Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Waste essays

Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Waste essays Nuclear energy is by far the most efficient and environmentally friendly of all the sources of electricity. Nuclear power provides economic and environmental benefits; "in particular, it can make an important contribution to what is likely to be the dominant environmental imperative of the twenty-first century - limiting emissions of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide" (Nuclear Energy Agency [NEA], 3). The greatest advantage of nuclear power is its ability to produce so much energy from such a small fuel volume. One kilogram (2.2 pounds) of coal generates four kilowatts of electricity, as does a kilogram of oil, but a kilogram of uranium generates 400,000 kilowatts of electricity (Spun, 2002). One of the greatest problems with nuclear energy is the waste produced. Nuclear reactors produce tons of radioactive waste each year, and there is always the question of what to do with it. Nuclear waste is sometimes referred to as the Achilles' heel of the nuclear power industry an d for the industry to keep expanding; an effective solution needs to be found on how to permanently dispose of the nuclear waste produced. The main rationale for permanent disposal is the need to safeguard high-level wastes, to isolate them in perpetuity (Shrader-Frechette, 3). These wastes and spent fuels have many effects on the lives of people today. To the government and the environment, the nuclear waste that is building up is expensive to handle, and it is dangerous to use. The problem that is encountered when wanting to come up with a solution to permanently dispose of nuclear waste is that they have such a long half-life. Technitium-99 is produced during nuclear-reactor operation and nuclear-weapons production, and it has a half-life of 212,000 years (Gorman, 235). The half-life of a radioactive element is the time that is taken for half of it to decay to a stable form or into a less radioactive element in a kind of decay chain. Right now, al...