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