THE Dulwich Despatch Summer 2023
Going Nuclear
Should we use nuclear power? asks Mark Gill (Y7). Whether you think it is good or bad, when it comes to nuclear power there is definitely much to discuss. I believe that we should harness the power, and I hope this will convince you. Nuclear fission is the splitting of a large atomic nucleus into smaller nuclei. The entire nucleus splits into two large fragments. In addition to these, two or three neutrons also explode out of the fission reaction, and these can collide with other uranium nuclei to cause further fission reactions. This is known as a chain reaction. The fast moving neutrons carry most of the energy from the reaction with them, 99% of it, but before the neutrons can collide with fresh uranium nuclei, they need to be slowed down. This is so that they can collide with other nuclei in a controlled way, without exploding. The energy is used to heat water to drive the turbines that turn the generators. A reason that we shouldn ’ t use nuclear fuels is because they are nuclear, and they are just like the world - destroying bombs used in World War 2. If something bad happens to the reactors, if they malfunction or if they are sabotaged then they could explode and kill many people, whilst also leaking radiation that could poison an area for years. An example was the Fukushima disaster, where a tsunami was big enough to go past the seawall and into a nuclear reactor. The explosion seriously injured sixteen workers and spread radiation around. Another example is the Chernobyl disaster. When the explosion happened, 30,000 people had to evacuate and 50 people were immediately killed. To make it even worse, several times more radiation particles than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs were released into the air. These are such disastrous accidents that it should be obvious to not use nuclear fuels. Another reason that we shouldn ’ t use nuclear fuels is because of the nuclear waste that they produce. This nuclear waste is still highly radioactive and is very hard, if not impossible, to get rid of. Nuclear waste is a solid by - product of the reaction that takes place in the nuclear reactor. It can
be used to make a bit of power, but not that much. The storage for the waste is normally underground in a chamber. However, the big issue with this is that it will just pile up and take up room. Also, uranium is non - renewable which makes the reactors even worse.
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