Matthew Sholtes

Mrs. DeBock
English 4
April 14, 2016
Research Paper
Nuclear Energy has its pros and cons anywhere from powering a whole county to
causing that whole county to be evacuated immediately. There have been 3 nuclear accidents
caused by reactor meltdowns recorded to this day. The people in those places that had to be
evacuated had to abandon almost everything in their possession and no one is allowed in there
for a substantial amount of time for about 500 years. All forms of creating energy is dangerous to
the environment but this paper is going to cover why Nuclear Energy is good.
Nuclear Energy in comparison with any other form of generating energy is way more cost
effective. The materials and machines used to build and use these facilities are far more
expensive then solar power generators and coal generators. Another advantage is that is produces
no smoke or carbon dioxide which is great for the environment. It is very reliable and creates a
tremendous amount of energy from such a small amount of fuel. They work almost the same as
other energy plants except a chain reaction occurs to produce heat. Uranium rods are used for
fuel. During this whole process neutrons are moving around inside the reactor and smash into the
nucleus of the Uranium atoms which is called nuclear fission. When nuclear fission happens it
creates heat. Carbon dioxide is also used during this process to help cool down and is also used
to heat water to create steam. When the steam is created it drives turbines and drives the
generators to produce energy.

Coal powered generators are almost the exact same except for one major problem. Coal is
made into a powder like substance called talcum powder. It is then put into a firebox and burned.
In the firebox there are pipes that carry water through them and with it being so hot inside, the
water is turned to steam. The steam is then used to drive the turbines and the turbines then drive
the generators. The steam is then turned back into water to do the process all over again. Sounds
a lot like how Nuclear energy is created, right? Wrong. The big difference is when the talcum
powder is burned, it creates a lot of smoke and pollution that ruins the environment. It also
requires so much coal just to make a little energy unlike the nuclear power plants that work the
opposite from that.
Overall, nuclear energy in comparison to coal powered generators are way more efficient
and less expensive. They are similar in many ways, there are just 2 major ways they are different
from each other. Nuclear energy is a lot better but needs to be monitored carefully to prevent a
nuclear meltdown. There have only been 2 recorded which in the long run will pay off compared
to the pollution given off by coal powered generators. Along with the smoke and carbon dioxide,
there is tons of ash that is created from burning the coal.