Nuclear debate

[butter-uk]

I was inspired to this as people started to discuss some points about nuclear energy in the global warmin thread.

I have been doing a lot of nuclear physics in my A levels, and had many discussions with some very informed and inteligent physicists. Currently the most effective and "green" ways of producing energy is with nuclear fission power stations. These produce nearly no CO2 and minimal waste. This is quite a big statement as many people think of nuclear power stations as having horrific waste, but this is not at all true, yes the waste nuclear material can be dangerous, but odnt forget that uranium is found far far down in the ground, where is doesnt bother anyone. The waste products are simply put back into the mined areas where they are found and then sealed back up. Some may also think that the cooling towers are pumping out CO2, but that is simply steam.

As for being a dangerous way of producing energy, this is not so either. The way the energy is produced and the entire system works, if the uranium gets at all too hot the whole system shuts it's self down making it un usable and safe. Chernoble was not a normal power station exploding for no reason, personel there decided to carry out some experiments, disabling the safety measures and putting the uranium at risk of over heating with no protection. The experiment then caused the uranium to overheat making the explosion.

Now squiz i am afraid you are misinformed about nuclear fusion being a possible energy source by 2015 or 2020, or maybe even at all. If there is one thing to fear more than global warming it is research into nuclear fusion. nuclear fusion is a process which need so much energy to start that it only happens in stars. It also only happens in stars because of the sheer mass of them, the gravity effects from this mass are huge and cause a massive pressure inside the star causing an increase in energy. despite needing the temperature of a star and the pressure of a star, the energy output if fusion is managed could be so great it could destroy a massive area. nuclear fusion has never been managed on earth yet.

If you wish to reasearch some nuclear stuff so my post makes sense search "nuclear fusion", "nuclear fission", "fusion reactors", "structure of an atom" in wikipedia...