| In the effort to get away from our oil and coal | | | | balancing act. Allow the decay to happen to |
| dependency, nuclear energy is getting attention | | | | quickly and your risk a meltdown. Although |
| again. Here is an overview of nuclear | | | | meltdowns are rare, they are absolutely |
| energy.Harnessing a chemical reaction at the | | | | devastating when they occur.The best known |
| nuclear level of certain materials produces nuclear | | | | nuclear disaster was Chernobyl in 1986. Located in |
| energy. The process is known as nuclear | | | | the Ukraine, the individuals controlling the reactor |
| fission.Nuclear fission occurs when certain | | | | attempted an ill-advised test. Blame has been put |
| materials, such as uranium, are manipulated in a | | | | on the controllers and the basic design of the |
| manner that causes them to decay quickly. A | | | | plant, but nobody is really sure as to the exact |
| byproduct of this decal is immense amounts of | | | | cause. What is known is control was lost and the |
| heat. The heat is then typically used to turn | | | | nuclear fission went to fast. Huge steam |
| turbines much as occurs in hydropower dams. | | | | explosions occurred followed by a full nuclear |
| The spinning turbines produce electricity, which is | | | | meltdown. A huge radioactive cloud escaped and |
| then used for commercial applications and | | | | dropped radioactive material over much of |
| propelling naval vessels such as submarines.The | | | | Eastern Europe. 330,000 people around the |
| largest known nuclear reaction can be seen | | | | reactor had to be evacuated. Thousands died |
| everyday in the sky. The sun is essentially a | | | | immediately. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, |
| nuclear reaction, but on a much larger scale than | | | | of people have suffered health problems. Birth |
| we could ever replicate. It does not blow up | | | | defects are a sad, regular occurrence. All and all, |
| because of its immense gravity. It does, | | | | the meltdown produced 300 times the radioactive |
| however, shoot off massive solar flares which | | | | material produced in the two bombs dropped on |
| contain more energy than we could use in | | | | Japan at the end of the Second World |
| years.Nuclear energy is a popular subject with | | | | War.Nuclear energy is a very efficient way to |
| governments because it produces a lot of energy | | | | produce energy, but one that is extremely |
| with relatively small resource requirements. | | | | devastating when it goes wrong. All and all, we |
| Countries such as Russia, France and China have | | | | are better off finding another platform for our |
| invested heavily in nuclear energy production. | | | | energy needs.Rick Chapo is with |
| There are, however, significant problems with | | | | SolarCompanies.com, a directory of solar energy |
| nuclear energy.Nuclear fission is a fairly unstable | | | | companies. Visit us to read more articles on |
| process. Energy is produced by speeding up and | | | | renewable energy. |
| slowing down the decay process. Essentially, it is a | | | | |