Uses of Nuclear Power Plants and

Weapons (Pros and Cons)

By: Jo Marie Nel C. Garcia

Nuclear Energy

Nuclear Power Plant

A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor.

Nuclear power plants are usually considered to be base load stations.

History September 3, 1948 the X-10 Graphite Reactor in

Oak Ridge, Tennessee generated electricity to power a light bulb.

On June 27, 1954, the world’s first nuclear power plant to generate electricity for a power grid started operations at the Soviet City of Obninsk.

The first full scale power station in Calder Hall in England opened on October 17, 1956.

As of April 23 2014, there are 437 nuclear power reactors operating in 31 countries.

Countries with Operating Nuclear Reactors

Country Number of Operating Reactors

USA 99

France 58

Japan 43

Russia 34

China 26 (28 under construction)

South Korea 24

India 21

Canada 19

United Kingdom 16

Parts of a Nuclear Power Plant

Nuclear reactor Steam turbines Generator (Electric Generator) Cooling system (Condenser) Safety valves Feedwater pump Emergency Power Supply

How Nuclear Power Plants work

Uranium (by

fission in the

nuclear reactor)

Heat Steam turbine

Condenser

Feed water pump

Generator Electricity

The ONLY erected commercial nuclear power station within the ASEAN countries.

It sits at the tip of a 389 hectare protected land at Napot Point, Morong, Bataan.

The BNPP is a Westinghouse Pressurized Water Reactor Nuclear Power Plant, the most popular reactor design in the industry. 

It took 10 years to construct and has been on preservation mode since 1986 at a cost of Php40 to Php50 million a year.

Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP)

Advantages of Nuclear Power Plants

Relatively Low CostNuclear energy is cost-competitive and generating

electricity in nuclear reactors is cheaper than electricity generated from gas, oil and coal.

Synergistic EnergyNuclear power plants provide stable amount of

energy. They can work synergistically with other energy sources since energy from power plants can be lowered or cranked up high when required.

Advantages of Nuclear Power Plants

High DensityThe amount of energy we get from nuclear fission is

ten million times better than the amount we get from burning fossil fuel such as oil and gas. This means that a power plant can get a lot more energy from basically the same amount of matter.

Sustainable (and Low Pollution)By definition, nuclear energy is a non-renewable

energy source; however, it is sustainable by the use of breeder reactors and fusion reactors.

The environmental effects of nuclear power are relatively light compared to other energy sources.

Disadvantages of Nuclear Power Plants

AccidentsNo matter how careful and organized our plant

operators are there’s still a chance for human error. Even the best technology and computer systems have glitches and these little errors could cause great damage not only to the nuclear plants but also to the environment and life itself just like what happened in Three Mile Island (1979), Chernobyl (1986) and Dai-ichi, Fukushima, Japan (2011).

Radioactive wasteWe are exposed to radiation everyday but too

much absorbed dose of radiation can cause cell death, cancer induction and even genetic damage that could affect future generations.

If the radioactive wastes are not disposed of properly, they can cause long term damages to the environment and life itself.

Disadvantages of Nuclear Power Plants

Levels of Radiation

Disadvantages of Nuclear Power Plants

Nuclear weapon proliferationFissile materials used/produced/processed

in nuclear power plants can be used in creating nuclear weapons.

Nuclear Weapons Explosive devices that derive their

destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion (thermonuclear weapon or H bomb).

Two types of Nuclear Weapons

Fission weapons or atomic bombs

Thermonuclear weapons or hydrogen bombs

Advantages of Nuclear Weapons War Deterrence

Nuclear weapons are the ultimate form of deterrence as no enemy can hope to defeat a nuclear weapon power without massive losses to itself.

Smaller nations can stand a chance of defending themselves against larger nations that have more money and military capabilities when the have nuclear weapons. This can increase the peace and make it less likely that certain nations will get bullied or invaded.

Advantages of Nuclear Weapons

Low Cost Insurance against AggressionBuilding massive army, fighters and armor cost a

massive deal of money. Compared to that, building a few nuclear bombs is quite cheap especially for countries who have operating nuclear power plants.

Disadvantages of Nuclear Weapons Radiation Accidents Terrorism Environment Disaster Finishing mankind off

Nuclear Disarmament Nuclear disarmament refers to both the act

of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons and to the end state of a nuclear-free world, in which nuclear weapons are completely eliminated.

Former Secretary Henry Kissinger says there is a new danger, which cannot be addressed by deterrence: "The classical notion of deterrence was that there was some consequences before which aggressors and evildoers would recoil. In a world of suicide bombers, that calculation doesn’t operate in any comparable way".

George Shultz has said, "If you think of the people who are doing suicide attacks, and people like that get a nuclear weapon, they are almost by definition not deterrable".

Conclusion

Sources http://www.greenpeace.org/seasia/ph/Archives/ca

mpaigns/climate-change/end-the-nuclear-age/nuclear-energy-not-a-solution/bataan-nuclear-power-plant/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_plant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapon http://http://nlcatp.org/7-vital-pros-and-cons-of-nucl

ear-weapons/

http://occupytheory.org/list-of-pros-and-cons-of-nuclear-weapons/