A Term Paper in Physics entitled

Nuclear Energy: Good or Bad?

Can you define nuclear energy and nuclear power? How

well are you knowledgeable about this matter? Or does it come
from and how it was discovered and created? Do you know its
advantages and disadvantages? Is it mostly good or bad to us? Let
us answer the questions for you.
Nuclear energy, whenever we are encounter this words,
the are usually thinking of the things connected with atomic
bombs, effects of radiation, total destruction of properties and
places, terrorism, anti-humanity, people dying, that come to our
minds

or

countries

for

most

and

peoples

other

places

minds
like

are

bombs,

cities

destruction

and

states,

of
and

conflagration or war. In which, it all causes bad effects not

only for humans but also to almost all living and non-living
things in our world.
When we say nuclear energy, it is the energy inside the
nucleus or the center of an atom. It is the reason why the
nucleus is bonded together. It serves as the strong force for the
nucleus to not be separated. The neutron was discovered by James
Chadwick in 1932. In which, he immediately apprehend that it is a
potential tool for nuclear experimentation due to lack of its
electric

charge

(The

Atomic

Solar

System,

2013).

After

his

discovery, many scientists also experiment on it and added new

discoveries about this matter like the forms of nuclear decay
namely the alpha, beta, and gamma decay. On their discovery, they
had found out that there are two ways in harvesting or producing
the nuclear energy. It may either be because of nuclear fission

or

fusion.

Nuclear

fission

happens

when

an

atom

splits

or

releases, while the nuclear fusion happens when two nuclei become
a single nucleus. In these processes, it usually involves the
element of Uranium.
Actually, there are more interesting and helpful uses
of it other than what we know or think about nuclear energy and
power. It is not just about bombs or destructions. Many of us do
not know that nuclear energy can be also used as the source of
electricity. This is why; many countries had built or established
nuclear power plants. It is due to the depletion of our resources
and the continuous high demands of humans. So, they used the
nuclear energy which is non-renewable as an alternative for it.
This happens or occurs because of the process of nuclear reaction
and produces electricity. Clearly, the nuclear power plants that
run on fossil fuels burn coal, oil or natural gas to generate
heat. Then, water is turned into steam, which in turn drives
turbine generators to produce electricity. The only difference is
the source of heat. At nuclear power plants, the heat to make the
steam is created when atoms split or take place caused by the
process of nuclear fission.
Nowadays, since it is used to produce electricity,
nuclear power plants are responsible for the worlds production
of

electricity

with

percentage

of

10%

(Key

World

Energy

Statistics, 2012); which really may not seem many. But, when you
think about this matter or the amount of electricity consumed by
humans in our world, it really puts it into a perspective on how
vital nuclear power is for all of us. The reason why nuclear
power is such a vital role in our society is that, it is largely
because of the global warming problem or matter, and that nuclear
power is cleaner and good for our environment rather than the

other

forms

of

energy

produced

or

used

in

our

world. It

is

because nuclear energy produces almost no carbon dioxide, and any

sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxides or it does not contribute to
air pollution which is good to our environment unlike the fossil
fuels, coals, and others. These gases are produced when fossil
fuels are burned. It is just one of reasons why nuclear energy is
a growing trend today. Nuclear energy is also a very simple
energy source to use. It is produced through a very sensitive
process that when controlled, it is very powerful; and if not, it
is extremely dangerous. This is why; its energy source is much
regulated or controlled to avoid its risks.
As an addition and clearer explanation of its process, it
is not just formed off of some radioactive charged materials like
what we see in some simple-minded television shows. In fact, it
comes from a very process called nuclear fission, by which a
neutron

is

moving

slowly

and

absorbed

by

the

nucleus

of

uranium-235 atom, which then turn splits into fast-moving lighter

elements and free neutrons. Nuclear power plants perform this
process within their nuclear reactors, where they can use its
kinetic energy to heat water that flows through the reactor into
steam. At which point the steam will rise and spin a turbine that
creates the supply of electricity sent out to our homes, offices,
schools,

hospitals,

markets,

and

others

(How

nuclear

energy

works, 2009.
Despite the high level of complexness of the safety
systems of nuclear power plants the human aspect has always been
an impact. Facing the unexpected events or managing a nuclear
power plant that may cause accidents that we don't have any
guarantee or assurance that decisions we took are always the
best. Two good examples of it are Chernobyl and Fukushima. The

Chernobyl nuclear accident is, by far, the worst nuclear accident

in the history. Different wrong decisions during the management
of the nuclear plant caused a big nuclear explosion. While the
other

or

referring

to

the

Fukushima

nuclear

accident,

the

operations done by the staff were highly questionable. Fukushima

nuclear accident is the second worst accident in the history. The
main disadvantages of it are namely the following: difficulty in
the management of nuclear wastes like when it leaks or erodes, it
takes many years to eliminate its radioactivity and risks, the
constructed nuclear reactors have an expiration date. There are
also

countries

producing

nuclear

energy

that

can

maintain

regular number of operating reactors. They've built about 80 new

nuclear reactors during the next ten years (Wikipedia Foundation
Inc.,

last

modified

on

February

25,

2015,

Nuclear

power

by

country). Nuclear plants have a limited life. The investment for

the construction of a nuclear plant is very high and must be
recovered

as

soon

as

possible,

so

it

raises

the

cost

of

electricity generated. In other words, the energy generated is

cheap compared to the cost of fuel, but the recovery of its
construction is much more expensive. An added risk is that the
uranium can melt as well and emit dangerous radioactive material
into the environment. Aside from its damage control to prevent a
bigger disaster, when this happens, the plant itself will need
massive repairs, costing a lot of money. It may be millions or
billions of dollars. Also, nuclear power plants are objectives of
terrorist organizations, not many countries have uranium mines
and not all the countries have nuclear technology, so they have
to

hire

both

things

overseas.

Probably

the

most

alarming

disadvantage is the use of the nuclear power in the military

industry. The first use of nuclear power was the creation of two
nuclear bombs dropped on Japan during World War II. This was the
first and the last time that nuclear power was used in a military

attack.

Later,

several

countries

signed

the

Nuclear

Non-

Proliferation Treaty, but the risk that nuclear weapons could be

used in the future will always exist.
In the Chernobyl disaster, there was a huge destruction
and lives taken. The extensive damage was in the main reactor
hall and turbine building causing a chain reaction in which, a
total nuclear melt-down occurs where it becomes too hot inside
the reactor and it splits and releases radiation into the air.
This situation has only occurred once in the history of nuclear
power production, and the scars it left on the earth will be seen
for many years to come and will never be forgotten. It happened
in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. It is located near the city
of Pripyat in North Central Ukraine. On April 26, 1986, the
situation

described

earlier

was

played

out

to

tee.

The

explosion shot radioactive fallout so far up that it was recorded

to have landed in just about every Northern Hemisphere Continent.
To this day radioactivity can still be traced in the area, so
much so that the remains of the explosion have yet to even be
cleaned up. The Chernobyl disaster is thought of as being the
worst nuclear power accident ever and rightfully so. The meltdown resulted in the evacuation of over 336,000 people, and
resulted in 56 direct deaths, with 9,000 possible deaths within
20 years due to radiation exposure. The effects of this disaster
were tremendous, but it also showed us how easy this stuffs we
are playing could turn into a catastrophe.
However, nuclear energy is mainly used for the
production of electricity in nuclear power plants and has several
disadvantages; it still has a lot more uses or advantages that we
do not know. These are the following: it is mainly used in
development

and

process

improvement

to

the

measurement,

automation

and

quality

control

in

the

industrial

sectors;

Radiopharmaceuticals, and radiation therapy techniques for the

treatment of malignant tumours, heliotherapy for cancer treatment
or radiation biology to sterilize medical products are used;
controlling

insect

pests,

the

best

use

of

water

resources,

improved crop varieties or in the establishment of the conditions

to optimize the efficiency of fertilizers and water; reduces the
environmental and health consequences of large-scale employment
of fossil fuels, and has a better contribution compared with
other

techniques,

solving

problems

such

as

the

"greenhouse

effect" and acid rain; and also used as dating, which applies the
properties of carbon-14 fixation to bone, wood and organic waste,
determining chronological age, and applications in geophysics and
geochemistry, which exploit the existence of naturally occurring
radioactive materials fixing dates of rock, coal an oil deposits.
Somehow, the reason why nuclear power is such a big
rave is mostly due to the heightened costs of crude oil and other
energy producing products. The initial cost of a nuclear plant is
very high, but within the lifetime the costs saved by the use of
nuclear power rather than say oil or coal will have paid itself
off.

Also,

speaking

of

coal

and

oil,

the

amount

of

harmful

emissions released into our atmosphere is very large compared to

the amount released by a nuclear power plant. In fact, this is
one thing that nuclear power plants pride themselves the fact
that they do not produce any environmentally hazardous emissions.
This is a huge factor, especially today where the Green House
Effect and Global Warming are two of the biggest topics in
todays society. Everywhere you look there are people out there
trying to think of new and improved ways to clean our earth, to
save it from the harmful emissions we release into the air with
our cars and our field sprays well here is definitely one.

Today, the nuclear energy and power is a small majority

of

us

all.

Through

the

process

of

nuclear

fission

we

have

electricity, smoke detectors, nuclear bombs, and much more. Plus

with the production costs of nuclear energy being so much more
reasonable it makes everything just that much easier for us all.
In our own opinion, we think that we should stop using the
nuclear energy and power plants for the production or supplying
our

needs.

Because,

it

has

several

hazardous

effects

and

disadvantages not just on us, human beings, but also on our

nature and animals beings and others. Also, think of the events
nowadays in our world, with all of the terrorist acts going on
around the world today it causes major concern in the way that a
nuclear power plant is a very easy target that could and would
cause much destruction should it be terrorized. There are really
no defences against a terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant,
and there is no way to stop the immense amounts of radiation from
it exploding into the air. It would be absolutely catastrophic,
anything and everything within a certain radius would be subject
to overwhelming amounts of radiation exposure, and would most
certainly die. So you see our concerns with nuclear power plants
today. Due to the very unstable nature of fission in general, let
alone

nuclear

fission,

these

are

the

main

set

backs

to

the

production of energy through nuclear power.

However, certainly nuclear power is not something to just
mess around with because it can and will turn on you in an
instant, but with evolving technology and understanding, we will
someday be able to tame to great power of nuclear fission to the
point where we may be able to use it in everyday life.

REFERENCES:

World Nuclear Association, updated last 2014 March, Many Uses of

Nuclear Technology retrieved from
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/non-power-nuclearapplications/overview/the-many-uses-of-nuclear-technology/
Wikipedia Foundation Inc., last modified on 13 February 2015,
Nuclear Power retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power
Brain, Marshall, and Robert Lamb, October 9, 2000 to March 3,
2015, How Nuclear Power Works retrieved from
http://science.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-power.htm
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003-2009, The Future of
Nuclear Power retrieved from
http://web.mit.edu/nuclearpower/
The Sydney Morning Herald, September 9, 2005, Nuclear Power:
Pros and Cons retrieved from
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/nuclear-power-pros-andcons/2005/09/09/1125772675462.html
Nuclear Energy Institute, updated on 2015, Why Nuclear Energy?
Retrieved from
http://www.nei.org/

Manuel V. Gallego Foundation Colleges, Inc.

Cabanatuan City
Basic Education Department

A Term Paper entitled

Nuclear Energy: Good or Bad
(A Requirement for the subject of PHYSICS IV)

Submitted by: (IV-NARRA)

Angelica Rico
Patrick James Labrador
Roberto Hufano III
Submitted to:
Mr. Mark Angelo de Jesus
(Subject teacher)