• Nuclear Energy is the energy in the nucleus or core of an atom
• Nuclear energy is released
  • By splitting the atom - Nuclear Fission
  • By joining 2 atoms to one – Nuclear Fusion

NUCLEAR ENERGY TO GENERATE ELECTRICITY

• A nuclear reactor
  • Is a power plant that can control nuclear fission to produce electricity
  • Uranium is used as fuel.
• Atoms of uranium are split, which creates fission products which cause other uranium atoms to split, thus creating a chain reaction
• The energy from this chain reaction is released in the form of heat. This heat is used to warm the nuclear reactors cooling agent, which results in the formation of steam.
• This steam turns the turbines, which drive the engines or generators to produce electricity.

NUCLEAR ENERGY TO HELP STOP GLOBAL WARMING?

• Nuclear power plants are called “modern and clean.”
• Plant construction times are too long and the costs too high to have a noticeable effect on climate change. It takes too long for nuclear energy to become available.
• Nuclear power plants are about four times as expensive as wind or solar, and take five times as long to build
• 15-to-20 years of lead time for a new nuclear plant
• World needed to get greenhouse gases under control within a decade
• In the next 10 years, nuclear power won’t be able to make a significant contribution
• Combination of excessive costs, environmental consequences and lack of public support were all arguments against nuclear power.
• Due to the high costs associated with nuclear energy, it also blocks important financial resources that could instead be used to develop renewable energy
• In addition, nuclear energy itself has been affected by climate change. During the world’s increasingly hot summers, several nuclear power plants have already had to be temporarily shut down or taken off the grid. Power plants depend on nearby water sources to cool their reactors, and with many rivers drying up, those sources of water are no longer guaranteed.