Introduction to Nuclear Energy

When people think about nuclear energy, the first thought for many is a big upside down megaphone structure, a giant orange-reddish mushroom cloud, and people waddling around in bright yellow hazmat suits. The association of danger to nuclear energy creates a barrier of fear that can negatively impact the development of nuclear energy. The untapped potential nuclear energy has is immense and quite possibly could be the future of green energy in the future. So then, what exactly is nuclear energy?

Two nuclear reactors with steam billowing off, sun is setting in the background

The energy produced in nuclear energy comes from the core of an atom, aka the nucleus. Every atom contains a huge amount of energy that holds the nucleus together. Atoms can release that energy in two processes: fission and fusion. Fission is the process where a heavy nuclei is split into two smaller nuclei, because it requires less energy to bind the two smaller nuclei together, energy is released. In fusion it's the opposite. Instead of breaking apart a heavy nuclei into two smaller nuclei, fusion combines together light nuclei to create energy. Nuclear energy is usually generated through fission as it occurs easier but in order to fulfill the requirements of a heavy nuclei, elements like uranium and plutonium are commonly used.

Nuclear reactors or power plants are built to control that fission and produce electricity. When a uranium atom is broken apart, it acts almost like a domino and sets off the other uranium atoms to split. The heat created from the fission then heats up whatever cooling agent the plant uses (can be water or molten salt), and creates steam which powers turbines and generators to create electricity.

Compared to other processes, nuclear power plants are environmentally friendly and don't release greenhouse gases, so then why isn't nuclear energy more commonly utilized? Well for starters, the fuel used to create nuclear energy also happens to be the same thing needed to create nuclear weapons so in order to get that fuel, one must be a part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Another issue with nuclear energy is that the byproduct that is produced is radioactive and can be incredibly dangerous. Things that come into contact with radioactive material and radioactive waste stays radioactive for a long time. Nuclear waste must be carefully contained and usually the government dictates how they are disposed of, although that has lead to some controversies. While the radioactive waste can be stored, the real issue comes with the fact that it could take up to hundreds of thousands of years before the waste becomes non-radioactive and one can only safely store so much waste until they run out of space. While there are researches being conducted on figuring out a way to reduce the wait time on radioactive waste, for the time being nuclear power plants are stuck with the waste.

Although nuclear energy isn't the most desirable way to create renewable green energy, with future developments in reducing the wait time on radioactive waste and the possibility of creating nuclear energy through fusion could potentially change everything. The development of nuclear energy is something that should be encouraged and also something to look forward to regarding sustainable energy.