The Problem With Nuclear Fuel

The use of nuclear fuel has been touted as an alternative to fossil fuels. But how does nuclear fuel compare to fossil fuels in the long run?

Recently, there are some serious issues that have been associated with fossil fuels. Among them are the price factor and the environmental factor. Oil production, today, has not been successful in reaching at the peak. This problem can be felt at an individual as well as national level. There is also a possibility of a serious and perhaps an irreversible climate change bought because of carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. In such circumstances the use of nuclear energy can be the best alternative against fossil fuels since there are no greenhouse or acid rain effects, the transportation is easy, and the energy generation is the most concentrated source. But the million dollar question is, does nuclear fuel pose a threat to a nation?

Nuclear energy is the most controversial source of fuel. Nuclear power relies upon supplies of Uranium and plutonium. Uranium and plutonium resources are themselves limited. Since these resources are just begun to get exploited, it is certain that if the current level of production continues, the prospects of nuclear fuel becoming an alternative can rise.

We cannot forget the Chernobyl and the Three Mile Island incidents. The casualties were huge owing to reactor problems. With such incidents, there are doubts whether nuclear fuel will prove to be the best alternative for fossil fuels.

Storage of nuclear waste is also an issue. There are problems of disposing spent fuel and uranium. Radiation from nuclear wastes is one issue of concern. Though nuclear energy does not emit carbon dioxide into the air, it does release one chemical that is very harmful to the ozone-CFC-114. Another problem with nuclear fuel is cost. Already there has been an investment of more than 500 billion dollars for building reactors. So, instead of nuclear fuel one should search for alternative fuels such as solar power and biodiesel.

About Author: Pauline Go is a professional writer for many websites. She also writes other great articles like Crude Oil Usage In USA, Do Fuel Savers Work? Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Pauline_Go

Is Nuclear Power Safe?

The Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant in Japan discharged approximately 350 gallons of radioactive water into the sea today after an earthquake shook the Japanese town, which is 160 miles northwest of Tokyo.

Fortunately, the radioactive contamination levels fell well below legal limits. The power plant is the one largest nuclear facility's in the world and just one of fifty-five nuclear reactors in Japan. The incident, in light of the recent swarm of headlines regarding alternative energy use and the possible re-emergence of nuclear power as a primary alternative energy source, leaves many to wonder, is nuclear power safe?

Nuclear energy has both good and bad points. It creates a huge amount of energy without using valuable fossil fuels, but it also produces radioactive materials that can be extremely harmful to the environment. Consequently, nuclear safety includes actions taken to prevent nuclear and radiation accidents or to limit their consequences.

Workers at nuclear plants, and the larger environment, run a risk due to this radioactive material. Nuclear power plants must be run very carefully to ensure that there are no mistakes, which is why nuclear power plant operators promote a safety culture. The term "safety culture" is a term introduced by the International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group in a report published on the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) defines safety culture as "an assembly of characteristics and attitudes in organizations and individuals, which establishes that, as an overriding priority, nuclear plant safety issues receive the attention warranted by their significance." Safety culture is about improving safety attitudes in people, but it is also about good safety management established by organizations with a holistic, whole community, whole of life approach. A good safety culture implies a constant assessment of the safety significance of events, such as earthquakes or other natural disasters.

Additionally, nuclear power plants possess both active and passive safety systems. Active safety systems are systems activated by a human operator, an automatic computer driven system, or even a mechanical system to respond to dangerous events in an appropriate manner. Passive safety systems rely on the laws of nature to ensure a reactor responds in an appropriate manner during potentially dangerous events. The laws of nature include for instance, incorporating the law of physics in engineered components of nuclear power plants whereby a nuclear reaction would slow versus accelerate during potentially dangerous situations or events.

Nuclear power plants also possess structural safety systems. Surrounding a nuclear reactor are certain containment structures, such as the fuel ceramic, metal fuel cladding tubes and the reactor vessel and coolant system. Finally, nuclear reactors are housed in containment buildings. Containment buildings, which are made of steel or concrete, enclose nuclear reactors to contain the escape of radiation.

Ultimately, human exposure to radiation, the primary contamination of concern at nuclear power plants, is more likely to come from exposure natural background radiation and from some medical procedures. In fact, studies exist finding no evidence of increased risk of exposure to radiation or occurrences of cancer in individuals living near nuclear facilities. For instance, in 1990 a study by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health, which surveyed over 900,000 cancer deaths in counties near nuclear facilities, found no increased incidence of cancer mortality in people living near 62 different nuclear facilities in the United States.

Regardless of the safety systems in place, which promote a culture of safety in nuclear power plant operations, no industrial activity is risk-free. Occurrences take place, which are completely outside our control, as evidenced by the earthquake, which impacted the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power. Any malfunction, accident or natural disaster at or near a nuclear power plant presents potentially devastating, long-term impacts to the surrounding community and environment.

About the Publisher: This report is published by Energy Business Reports an energy industry think tank and leading source for energy industry information and research products.

To read more about this topic, see 'Global Nuclear Power Outlook and Opportunities 2007'

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Afraid of Nuclear War; Read This Article

Are you one of the billions of humans on the planet earth afraid of nuclear wars? Well it seems as many nations learn about how to make nuclear power they are also learning how to use the uranium and plutonium to make weapons. Yes, they are weapons of mass destruction as we saw in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan in World War II. Not a very pretty thing to say the least. Some of the original designers of those weapons spent the rest of their lives trying to convince governments, military leaders and politicians to give up he quest for greater nuclear weapons.

There are many treaties in the world today about the use of nuclear weapons and many nations, both emerging and first world nations have atomic weapons programs and quite frankly this just scares the bejesus out of many a mortal man. Are you afraid of nuclear war as a Mainland Chinese General threatens that if the United States gets in the way of a re-unification or war with Taiwan that they will use nuclear weapons against us? Are you concerned when North Korean is making nuclear weapons underground when it is so close to our Asian Allies and has ICBMs; although crude with limited abilities; are able to hit them? Are you worried when Iran tells the world to take a flying leap when they ask them stop making nuclear bombs and the Russians will not entertain a security council sanctioned intervention?

If these things bother you and you are afraid of Nuclear War, then you probably have a good and justified reason for being scared. It scares a lot of folks and we should be thinking here.

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Radioactive Resource

The Nuclear Energy Institute is the organization that sets policies for the nuclear technology and energy industry and takes part in policy making both nationally and globally. The objective of the Nuclear Energy Institute is ensuring formation of policies that use nuclear energy safely and beneficially in the U.S. and worldwide.

Founded in 1994, the Nuclear Energy Institute was a merging of several associations, one that had been in existence for decades. NEI combined the resources of the Nuclear Utility Management and Resources Council (NUMARC0, which had been tasked with overseeing nuclear energy technical and regulatory issues; the U.S. Council for Energy Awareness (USCEA), which deals with communications on nuclear energy on a grand scale; The American Nuclear Energy Council (ANEC,) the government affairs agency for nuclear energy-related tasks; and the nuclear department of the Edison Electric Energy Council (EEI), whose responsibility it had been to oversee handling of nuclear fuel management with regards to used energy, the supply of nuclear fuel and its economics.

AIF had been created in 1953, and two years later it was followed by an international nuclear energy conference called "Atoms for Peace. Held in Geneva, this 1955 gathering was touted as heralding in the start of the nuclear age.

NEI and its nuclear energy enthusiast members, develop legislative and regulatory policy on nuclear energy issues. NEI is the personification of the voice of the nuclear industry and appears before the United States Congress, before agencies of the U.S. executive branch of government, before representatives of federal regulatory agencies, and before pertinent international organizations. NEI also gives its members and others interested in nuclear energy a forum in which they can resolve business and technical problems and issues for the nuclear industry. Another task of NEI is to inform its members, legislators and policymakers, the media and the public in a timely and accurate manner about nuclear energy including recent advancements and safety concerns.

250 corporate representatives in 13 countries belong to the Nuclear Energy Institute. Member firms include nuclear power plant owners, engineering and design companies, fuel supply vendors and service firms, companies that work in nuclear medicine, research and industrial application, radiopharmaceutical and radionuclide business, research laboratories including universities, and labor unions. NEI programs and activities regularly have more than 6000 industry professional participants.

Washington DC is the headquarters of NEI. It has a staff of 132. The nuclear energy industry that these folks and NEI members represent and serve cover the gamut of nuclear related industries such as nuclear medicine, commercial generation of electricity, therapy and diagnostics, agriculture and food processing, manufacturing and other industrial uses, uranium mines, the manufacture of nuclear fuel and the management of nuclear waste.

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