Nuclear Energyby Colton Brown, Rob Davis, Tera Timmerman, and Whitney Wallace

About Nuclear Energy

Nuclear Energy is energy produced by the splitting of an atom in order to get the atom to release energy. This process is also known as nuclear fission.

Pros of Nuclear Energy Use

● Low operating cost once built● Lower carbon dioxide● Nuclear wastes can be recycled and

reprocessed● Large power generation capacity

Pros of Nuclear Energy Use

● Nuclear power has accounted for about 20% of America’s energy.

● All nuclear meltdowns and disasters, not one has been caused by system failure rather through human negligence/error or natural disaster.

Pros of Nuclear Energy Use

● Nuclear power plants generate 400 to 700 permanent jobs.

● Plants do not depend on fossil fuels.● Nuclear plants are not affected by fluctuating

oil and gas prices.● A properly functioning nuclear plant releases

less radioactivity than a coal fired power plant.

Cons of Nuclear Energy Use

Nuclear reactors are very deadly. It takes a long time to construct a nuclearpower plant.

Cons of Nuclear Energy Use

● Every nuclear reactor annually generates 20-30 tons of high level nuclear wastes. (classified as high levels of radioactive waste)

Cons of Nuclear Energy Use

When you take into account every nuclear plant on earth, the combined the total waste is roughly 2,000 metric tons a year.

Work Cited ● Brian, Marshall, and Robert Lamp. "How Nuclear Energy Works." howstuffworks. InfoSpaceLLC, 9 Oct 2000.

Web. 20 Oct 2014. <http://science.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-power4.htm>.● "Nuclear Energy Institute." Why Nuclear Energy?. Nuclear Energy Institute, n.d. Web. 23 Oct 2014.

<http://www.nei.org/Master-Document-Folder/Backgrounders/Fact-Sheets/Nuclear-Power-Plants-Contribute-Significantly-to-S>.