Comparing Nuclear Energy To Other Energies Sources Environmental Sciences Essay

Comparing atomic faculty To Other Energies Sources Env weightliftmental Sciences Essay This draw contains information on five different types of talent showtimes. It is a literature nurture that comp atomic number 18s 2 renewable (solar and nonhingness) writers and dickens non-renewable ( blacken and ingrained gunslinger) comes to atomic vim. The comparison is base on featureors much(prenominal) as usage, personify (both detonator be and conk outning be), prophylactic and stability, store of do in and the impact on the environment. The lineages be individu e precise last(predicate)y comp atomic number 18d to atomic thrust. In the comparisons compose the factors relevant to the devil zippo acknowledgments being compared at all given time are considered factors are non retell in the comparison. It to a fault seeks at whether the medias portrayal of the dangers of nuclear life force is perfect or whether it overestimates the dangers snarled in producing nuclear domain-beater. The aim of the report was to sic the viability of nuclear pushing as a commencement of regime agency to maintenance electricity ineluctably of the population in the future.This is a literature study addressing the portrayal of nuclear nix by the media and its viability as an vigor seeded player in comparison to separate methods of generating electricity. The report compares thermonuclear vigour to animation generated by ember, natural driftes, get up and the sun (i.e. solar muscularity). The get-up-and-go types are individually compared to atomic pushing. Each section highlights specific problems and advantages associated with Nuclear energy as it relates to the energy to which it is being compared. Factors taken into context include the be entangled with the sundry(a) types of energy, how much it is being utilise globally, impact on the environment, stock of forsake, dependablety and stability. The report was writt en to take the filmments laid go through by JSQ216, a second year engineering subject at the University of Pretoria.The report was completed by allocating apiece of the four group members a specific energy to research and compare to nuclear energy. The research was hencece completed by using journal articles, books, internet sites and approaching two engineers about the problem. The information was operati sensationd, the reliability of the germs assessed and a short portion of the report was generated by each group member. All four parts were then put together for the final exam report.Figure 1 Break downcast of solar energy2The sun has been some since the beginning of time further when simply new-fashi iodinedly has it been utilize as a source of renewable energy. al well-nigh 120000 TW of solar energy is abstracted by the Earths advance which is fit to ten thousand times the total global bespeak for energy. Only 0.1% of this energy would be required to satis fy the valet de chambres present consumption of go offs.1There are terzetto main ways to harness the suns energy. These include solar cells which change over temperateness directly into electricity. Solar water heating where heat from the sun is utilize to heat water inside panels on roof tops. And lastly solar furnaces that make use of mirrors to concentrate the suns energy into a small aloofness to become high temperatures. As illustrated by figure 1.There are close to 440 nuclear causality poses in the world to daylight which bring out 16% of the worlds energy demand, however only 1% is useable energy with the rest being nuclear ravage. If 1% of the area where in that respect is retrievable energy employ solar energy devices all the worlds energy necessitate could be met with solar energy alone. If 10% of the area were to be utilised then in two old age the electricity micturated would be equal to all known reserves of dodo send aways.1Cost problems with sola r energy are the high capital costs involved in the installation of solar panels which derriere be real costly. The need to store energy be eccentric of solar availability due to factors such(prenominal)(prenominal) as time of day and weather conditions is also costly. Countries at higher(prenominal) altitudes with daily cloud come up to will extradite an economic disadvantage due to long distance transfer of energy. Maintenance of panels also has to be considered. Nuclear energy is in short cheaper than solar part however the facial expression of the facilities and the disposal of radioactive lay profligacy to is costly and flush toilet affect the environment.3Solar post is relatively safe to use as long as you do non look directly into the suns rays or come into contact with hot solar panels. In the case of nuclear force out it is also safe to use as the nuclear reactors are equipped with redundant systems to make sure thither is no nuclear meltdown. This makes it a in truth electrostatic energy source. Nuclear energy starts to get to a greater extent dangerous in the form of spent burn rods and radioactive waste. hitherto though nuclear energy is reliable and static as a whole, when something does go wrong it can wrench very serious and very dangerous.Solar energy does not gift any form of waste as replaced panels and divisions can be re employ or recycled. Nuclear energy has two types of waste products, the spent fuel rods which if not stored properly in pools of water to cool down could become very un unchangeable. The other form is radioactive gasses and other waste products that if released into the atmosphere can pose various risks.Solar energy produces no waste or pollution. Waste from nuclear power must be sealed and stored immunity for long periods of time. This waste must be kept safe from remote factors and from human contact in order to prevent a threat. such a threat is currently under way at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan where a pool of spent fuel rods caught fire this year.Solar power is a renewable power source in that locationfore it is environmentally warm. It is silent and requires no fuel therefore there is no pollution. It even decreases the amount of harmful green house gasses. Although there are many advantages to solar energy there is still the fact that a large amount of panels is required to produce the needed electricity. This becomes very costly. It is reliable and has no risks that are associated with nuclear energy. Nuclear energy on the other hand is not a renewable source and if not handled in the correct way could impact the environment in a negative way. Even though it does not contrisolelye to global melt like other fossil fuels, the waste gasses it does produce could potentially cause radioactive sicknesses and cancer in humans and other life forms.A summary of the advantages and disadvantages of solar and nuclear energy can be pitch in the tables belowTable 1 Advantages of Solar and Nuclear cipherSolar EnergyNuclear EnergyRenewable energy sourceDoes not emit green house gassesHas no volatile wastePlenty of resources availableOnce panels are in place the energy is freeCheaper than solar powerTable 2 Disadvantages of Solar and Nuclear EnergySolar EnergyNuclear EnergyDoes not rifle at nightRadioactive wasteCurrently very expensiveLong-term storage required for waste productsRequires big fields in order to harvest a suitable amount of energy snug reactors produce plutonium which can be used to make nuclear weaponsAll around the world we require every energy source that we can get including nuclear. All energy sources father both pros and cons. Even though nuclear energy is portrayed as an un still source of energy it is in fact one of the most reliable and stable types in the world today. The downside is in its waste that if treated incorrectly could res publica in the hands of terrorists. In the next 20 old age there will be emergin g economies throughout the globe that will require low cost, environmentally friendly alternative energy sources and Nuclear power is evaluate to satisfy this demand.Wind EnergyWind power is the multiplication of electricity through the use of wind to spin turbines, which in turn, convert the winds kinetic energy into electricity. 1 The process of using wind as a power source has been in use throughout autobiography from around the 12th century where windmills were used to mill grain. 2Wind power extension uses wind turbines to make electricity, wind mills for mechanical power and wind pumps for pumping water. 2 It is a renewable energy source that not many countries have attempted to develop.Wind magnate Worldwide June 2010 3CountryCapacity(MW) ground forces36.3China33.8Germany26.4Spain19.5India12.1Rest of the World46.9Total175.00Table 3 Wind Power Worldwide June 2010In June 2010, The World Wind Energy Association (WWEA) produce that 5 countries alone accounted for approximat ely 73% of the worlds total wind energy production namely USA, China, Germany, Spain and India. 3Figure 2 World Electricity output 2008On the other hand, nuclear energy production seems to be far-off to a greater extent popular in a tidy sum of countries with some countries such as the USA and France having no little than 104 and 59 nuclear reactors in operation respectively 4 in early 2010.A study through with(p) in 2008 to find the percentage of each type of energy that is globally produced showed that wind forms part of only 2.8% whereas nuclear energy accounts for 13.4% of the worlds total power.The main disadvantage of wind power is the unreliability of the wind itself. In most areas the winds strength is too low to spin a turbine. However, if wind energy were to be used in unison with solar and/or geothermic energy it could be developed into a stable and reliable source of power. The wind turbines themselves are quite safe with only a fewer reported cases worldwide of d amaged blades caused by bad weather, none of which has resolutenessed in any known injuries. 5Nuclear reactor plants make use of radioactive materials to generate electricity. The idea that these materials could become unstable and get out of run across is one of the main concerns (along with radioactivity poisoning) for countries producing nuclear energy. The Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986 predate to better, more efficient protocols being put into practice leaving most countries to believe that they are now better prepared to handle any destabilizing of the nuclear materials. 6Nonetheless(prenominal), wind energy persist ins theoretically a lot safer than nuclear plants even with all the safety precautions they take. The consequences are much higher for a nuclear disaster than for a wind turbine failure.Wind turbines do not emit any waste products as they do not burn any sort of fossil fuels or radioactive materials, so there is no concern over where to store or run of e missions safely- unlike nuclear energy. The radioactive materials (like Uranium and Plutonium) that are used up in nuclear power plants continue to produce dangerous radiation for thousands of eld after they have been used up as a fuel for nuclear energy. The most efficacious way to store these spend materials has not yet been found but for now they are being kept in electrical resistance storage pools where they will not be harmful to anybody. 7The initial setups of both wind turbines and nuclear power plants are quite costly. But once built, wind turbines are cheaper to maintain than the power plants, but they are both relatively cheaper to maintain than their fossil fuel counterparts with the nuclear materials lasting a very long time and with wind being a free resource to be used.Environmental pushBoth wind and nuclear energy as it is being produced, is friendly to the surrounding environment (except in the tragic case where radiation is leaked from the power plant). Howeve r, wind turbines do make more noise than the power plants which is unquiet to any locals staying near the turbines. 8The amount of space that a wind turbine takes is less than that of an average nuclear power plant and the disruption to the environment during construction is worse for the power plants because they take so much longer to be built. 8 char EnergyCoal, the most abundant and affordable of the fossil fuels (1), is a non-renewable energy source. It has been used as a source of energy for thousands of years and has numerous grievous uses such as in electricity generation, mark and cement manufacture, and industrial process heating. Coal a good deal proves to be the only alternative when low-cost, spick energy sources are unable to meet the emergence energy demand faced with today (1).Fossil fuels are create from the organic remains of prehistoric plants and animals that have undergone changes due to heat and drive over millions of years. The process is still taking place today but the rate of energy storage is small. The annual biomass production stored this way represents only around 0.001% of the current world energy use (2). Even though char burn can be made artificially, it is not possible to produce it at the rate of consumption (3). Therefore, burn is regarded as a non-renewable energy source and is bound to get depleted. match to BPs (British Pet postum) Statistical refresh of World Energy 2010, there is a estimated 826001 million tons of proven combust reserves worldwide, or 119 years reserves-to-production ratio(length of time that the remaining burn reserves would last if production were to continue at the previous years rate )(4). However, compared to other fossil fuels, blacken reserves are the largest ones and are more evenly distributed worldwide.Nuclear energy is also a non-renewable source as it is reliant upon a finite source of fuel that can be exhausted. Although, the worlds known uracil resources accessiond by 15% in two years to 2007 owing to increased mineral exploration The uranium (and sometimes plutonium) used in nuclear power is a natural resource and is a common metal found in rocks all over the world. The World Nuclear Association suggested that there is approximately (13) clx years of total at todays rate of consumption.Coal is mainly used as a solid fuel to produce electricity and heat. The burn is ordinarily pulverized and then combusted in a furnace with a boiler for the generation of electricity. The steam which results from the combustion is then used to spin turbines, which drives the generators thusly creating electricity. When coal is heated at approximately 1000 degrees Celsius in an stodgy environment, Coke is produced. The Coke is then used is used to smelt iron ore for the production of steel.A by-product of this heating is Coal gas, which is a art object of methane and hydrogen, is produced. Coal gas was used for residential lighting and cooking in the 1940s but it was very costly and so it was stopped. However, in recent times, these gasification processes are being developed to be more cost effective and so coal gas is often used as fuel for engines.Nuclear power plants create electricity through a process called fission in which subatomic particles called neutrons split uranium atoms, producing tremendous amounts of energy. The result of the fission of these large atoms is the creation of smaller atoms and radiation. The energy produced is then absorbed by water which heats it and so stream is produced. The steam is then used to spin turbines as in the case with coal power plants.According to the Key World Energy Statistics 2010 (5), 27% of the worldwide energy demand was fulfilled by coal in 2009.Coal was the second largest source of energy followed by Oil supplying 33.2%. China is a major manufacturer with coal with coal always playing a dominant role in its primary energy consumption. China consumed a high 46,9% of the coal supplied an d produced the most coal (45,6%) according to the BP Statistical World Energy round 2010.World primary energy demand is expected to continue to commence steadily, as it has over thelast two decades According to the International Energy Outlook 2010 (an assessment by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the medical prognosis for international energy markets through 2035), world consumption of coal increases by 56% over the next two decades(6).Nuclear energy supplies the world 5.8% of the worlds consumption which is less than a quarter of what coal supplies. This is expected as there are only 442 operable nuclear power move world-wide, the first one being created about 50 years past which is relatively recent.The extraction of coal involves two types of digging surface (strip) mining and undergroundmining. Surface mining involves the removal of coal deposits close to earths surface whereas underground mining is removing deposits found hundreds of meters below the earths surface. Underground mining accounts to approximately 60% of the worlds coal production (7) and requires the creation of shafts and tunnels that are dug in to the coal layers. There have been numerous tragic occurrences in the history of coal mining as it is a very risky rail line and devastating accidents occur in all countries that produce commercial quantities of this mineral. close mining accidents occur as a result of cave-ins, methane explosions, mine groin failures, vehicle collisions or the flooding of the mine shafts. Also suffocation, gas poisoning, respiratory ailments (mainly Black Lung Disease) were common. Over 100,000 miners have dies over the past century in coal-mining accidents in the U.S (2nd largest producers of coal) only (8). However, most of these risks have been reduced in present-day(prenominal) mines owing to modern technology and health and safety acts setting stricter standards. Nevertheless, in lesser developed countries and some developing countrie s, continue to experience crucial numbers of mining fatalities each year.The abundance of coal makes it easily companionable and the use of cheaper modes of transportation makes this resource an inexpensive form of energy when compared to energies such as solar, wind or hydro. It is also slightly cheaper than the costs involved in producing nuclear energy. When comparing the economics in producing energy from these two sources, it is all-important(prenominal) to consider several different types costs associated with both coal and nuclear energy.This includes costs associated with the fuel used in the production of energy which tend to be lower in a nuclear plant even though more intricate steps are involved in the production of the fuel assemblies used in the reactors. Transportation costs are, however, high for coal because a significantly large amount of coal is needed to generate the same energy as with the nuclear fuel.The capital costs are the costs associated with the initi al construction of the plant and the modifications forms an important part when comparing the costs. For a nuclear plant, these costs are usually higher than for any other energy forms as the buildings used for containment or the safety-related equipment need to meet higher standards than those met by traditional coal plants. On the other hand, coal plants are required to include scrubbers to use up airborne pollutants as a result of the burning of the coal.Another consideration is the operation and maintenance costs involved. These are the costs involved in the day-to-day operation of the coal and nuclear plants. This includes labour costs, material costs, government fees and property taxes. It is found that the costs are very similar in both the plants.The costs associated with the by-product waste should also be taken into account. For a coal plants, this is the coal ash and for a nuclear plant, these costs include a charge levied by the government for ultimate storage of the hi gh take waste. This charge is a flat fee based on energy use. The waste costs for nuclear energy is comfortably higher than the costs for coal plants.Thus, the costs involved in producing coal and nuclear energy are roughly the same (9).The burning of coal is known to contribute to global warming, and is linked to environmental and health issues such as acid rain, smog and asthma owing to the particulate emissions that are emitted from power sites. According to the World Health Organisation, it is estimated that air pollution kills more than 2 million people annually (10). Coal is the largest contributor to the human-made increase of CO2, a greenhouse gas which causes global warming and climate change in the air (11). Strip mining causes large areas of pull down to be temporarily disturbed and this causes soil erosion and impacts on local biodiversity as after the land has been scraped and quarried for coal, it is usually abandoned. The waste after coal has been combusted is oft en disposed of in landfills or surface impoundments, which are lined with compacted dust soil and a plastic sheet. As rain filters through the cyanogenic ash pits over years, the toxic metals are leached out into the local environment. Coal sludge is the liquid coal waste generated by washing coal and is known to contain toxins, and so leaks or spills can pollute underground and surface waters. (12)Natural brag EnergyThe Natural bluster used in power production is a colourless, odourless and tasteless gas made primarily of methane and other hydrocarbons (including ethane, propane, butanes and pentanes). It also contains carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen sulphide and nitrogen, in smaller quantities. Natural gas is a molecular complicated with Van Der Waal attraction between its molecules1. It has a boiling point of -161oC and is stable at a wide variety of temperatures and pressures1. Natural gas is transported in its liquid form as it taken up 600 times less space as a liquid th an it does as a gas and weighs 55% less than the same volume of water. It is a result of the vector decomposition of plants and animals and is found in pockets beneath the earth and ocean.Natural gas is an important source of power in the modern world. According to Makogen (201049) if we were to use 17 to 20% of the worlds natural gas resources, we would be able to provide the world with energy for 200 years. Although it currently only accounts for 20% of the worlds energy, the demand is expected to increase substantially over the next 20 years. It is a cleaner fuel source than any other fossil fuel2 emitting nearly no sulphur dioxide and far less carbon dioxide and NHx than either oil or coal. Natural gases can also be used in connection with other power generation methods, such as biomass3, to produce energy which will change the amount of pollutants emitted.Nuclear stations do not produce the same pollutants as fossil fuels do but waste management remains the primary concern in nuclear technology. The waste products of a nuclear station are isotopes with extremely long half-lives. The storage of these waste products means creating a safe storage space that needs to last longer than all the human civilisations combined. There are third different levels of nuclear waste, high level, medium level and low level. first gear level waste is not very dangerous and disposing of it is not a problem. The danger comes in with high level radioactive waste. The waste is cased in concrete drums and buried up to a kilogrammetre and a half into the ground5. However, high level radioactive waste cannot be stored near any other high level radioactive waste as it will interact with the other waste. It is also important to find stable ground in which to store the waste, as concrete can sally and break in the event of an earthquake or tremor. South Africa is one of the safer places to store nuclear waste as it has a geologically stable countryside. Some areas, like the nor thern Karoo, have experienced about 30 000 years of stability. In between the removal of the waste from use and the final storage of the waste it needs to be left to soak in water for a period of time, to get rid of some of the remnant radiation. In this time the fuel rods need to be safely quiet as the waste products are used in the creation of mucky flops and nuclear bombs. A dirty bomb is a normal bomb containing high level radioactive waste and is detonated above a city, allowing the radioactive particles to contaminate the water supply in addition to other damage. 5Plutonium, one of the waste products of a nuclear power station, is a primary component in atom bombs and the rods often have to be processed to back out all plutonium before they can be disposed. The use to which the waste products can be used also means that measures need to be taken in ensuring that any country with a nuclear power station does not use the waste in a nuclear weapons program. It also leaves a country more vulnerable to nuclear lash out as should a dirty or atom bomb land near a nuclear station the products of the two would react with each other, compounding damage.The waste from a nuclear station can be greatly reduced by the correct management of the station but it still remains a serious threat. Cold coalescence could theoretically produce energy without radioactive waste but experiments with cold fusion have produced very little energy, not even enough to power a light bulb. Cold fusion is also regarded as a scam by many scientists and has the same notoriety as unbroken motion and free energy in many scientific circles9.The level of efficiency of natural gas as a power source is, however, very much pendent on the technology used to produce the power. In a comparison of different technologies4 it was found that Natural Gas combined cycle technology was the most efficient of the Natural Gas technologies. The technologies were compared based on efficiency, capital co sts, maintenance costs, the service life and electricity costs (calculated based on the cost of the fuel, the maintenance costs, capital cost and service life). The capital costs of the combined cycle technology were proficient over 500 with an expected maintenance cost of less than 0.005 per kilo Watt hour and a service life of 20 years (i.e. the time the plant operates before equipment needs to be replaced.) A nuclear station has to replace its one third of its fuel rods annually5Comparatively, a nuclear stations capital costs are higher than any other fuel source6 but they produce electricity at a very low cost which offsets the initial high cost. This can be seen in figure 2, below, which shows a comparison of the cost to generate energy for various technologies. The cost of power from a nuclear plant also tends to remain stable7 even if the cost of uranium varies as up top 75% of the fuel cost in a nuclear plant is to get well the start-up cost. On the other hand, natural gas prices are very dependent on the supply and so prices tend to vary. Natural gas is also subject to carbon taxes in some countries because of its emissions, which reduces its cost efficiency.Figure 3 Cost of Energy Generation for Different TechnologiesLocation also plays a very important role in determining whether or not natural gas or nuclear energy is the most efficient solution of a country. A country that is abundant in fossil fuels and does not pay carbon taxes would find that natural gas was a far more suitable technology. However, when it becomes necessary to import natural gases, the supply security of the plant becomes compromised and it Nuclear may be a more financially viable option.Both Nuclear and Natural Gas sources have the advantages of being able to supply on demand. Most renewable energy resources are offered on an as-available basis8. This means that you do not need to run a coal station alongside a nuclear station in case it does not produce enough energy to mee t demand.ConclusionMedia is incorrect in portrayal, too extreme but still not safeWaste disposal is dangerous, careful consideration as to storage facilitiesSafety, securityVulnerability to nuclear attack