Advantages and Disadvantages of Nuclear Energy

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Introduction
The production of nuclear energy is through the splitting of atoms in the reactor so as to heat
water and produce steam. The steam is later used to turn turbines that generate electricity. A
nuclear power station is considered to be one of the resource-hungry means of electricity
generation. Other than the fuel itself, this particular energy production process uses very rare
metals during its constructions. This basically means that the dream of having all the demands of
energy in the world being met by the nuclear power plant is one of utopia and unattainable
(Otuka et al. 2014). It is important to note that even the supply of just 1TW needs a considerable
amount of resources. Some of the reasons why this may not be the solution to future energy
demands include the following:
Lifetime: All nuclear plants must be decommissioned after 40 to 60 years of their operations.
This is done because of the neutron embrittlement. These are treated as the cracks that normally
occur as a result of the radiation. Taking, for example, a replacement of nuclear stations for
every 50 years on average, with the replacement of 15000 nuclear power stations would mean
building of one station while decommissioning of another one every day(Murray and Holbert
2014). As at now, it takes an average of 8 years to have a constructed nuclear power plant
functional and also an average of at least 20 years to decommission one. This kind of
replacement rate is just unrealistic. The other reason which makes this type of energy not to be
one of the solutions to the future demands of energy is the location requirement. The location of
the power plant must be within an area that has large water body for cooling of machine
components. The average area of 20.5Km2 which is recommended is really hard to come by at
once.

Disadvantages
 The use of nuclear power has been considered very controversial way or method of
electricity production. The environments and other concerned bodies are worried about
the radioactive effects of this kind of energy(Renn and Marshall 2016).
 Many accidents have been reported in relation to the production of electricity at nuclear
power stations. The best example is the accident of Chernobyl in Ukraine which took
place in the year 1986 and claimed over 30 lives. This accident also led to the evacuation
of over 100000 people. The preceding years had seen the evacuation of over 200000
people who were later resettled into other places away from the radioactive area. The
effect of this radiation was even felt thousands of miles away including the UK following
the incident of the Chernobyl accident. It is alleged that over 2500 people died as a result
of this incident.
 Several questions remain unanswered in regard to the storage of radioactive wastes that
are obtained from the nuclear power plants. This is because some of the remains or
wastes of this product remain to be very dangerous to live for a period of more than one
thousand years. They are currently stored in the caves and mines-places that are not yet
safe.
 The process of monitoring and storing a radioactive component for a duration of over one
thousand years is a very expensive undertaking (Zinkle and was 2013).
 The nuclear-powered submarines and ships pose a very big danger to the lives of aquatic
organisms and the entire environment. Poorly maintained old vessels can possibly leak
radiation. The leakage of radiation can also take place if the process of dismantling is not
properly taken care of during the end of their service lives.