NUCLEAR+FISSION+-+Dawei

Back to 11.1 Presentation Nuclear fission The explanation: nuclear fission is the process of splitting an atom into two or more smaller nuclei, and generally producing a by product. this process is an exothermic reaction which means it produces heat when it reacts. it releases a large amount of useful energy as gamma ray and as kinetic energy of the fragments. It produces a large amount of energy because there's an overwhelming amount of energy just to hold the nucleus together. The facts: In Switzerland, there are five nuclear power plants but only four are active. the newest one out of them is in canton Aargau, Switzerland called Leibstadt. it was built in 1972 and was commercially operating on May 24, 1984. it produced a total of 9,367 Mega-watts hour in 2006, the annual power generated is 8,462 MGh. MGh - unit of electrical energy equal to one billion watt hours. The Energy: this nuclear fission factory produces energy with a boiling water reactor. the Splitting of uranium produces heat, then it heats up the water above it producing steam. the steam then turns the turbine which produces electricity. the steam that spanned the turbine the becomes water, which goes back into the cycle. Figures: the constructions budget was originally set as 2 billion Swiss Francs, however at the end of the construction, they spent over 5 billion francs. it produces 33% of the electricity in the United States and also makes 15% of the worlds electricity. Environment: Nuclear fission is a non-renewable way of producing energy, because it uses the Uranium that is dug as an ore and cannot be replaced. however, there is a way to make fertile materials into fissionable material, this is done by the breeder reactor. 
 * Advantage and Disadvantage:
 * the biggest advantage of nuclear fission is that it doesn't emit carbon dioxide and other polluting substance towards the air.
 * the nuclear waste could also be very destructive because it can explode any moment, like in Russia, they buried it in the mountain and then it suddenly blew up, people are killed due to the radiation.
 * on of the disadvantage of nuclear fission is that it gives out radio active wastes, it can lead to tumors, cancers and are harmful to life, the worst thing is that we are running out of space to store it.