compared to the rate of accidents which occur in fossil fuel industries, coal mines and gas pipelines which have a history of eruption. One of the main benefits of nuclear power is that it is an extremely reliable source of power because most nuclear reactors have a life cycle of 40 years which can be easily extended further for 20 more years.
Nuclear power commonly uses an isotope of uranium. This is the only isotope of any element that can sustain chain reactions which occurs naturally. Uranium is quite common, it is 40 times more abundant than silver. At current consumption levels uranium resources are expected to last for over 100 years and there is expected to be twice that amount which has not yet been discovered. Other fuels can be used such as plutonium which does not occur naturally, however it can be made from the more common isotope of uranium.
Uranium can be split by firing a free neutron into the nucleus, this makes the nucleus so unstable that the nucleus splits, this forms 2 different elements, in this case barium and krypton, and 3 free neutrons. These free neutrons then go on to hit more Uranium atoms, setting off a chain reaction and releasing a huge amount of energy.
Timeline of the different generations of nuclear power plants
In the 1960's several nuclear power plants emerged in the U.S., Europe, Japan and the Soviet Union. After the oil crises of 1973 and 1979-80 many nations turned to using nuclear power to ensure a more secure and stable energy market. Two of these were Sweden and France, which today have around 50% and 80% of their electricity production from nuclear power. Then in 1986 the Chernobyl accident, together with falling oil prices, decreased the interest for both nuclear power and renewable energy forms signicantly.
Thus, nuclear power has advantages and disadvantages, but in my opinion it has been proven to be reliable and will be useful in reducing carbon emissions, being cheaper than renewable energy sources. There needs to be an alternative to fossil fuels because of the steady increase in price and the fact that they will run out in a few decades. So the best option is probably to use more renewable energy sources like in Germany, as well as nuclear power.
Resources:
Uranium: Definition from Answers.com. 2015. Uranium: Definition from Answers.com. [ONLINE] Available at: . [Accessed 07 March 2015].
Nuclear Catastrophe and Reactor Shutdown - HowStuffWorks. 2015.Nuclear Catastrophe and Reactor Shutdown - HowStuffWorks. [ONLINE] Available at: . [Accessed 07 March 2015].
Nuclear Power Economics | Nuclear Energy Costs . 2015. Nuclear Power Economics | Nuclear Energy Costs . [ONLINE] Available at:. [Accessed 07 March 2015].
IAEA Topical Booklets and Overviews | International Atomic Energy Agency. 2015. IAEA Topical Booklets and Overviews | International Atomic Energy Agency. [ONLINE] Available at:. [Accessed 07 March 2015].
PRIS - Home . 2015. PRIS - Home . [ONLINE] Available at:. [Accessed 07 March 2015].
plutonium (Pu) | chemical element | Encyclopedia Britannica. 2015.plutonium (Pu) | chemical element | Encyclopedia Britannica. [ONLINE] Available at: . [Accessed 07 March 2015].
dvantages Of Nuclear Energy. 2015. Advantages Of Nuclear Energy. [ONLINE] Available at: . [Accessed 07 March 2015].
How Nuclear Energy Works - Conserve Energy Future. 2015. How Nuclear Energy Works - Conserve Energy Future. [ONLINE] Available at:. [Accessed 07 March 2015].
Disadvantages Of Nuclear Energy - Conserve Energy Future. 2015.Disadvantages Of Nuclear Energy - Conserve Energy Future. [ONLINE] Available at: . [Accessed 07 March 2015].
Pros and Cons of Nuclear Energy - Conserve Energy Future. 2015. Pros and Cons of Nuclear Energy - Conserve Energy Future. [ONLINE] Available at:. [Accessed 07 March 2015].
by
aazmy31gmailcom (student)
