HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

OFFICE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDY PROGRAMS

NUCLEAR POWER

BENEFITS AND RISKS

Dương Hoàng Sĩ

Pre 1 K2018 – Pre-Intermediate 9

Mrs.Nhung and Mr.Brian

Dương Hoàng Sĩ

Mrs.Nhung and Mr.Brian

Pre-Intermediate 9

October 24, 2018

Nuclear power: Merits and Demerits

It is no secret that nowadays, the world's most popular energy source is fossil fuels

including coal, oil and natural gas. However, too much exploitation of fossil fuels has caused

many negative effects on the environment and human’s life. Another limitation of these sources

is that they are not renewable. Therefore, many scientists have started research to find new

alternative sources of energy. Over thousands of experiments, a revolution in energy has

emerged with a complete new type: nuclear power. Today, nuclear power has been widely used

in various aspects of life (science, electricity, industry, etc.) . However, everything has two sides,

and nuclear power is no exception. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to learn about the

merits and demerits of nuclear power.

To begin with, it would be useful for us to first have a comprehensive understanding of

nuclear energy and its history of development. By definition, "Nuclear energy is the energy in

the nucleus of an atom. Atoms are the smallest particles that can break a material. At the core of

each atom, there are two types of particles (neutrons and protons) that are held together. Nuclear

energy is the energy that holds neutrons and protons. "(“What is nuclear energy”). About the

history of nuclear power, “Uranium was discovered in 1789 by Martin Klaproth, a German

chemist.” (“Outline History Of Nuclear Energy”). Subsequently, research and experiments

around Uranium-235 contributed to the emergence of nuclear energy. After that, electricity was
first produced from the EBR-I experimental nuclear reactor on December 20, 1951, with an

initial capacity of about 100kW. Following centuries-long development until today, we have

three types of nuclear power: Fission, Hot Fusion, Cold Fusion. Nowadays, for many reasons,

the most common method used in nuclear power factories is nuclear fission. In contrast, fusion is

used less because of high technology requirements. Cold fusion is in the experimenting stage,

and scientists foresee its great potential.

Over a long period of research and development, today nuclear power is gradually

improving and bringing a lot of benefits. Firstly, nuclear power has enormous capacity over

fossil energy, “One kilogram of 4%-enriched fuel grade uranium releases energy equivalent to

the combustion of nearly 100 tons of high grade coal or 60 tons of oil.” (“Benefits Of Nuclear

Energy”). Not only that, Uranium is reusable fuel. Nowadays, scientists have demonstrated

Uranium-235 can be re-used after regeneration. With these advantages, nuclear power plants can

meet the growing demand for electricity in the world. In fact that there are 441 nuclear power

plants operating in 30 countries producing 17% of the world's electricity. Another benefit of

nuclear energy is that greenhouse gas reduction. For example, fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas), when

used to produce electricity, emit CO2 directly into the air. But nuclear reactors that do not emit

greenhouse gases, using them to develop electricity can help curb global warming and climate

change. “Every year, nuclear stations reduce CO2 emissions by 700 million tons in Europe.”

(“Benefits Of Nuclear Energy”). Finally, nuclear power operates more safely than other sources

of energy. Developers of the current nuclear power plants have drawn from the weaknesses of

the past disasters like the Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Japan and create a safe system

called passive safety system.

 Although there are many advantages over fossil fuels and great potential in the future,

nuclear power still has its risks that need to be improved. Start with the cost of building a plant,

although a large amount of energy produced from a nuclear power plant, it requires huge

investment costs. Moreover, the time to build a nuclear plant is also quite long, from 10 to 15

years. The next issue is nuclear waste, the waste generated after the fission reaction contains

highly unstable and radioactive elements. It is very dangerous to the environment as well as

human health and will last for a long time. Therefore, one must be stored and handled carefully.

The storage of radioactive elements for a long time is very difficult. In addition to these risks,

nuclear weapons are a major problem for all humanity as nuclear power grows. A number of

extremely dangerous nuclear weapons have emerged since nuclear power was developed. This is

a threat to the world because they can cause massive destruction. Their impact can affect

generations like atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.

It is clear that nuclear energy has many benefits, as well as many defects, it can not deny

that in the future, nuclear power will become the replacement energy for all humanity. Today,

many people do not have the correct understanding of nuclear energy and assume that it only

brings bad effects on people and the environment. However, more and more serious climate

change makes people understand that nuclear is a safe and highly constructive way to overcome

this problem. New challenges will emerge, as will new opportunities.