Nuclear Vs Fossil Fuels



Posted: Thursday, July 20, 2006

by Illusion

Please note: Apart from the facts about how coal and nuclear power stations work, this issue applies to Australia, in particular New South Wales.

Almost everything we have is powered by electricity: TVs, fridges, computers, hairdryers, you name it. Electricity is even in batteries (the chemicals produce electricity). Electricity is almost essential for us and is in high demand. So how do we get electricity?

Electricity is generated by either chemical or kenetic energy. With chemical energy, an example would be to put two metals in a container filled with acid. The metals will most often react and produce electricity. With kenetic energy, an example would be a coil of wire (mostly insulated) and a magnet. The faster the magnet moves through the coil, the more electricity is generated.

There has been a debate about electricity that has lasted many years. To keep up with the demand of electricity, people have decided to use nuclear power. And where are they going to put the power plant? In New South Wales' own Jarvis bay. Nuclear power does have its good parts nuclear power apparently is cleaner and more efficient than coal burning for one. But how do these things work?

Coal burning power stations, obviously, use coal. Burning the coal there produces high-pressure steam, which spins turbines connected to generators (the generators are electromagnets inside fixed coils of wire). These produce electricity. The steam is then taken to a condenser, and from there, as water, back to the boiler. Vast amounts of water are needed to work this, so the power plants are often built around lakes, taking the water and storing it in cooling towers.

Nuclear power stations are practically the same, but use fission of uranium instead. Fission of 1kg of enriched uranium fuel produces as much energy as burning 55 tonnes of coal. A coolant (usually water) takes the heat made by this away. Although, during the first fission reaction, dangerously radioactive substances are produced. The thick concrete shield usually stops radiation from leaking out, but there have been cases where it had escaped. In 1986, a major accident in Russia (known as USSR at the time) had caused harmful radiation to leak all over Europe. A nuclear chain reaction can occur very quickly if it is not controlled.

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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by S
from Aurora 3 years 359 days ago.
thanks for the article, but u shud rite one saying nuclear fission vs. fossil fuels
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