How Nuclear Power Work and Nuclear Hazards to The Environment

Nuclear power technology is widely used for generation of electricity. Developed countries like France, Finland, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Sweden, Spain and Switzerland generate more than 30% of their total electric power by using a variety of atomic reactors.

How does it work?

Scientists have long operated the procedure of fission where an atom ruptures into two smaller parts. This occurs by human manipulation as well as naturally. The natural incidence takes a long period of time, but scientists now can make the process faster through induce fission.

The most common element used for nuclear fission is Uranium. For Uranium to undergo fission naturally, millions of years must pass. Uranium has a half-life or the amount of time it takes Uranium to lose half of its mass, of 4.5 billion years.

Uranium occurs naturally in three forms. These three forms are Uranium-238, -235, and -234. All three undergo natural fission when radioactive decay sets in, but scientists have found that they can induce fission when using Uranium-235.

When decaying, Uranium emits alpha particles, which contain two protons and neutrons. These alpha particles break off from the nucleus. When fission is induced, scientists shoot a neutron into the element's nucleus, and the atoms split immediately.

The split results in a high amount of heat and gamma radiation, or electromagnetic radiation caused by the release of photon particles, the most basic particles of light. The two resulting atoms of the fission later create additional gamma radiation and beta radiation on their own.

Nuclear Hazards or Harmful Effects of Nuclear Energy

Though nuclear power has significant benefits, some serious incidents have changed the attitude of people towards the atomic power plants. Atomic energy has following dark sides:

• Nuclear weapons: The nuclear weapons like atomic bombs and missiles have devastating implications. The atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki can never be forgotten. These bombs killed numerous people and destroyed everything.
• Disasters: Use of nuclear energy technology can result in major disasters. One of these is Chernobyl Disaster of 1986 in the east while USSR. The nuclear reactor caught fire and resulted in world's worst nuclear accident that took 10 days to control the runaway reaction. Thousands of people died immediately, 24,000 people received high doses of radiations. After ten years of the incident (1996), it was found that increased rate of thyroid cancer in children was one of the long term effects. Fused fingers (monodactyl) to form a paddle and more than 5 digits (polydactyly) in hands and feet were the other genetic defects observed in Chernobyl.
• Other effects: There are much more kinds of damages from atomic accidents and use of atomic energy. The most common and long-term effect of radiations is the mutation, leading to abnormalities in the offsprings. Leukemia and breast cancer are the two common types of cancers linked to exposure to radiations. The disposal of the atomic waste is another major problem.

In conclusion, if all the nuclear weapons in the world were used, then all the humanity would most likely be destroyed. Later, the world would go into what is called "Nuclear Winter". Global temperature would drop significantly, as well as the amount of sunlight received by the earth. The combination of radioactivity, lack of food, and lowering temperatures cause an atomic Holocaust, with the chances of humans surviving very low.