Nuclear Energy is the nuclear reactions that makes the nuclear energy releases to generate heat which used in steam turbines and produced electricity in a nuclear power plant. Nuclear power plant absorb uranium atoms is called fusion. Nuclear energy can contribute to reduce the need for fossil fuels now used for electricity generation. Every coin has two sides, negative and positive, this is also link to our topic, Nuclear Energy. It gives energy to electricity but also makes radioactive. There were some accidents that the large amounts of radioactive could be released into the environment which causes the health. Some of the disasters of nuclear power plant could be seen in Chernobyl (Ukraine) and Fukushima (Japan).
What is "Fukushima Daiichi" nuclear disaster?
Firstly, let's figure out the "Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster" in Japan, which initiated primarily by the tsunami following the Tōhoku earthquake on 11 March 2011. Fukushima Daiichi is 250 kilometers northeast from Tokyo. The tsunami wave arrived less than an hour after the earthquake and as high as 10 meters hit the power plant. The wave went over the seawall flooding the lower parts of buildings and disabled the emergency diesel generators on the reactors, which means the the operator was unable to reactivate the heat exchanger and the core was no longer cooled. The active reactors automatically shut down their sustained fission reactions. There were caused three nuclear meltdowns, hydrogen-air chemical explosions which occurred in Unit 1,3,4 and caused structural damage. The water level went down and the the temperature continued to rise all three safety measures had failed. The result is that there was over 20,000 people dead or missing destroyed towns ports and lands devastated.
This is the video that helps you to understand more about the "Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster:
What is "Chernobyl disaster"?
Secondly, the Chernobyl disaster was the most disastrous single nuclear accident in history took place on April 26 1986. Each Chernobyl reactor was capable of producing 1000 MW of power. A reactor is a big cattle filled with water, it emits radiation, the radiation heats the water, the steam now turns the turbines and it's generator produces electricity. One day, the Chernobyl engineers want to know what happened to the turbine if a reactor was slowly shut down. When they started the experience by low the temperature to the lowest level, the large amounts of steam, heat and radiation started to escape into the atmosphere. The reactor made the situation even worse. As the fuel rods ignited they started to melt forcing their way through the large water module. The Chernobyl disaster released up to 30,000 roentgens into atmosphere. It resulted 237 people suffered from the acute radiation sickness, 31 died in only 3 weeks and more than 135,000 people were evacuated from the danger area.
This video is talked about:"How the Chernobyl happened?", and here is the link: Resources:
http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/fukushima-accident.aspx
http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/chernobyl-accident.aspx
I thought nuclear energy is a very useful technology, that once mastered, can be used in many places and save many of the nonrenewable energy sources. My question is did they improve the safety system after the disaster has happened? What are they doing to prevent another nuclear disaster from occurring? And will nuclear energy be as costly in the future?
ReplyDeleteI always heard that nuclear power disaster always kill people, living thing and affect the environment in a negative way. But what if the radioactive particular inside the human body is not concentrated enough to the point where it will cause death then what will happen to the human body? What are the health issue that they will encounter? How are the radioactive element going to spread in the body? Since every radioactive element have a half-life and decay by itself will it also continue to decay inside the human body?
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