What are The Environment Impacts of Nuclear Energy ~ How Energy Work

What are Environment Impacts of Nuclear Energy. Basically, nuclear energy comes from fission process which is splitting uranium atoms. Energy which is released during fission process can be used to produce steam that used in a turbine to generate electricity. Currently, up to 100 nuclear generating units operate in the United States. Approximately 20 percent of electricity in the United States comes from nuclear energy.

Uranium as resource of nuclear energy is extracted from the earth through chemical leaching or traditional mining techniques. After mined, uranium ore is sent to a processing plant to be concentrated into enriched fuel such as uranium oxide pellets. Then the enriched fuel is moved to nuclear power plant.

In the nuclear reactor plant, neutrons which derives from uranium atoms collide each other, releasing neutrons and heat in a chain reaction. The heat which released is used to produce steam, which moves a turbine to generate the electricity. The nuclear power generates many radioactive products such as cesium, tritium, neptunium, krypton and forms of iodine.

What are environment impacts of nuclear energy

Even if nuclear power plants are regulated by state and federal laws to protect environment and human health, there is still any environmental impacts associated with nuclear energy technologies.

The Use of Water

Basically, the nuclear power plants use large amount of water for steam production and cooling process. Inside the reactors, uranium fuel undergoes induced nuclear fission that releases large amount of energy which is used to heat water to turn it into steam. The steam is used to rotated turbine to produce electricity. For this process, nuclear plants have to collect about 600 galons/MWh. Because that the nuclear power plants are built near river, lake or other bodies water. Same with geothermal, biomass power plants and other thermal power plants, the nuclear plant also use special structures when intake water for cooling process. To minimize entry of debris, the water should drawn through the screen.

The problem during process called impingement, a lot of aquatic organisms are killed and trapped against the screen. Beside that in process called entrainment, the small aquatic organisms that pass through screen are subject to toxic stress. Turtles, seals, shellfish, fish and other billions of aquatic organisms are destroyed and sucked into the cooling systems.

Water Discharges

Heavy metals and salts that gathered in the water during nuclear and other power plant systems. These pollutants and higher water temperatures are excluded from this power plant, has a negative impact on life in the water and also to water quality. Sometimes, nuclear power plants release few amounts of tritium and other radioactive elements as authorized by their waste water permit.

Waste that generated from uranium mining process and rainwater runoff could contaminate surface water and groundwater by heavy metals and traces of radioactive uranium.

Spent Nuclear Fuel

In order to replace and remove the “spent” uranium fuel, nuclear power plants must shut down every 18 to 24 months. This spent fuel has become radioactive waste and released most of its energy as a result of the fission process.

At the present time, the spent fuel is stored at the nuclear plants at which it is produced, either in concrete vaults filled with water, steel-lined, steel-reinforced concrete containers with steel inner canisters or above-ground steel.

Radioactive Waste Generation

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The spent nuclear fuel from plutonium and uranium nuclear fission contains more than 100 carcinogenic radionuclide isotopes like iodine, strontium and caesium, also long lived transuranic elements like plutonium isotopes and americium. The long lived radioactive wastes have to isolated from human and the environment for long time. The disposal of radioactive waste in respositories is located in suitable geologic formation in deep location.

The enrichment of uranium ore become fuel and the operation of nuclear power plants generate wastes which contain radioactivity in low levels. These wastes are shipped to licensed and specially designed disposal sites.

Some structural and equipment materials become radioactive wastes when the nuclear power plant is closed. Currently, this radioactive waste type is being stored at the closed plants until it disposal site is opened.

The emissions to the atmosphere

Generally, the nuclear power plants does not release nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxides or sulfur dioxide as part of the power generation process into the atmosphere. The emissions of fossil fuel are associated with the uranium mining and the enrichment process during the transport of the uranium fuel to and from the nuclear power plant.

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