Pro Fission - Mohamed( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

1. Nuclear fission reactors are incredibly power efficient and are a big way to stop fossil
fuel and oil’s carbon emission (Harman, 2021).
2. Combining renewable energy acting a flux with nuclear fission reactors, nuclear
fission reactors can aid in production of a way more environmentally friendly power
grid (Harman, 2021)
3. Nuclear fission is self-sustaining (or called fissionable) (WNA, 2020) meaning that it
just takes a tiny start to produce a lot of energy.
4. Combining this fact with modern day safety standards make it incredibly unlikely for
a catastrophic chernobyl-like event to occur again (WNA, 2020).
5. Thorium Reactors are more safe, more plentiful, more efficient, less nuclear waste
production, and easier to acquire Thorium as opposed to Uranium (Kazimi, 2003).
6. With the development of MSR (molten salt reactors), safety has increased because the
liquids there typically stay as a liquid restricting them from turning into a high
pressure gas causing a break causing a meltdown (GenIV, 2014).
7. Nuclear waste is so much easier to handle and not suffer from rather than the carbon
emissions (WNA, 2020)
8. With the exception of Deuterium and Tritium fusion and antimatter but those don’t
count because we aren’t (yet) able to harness their energy for production, nuclear
fission (specifically U-235) is the absolute most energy dense method we can use to
gain energy. (Boechler, 2021;CERN, 2019;Liyoshi 1993).
9. Those three methods are orders of magnitudes above the competition in energy
density (Boechler, 2021)
10. It taught us more on how the world works and functions as a whole via people
learning the true power of nuclear binding energy (Sheinkin, 2012),
11. Atomic weapons that use fission act as protection because no (reasonable) person will
make the side with nukes angry (Younger, 2000)
12. According to the book “The Star Builders” made by Dr Arthur Turrell, Deputy Director
for Research and Economics at the ONS Data Science Campus, these fission reactors are
helping us understand what is going inside the sun and other stars.
13. They have been proven to be sufficient enough for nuclear submarines which are
incredible creations that prove it’s lack of noticeability in general (EPA, N/A)
14. NASA has plans on sending rockets to the moon powered via nuclear fission because it
is such a good power source and it produces so much power with not that much space
(NASA, 2017)
15. Understanding how it works is essential for learning about the elementary particles.
Trying to understand elementary particles without being familiar with fission is like
watching the 2nd part of the Harry Potter movie Deathly Hallows (Styer, 2022).
16. It is Tyler DeWitt approved (DeWitt, 2012)
 Work Cited
Boechler, E. (2021, December 20). Energy density. Energy density - Energy Education.
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https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Energy_density#:~:text=Energy%20density%20is%20the
%20amount,of%20energy%20it%20has%20stored.

CERN, C. E. pour la R. N. (2019). The matter-antimatter asymmetry problem. CERN.

Retrieved March 3, 2022, from https://home.cern/science/physics/matter-antimatter-asymmetry-
problem

DeWitt, T. (2012, May 20). Nuclear fission - youtube. YouTube. Retrieved March 3, 2022, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pY5HeZpNr8

EPA, E. P. A. (n.d.). About Nuclear Submarines and Aircraft Carriers . EPA. Retrieved March
3, 2022, from https://www.epa.gov/radtown/nuclear-submarines-and-aircraft-carriers

Gen IV, G. I. V. (2014). Molten Salt Reactor (MSR). GIF Portal. Retrieved March 3, 2022, from
https://www.gen-4.org/gif/jcms/c_42150/molten-salt-reactor-msr

Hall, L. (2017, December 12). Kilopower. NASA. Retrieved March 3, 2022, from
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/kilopower/

Harman, S. (2021, March 29). Nuclear 101: How does a nuclear reactor work? Energy.gov.
Retrieved March 3, 2022, from https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/nuclear-101-how-does-nuclear-
reactor-work

Kazimi, M. S. (2003). Thorium Fuel for Nuclear Energy. americanscientist. Retrieved March
3, 2022, from https://www.americanscientist.org/sites/americanscientist.org/files/
200582141548_306.pdf

Liyoshi, A. (1993, October). (PDF) innovative energy production in fusion reactors . National
institute for fusion science. Retrieved March 3, 2022, from
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eactors

Sheinkin, S. (2012). Bomb: The race to build - and steal - the world's most dangerous
weapon. Roaring Brook Press.

Styer, D. F. (2022, January 14). Nuclear and elementary particle physics - oberlin college .
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https://www2.oberlin.edu/physics/dstyer/Modern/NuclearPhysics.pdf

WNA, W. N. A. (2020, November). Thorium. Thorium - World Nuclear Association. Retrieved

March 3, 2022, from https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-
generation/thorium.aspx
 Younger, S. M. (2000, June 27). Nuclear weapons in the 21st Century. Federation Of
American Scientists. Retrieved March 3, 2022, from https://fas.org/nuclear-weapons-21st-century/

Con Fission - Srestha

1. According to a Harvard study conducted by Harvard University students, electromagnetic radiation
emitted as a result of nuclear fission, known as gamma rays, has 100,000 times more energy than visible
light. Radioactive material can also emit highly energetic electrons (beta particles) and small clusters of
protons and neutrons (alpha particles). This concentrated energy causes the molecules in our body to react
in ways that can be extremely damaging, sometimes giving rise to cancer” (Wilkerson).
2. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a major environmental concern related to
nuclear fission is the creation of radioactive wastes such as uranium mill tailings, spent (used) reactor fuel,
and other radioactive wastes. These materials can remain radioactive and dangerous to human health for
thousands of years (U.S. Energy Information Administration).
3. Tragic events such as Chernobyl and Fukushima show us just how dangerous the process of nuclear fission
can be. In July 2017, underwater robots found melted nuclear fuel, up to 3 feet thick, underneath the core
inside the primary containment vessel at their Unit 3 reactor. This creates a radiation-exposure event that
can be dangerous to human and animal health (Gaille).
4. If the Fukushima disaster ever goes through a formal cleanup process, the cost could be at least $100
billion. Greenpeace believes that the final tally could be well over $200 billion. (“18 advantages and
disadvantages of nuclear fission”).
5. Fission can also be the foundation of powerful weapons that create mass casualties. The atomic bombs,
which start with the same fission reaction, that were dropped in Japan killed up to 226,000 people over a 4-
month period. About half of those deaths occurred on the same day. That means this technology is a very
real threat to continued life on our planet (Office of Scientific and Technical Information).
6. According to an economic specialist and personal finance blogger, from 2002-2008, the cost of a new
nuclear plant rose from $2 billion to $9 billion per unit in the United States. Costs in Canada and Europe
are even higher for new plants. Although it would be cost-effective once online and produce power for a
minimum of 40-50 years, if not longer, it would require several years for the expenditures for new facilities
to pay for themselves. These costs do not include any financing or public-risk costs that may be associated
with the facility (Gaille).
7. Though the energy is, the fuel that is required to start a nuclear fission reaction is not renewable. Although
uranium is a very common metal found all over the world, nuclear fission requires uranium known as U-
235, which is comparatively rare (“Is nuclear energy renewable?”).
8. The Government Accounting Office reports that there are over 90,000 metric tons of nuclear waste that
require disposal right now. Americans produce more waste than any other country for their commercial
 power energy needs. The amount that requires storage would fill a standard gridiron football field to a
depth of 60 feet. When you add in the nuclear weapons program funded by the United States, there’s
another 14,000 metric tons of waste to consider (“18 advantages and disadvantages of nuclear fission”).
9. Initial cost is high. The price tag for a new nuclear power plant in the United States is about $10 billion
right now. Although this resource would produce power for at least a century, it is usually up to the local
government and utility to provide funding for the construction of new facilities. That’s why there are so
few of them being built right now in the United States. When President Obama announced in 2010 a project
that would create three new facilities, they would be the first new ones to come online in 30 years. (“18
advantages and disadvantages of nuclear fission”).
10. Naturally, nuclear fission emits radiation, which is deadly in large doses for humans and animals. This
means that those who work at nuclear power plants are putting themselves at great risk of developing
serious illnesses and suffering from poisoning due to radiation. (Regoli).
11. The mining and enrichment of uranium are not environmentally friendly processes. Open-pit mining for
uranium is safe for miners but leaves behind radioactive particles, causes erosion, and even pollutes nearby
sources of water. Underground mining isn’t much better and exposes miners to high amounts of radiation
while producing radioactive waste rock during extraction and processing. (SpringPower&Gas).
12. Nuclear power presents a unique threat to our national security because it is powered by nuclear energy.
Terrorists might target nuclear power plants with the intention of creating a disaster, and the uranium used
to produce the power can be turned into nuclear weapons if they end up in the wrong hands. For these
reasons, security surrounding nuclear materials and nuclear power plants is extremely important.
(SpringPower&Gas).
13. According to Rose Kivi, a writer who has a background in nursing field, wildlife rehabilitation and habitat
conservation, states that nuclear power has been called a clean source of energy because the power plants
do not release carbon dioxide. While this is true, it is deceiving. Fission nuclear power plants may not emit
carbon dioxide during operation, but high amounts of carbon dioxide are emitted in activities related to
building and running the plants. Nuclear power plants use uranium as fuel. The process of mining uranium
releases high amounts of carbon dioxide into the environment. Carbon dioxide is also released into the
environment when new nuclear power plants are built. (Kivi)
14. Most nuclear power plants are located along lakes, rivers or sea coasts because the facilities use water to
cool the reactors. Cooling water discharged from a plant can affect the ambient habitat conditions for
aquatic species (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service).
15. The possibility of a radioactive leak into the environment. Most facilities conduct radiological
environmental monitoring before the plant starts producing electricity to establish a baseline survey of
background radiation in the local environment. Fixed monitoring stations are established around the plant
to sample air, surface and groundwater, milk from local dairies and vegetation. Plant operators also send
samples to state and federal regulators for independent verification. Even slight exposure to nuclear
materials can affect the health, breeding and feeding of aquatic species (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service).
16. Researcher Catherine Lane says that “nuclear power plants require a lot of water to produce energy. In
2015, the United States consumed 320 billion gallons of water to produce nuclear power. That’s more
water than what is used for coal processing” As water becomes more scarce, especially in the face of
climate change, this enormous consumption of water could become unsustainable (Lane).
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Technologies and ... - FWS. Energy Development- Nuclear Power. Retrieved March 1,

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risks-nuclear-power/
Pro Fusion - Nivrithi
- Does not damage the atmosphere: Fusion doesn't emit harmful toxins like carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.
Its major by-product is helium: an inert, non-toxic gas.

- Waste can be recycled in a short time: Nuclear fusion reactors produce no high activity, long-lived nuclear waste. The activation of
components in a fusion reactor is low enough for the materials to be recycled or reused within 100 years.

- Safer waste products: the waste products of fusion reactions are either much safer than those of other kinds of power plants, or are
absolutely harmless. The reaction of Deuterium with Tritium produces the regular isotope of helium and a neutron (It is the same isotope of
helium that is used to fill air balloons which is not radioactive and cannot activate the equipment.).

- Fusion fuel is more efficient: 60 kg of fusion fuel can provide the same amount of energy as 250 000 tonnes of petrol.

- Less radioactive by-product than fission: There is no radioactive waste by-product from the fusion reaction. Only reactor components
become radioactive; the level of activity depends on the structural materials used. Research is being carried out on suitable materials to
minimize decay times as much as possible.

- Fuels required for fusion are abundant: Deuterium can be extracted from water and tritium will be produced inside the power station from
lithium, an element abundant in the earth’s crust and seawater. Even with widespread adoption of fusion power stations, these fuel supplies
would last for many thousands of years.

- Fusion reactors have greater safety: A large-scale nuclear accident is not possible in a fusion reactor. The amounts of fuel used in fusion
devices are very small (about the weight of a postage stamp at any one time). There is no risk of a runaway reaction which could lead to a
meltdown.

- Limited risk of nuclear weapons: Fusion doesn't use fissile (able to undergo nuclear fission) materials like uranium and plutonium.
(Radioactive tritium is neither a fissile nor a fissionable material.) There are no materials in a fusion reactor that could be exploited to make
nuclear weapons.

- Cost: The power output of a fusion reactor will be similar to that of a fission reactor, (i.e., between 1 and 1.7 gigawatts). The average cost
per kilowatt of electricity is also expected to be similar: slightly more expensive at the beginning, when the technology is new, and less
expensive as economies bring the costs down.

- Produces greater amounts of energy: Fusing atoms together in a controlled way releases nearly four million times more energy than a
chemical reaction such as the burning of coal, oil or gas and four times as much as nuclear fission reactions (at equal mass).

- Fusion can ease international politics. Fusion can help reduce conflicts among countries competing for natural resources due to fuel supply
imbalances.

- Sustainable form of energy: Fusion fuels are widely available and nearly inexhaustible. Deuterium can be distilled from all forms of water,
while tritium will be produced during the fusion reaction as fusion neutrons interact with lithium. (Terrestrial reserves of lithium would
operate fusion power plants for more than 1,000 years, and sea-based reserves of lithium would fulfill needs for millions of years.)

- No risk of meltdown: A Fukushima-type nuclear accident is not possible in a fusion device. It is difficult enough to reach and maintain the
precise conditions necessary for fusion—if any disturbance occurs, the plasma cools within seconds and the reaction stops.

- Safer for people who live in the area: Fusion machines do not produce long-term or significantly radioactive waste making them safer and
posing very low risk to populations in the vicinity.

- Reactor failures do not damage the power plant or the environment. In case of a reactor failure during operation, there should be little threat
to either the environment, or, in most cases, the power plant itself. An operating fusion reactor is much safer than a fission one, because a
large amount of fuel is not required.

- Fusion provides energy at the industrial level. Fusion can power cities 24 hours a day regardless of the weather.

- No need for complex storage. Using less reactive materials (like carbon fiber), will produce short half-life waste. Even regular materials
activated by high energy neutrons have a half-life of only about 30 years or less which is much less than the half-life of nuclear waste
produced by fission. This would allow for more regular and quicker part replacements.
Con Fusion - Siya

1. But fusion reactors have other serious problems that also afflict today’s fission reactors,
including neutron radiation damage and radioactive waste, potential tritium release, the
burden on coolant resources, outsize operating costs, and increased risks of nuclear
weapons proliferation.
2. Tritium fuel cannot be fully replenished. The deuterium-tritium reaction is favored by
fusion developers because its reactivity is 20 times higher than a deuterium-deuterium
fueled reaction, and the former reaction is strongest at one-third the temperature
required for deuterium-only fusion.
3. Huge parasitic power consumption. In addition to the problems of fueling, fusion reactors
face another problem: they consume a good chunk of the very power that they produce,
or what those in the electrical generating industry call “parasitic power drain,” on a scale
unknown to any other source of electrical power.
4. Nuclear weapons proliferation. The open or clandestine production of plutonium 239 is
possible in a fusion reactor simply by placing natural or depleted uranium oxide at any
location where neutrons of any energy are flying about.
5. The difficulty for Achieving the Fusion Power. In the sun and stars, high temperatures
and powerful gravitational forces naturally prepare a fusion environment. But here on our
planet, we face the challenge of making nuclear fuel hot and enough limitations to begin
a self-sustaining ignition.
6. Its practical energy results are still considerably unreachable. Existing igniting nuclear
fusion techniques still require massive amounts of energy, and it doesn’t have to be a
big event or is just in on a small scale for a short moment. “Igniting” means reaching self-
sustainable fusion reactions in the system. Today, the world’s most giant fusion reactor
is studying plasma on a large scale, but there is a far way to reach the goal.
7. More research and brainpower is needed to solve its issues. Different people across the
globe have different objectives when it comes to fuel sources. Some people want to
build nuclear bombs. Some people want fossil fuel to remain dominant and do not want
fusion to provide an alternative. To make fusion work, enough intelligent minds need to
cooperate to address and solve its challenges.
8. It requires almost as much energy to create nuclear fusion as the energy it creates. To
fuse two atoms together, high levels of heat are required. In order to create this heat, a
large energy investment must be made. This means the reaction from nuclear fusion
produces just barely more than is required to make it, so with our current technology, it is
not really a plausible energy creation method.
9. Creating the infrastructure for nuclear fusion is expensive.It may only cost $0.03 per
kilowatt hour to create energy from nuclear fusion, but that doesn’t take into account the
construction costs necessary to create the utility infrastructure that would be required.
The investment necessary would be in the trillions of dollars if looked at on a global
scale, which means most economies wouldn’t be able to afford the investment.
10. There may be unanticipated consequences to using nuclear fusion. The fact is that we
don’t really know much about this form of energy creation. What would happen to the
planet in 50 years with an increased level of helium in the atmosphere? Are there health
dangers that we simply do not know yet and cannot predict?
11. This industry still requires innovation. The high levels of heat that are required to create
nuclear fusion mean that we need materials available that can withstand those
temperatures to create energy. With our current technology, we have no knowledge of a
specific material that can withstand the heat necessary to create fusion.
12. Heat can be just as deadly as radiation. Although there may be less of a fallout risk and
other environmental risks may also be reduced, high heat levels are just as deadly as
anything else. Nuclear fusion just changes what risks we must take on in order to have
the energy levels we want.
13. Fusion fuel – distinct isotopes of hydrogen – must be heated to enormous temperatures
and kept stable under extreme pressure, hence compact enough and confined for long
enough to enable the nuclei to fuse. The controlled fusion research program aims to
achieve ‘ignition’, which happens when enough fusion reactions occur to become self-
sustaining, with fresh fuel then being added to continue it.
14. Tritium is available in small quantities provided by cosmic rays and is radioactive,
with a 12 years half-life. Usable amounts can be made in a traditional nuclear reactor
or produced in a fusion system from lithium. Lithium can be found in considerable
quantities and at weaker concentrations in the seas.
15. In the fusion reactors, the D-T fusion reaction generates neutrons, and all are
absorbed in a blanket containing lithium that surrounds the core. By the absorption
of the neutrons, lithium is transformed into tritium and helium. For slowing down the
high-energy (14 MeV) neutrons, a one-meter blanket must be used, which is thick
enough. The blanket is heated by the absorption of neutrons’ kinetic energy. The
heat energy is removed by the coolant (helium, water, or Li-Pb eutectic), and in a
fusion power plant, the extracted energy produces electricity by employing
traditional methods. If tritium is not produced enough, some additional sources must
be applied, such as using fission reactors to irradiate heavy water or lithium with
neutrons. Extraneous tritium has difficulties with storage, handling, and transport.

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