Nuclear Power Plants are a very hard concept to understand maybe that is why my younger sister called them the "cloud maker" due to those big, white, puffs of smoke exiting from the reactor. What is a reactor you ask? It is the big cylinder type that you see coming out of the power plants. They give off the pollution which is bad for the environment; because the clouds are full of toxins and chemicals. On the other hand, Nuclear power plants are also help generate electricity which is used to support our world.
Nuclear Power Plants operate through thermal production. The term thermal refers to heat. This thermal production is the heat source for the nuclear reactor, or the "cloud maker". The steam that comes from the heat produced makes the steam turbine spin. Steam turbans are big fans that spins from the steam; as theturbines electricity is produced. Electricity is what makes your night light make your room bright during the night, lets you make popcorn and allows your TV to work so you can watch your favorite movies. We all use electricity each every day and all because of Nuclear Power Plants.
However, Nuclear Power Plants have more harmful aspects than beneficial aspects. Accidents can happen within the Nuclear Power Plants like at Fukushima in Japan as well Chernobyl inRussia. These are only 2 of the 437 Nuclear Power Plants in the world. In your lifetime you have only experienced only one Nuclear Power Plant explosion which took place in 2011, only 2 years ago! It happened in Japan. How does an explosion, at a nuclear power plant affected the United States? The fact that the chemicals, which are bad for us to be in contact with, got into the water supply. Chemicals in your water supply, can then make you get very sick. There is only so much water in the world and if some of it becomes contaminated than it all becomes contaminated. The explosion at the Japanese Nuclear Power Plant resulted from very strong, very powerful earthquake that happened in Japan. This earthquake knocked everything around, making the power go out which made it impossible to cool down the fuel rods which help allow the turbines to run smoothly, and since they could not cool down the pressure built up causing a big explosion.
The other explosion that happened in Russia, was back when your parents were younger, this happened back in the 80’s, 1986 to be exact. Chernobyl was a different kind of explosion, this was not caused by a big earthquake, and this was caused due to a mechanical error, meaning there was a structural issue when constructing the building for the Nuclear Power Plant. The results of this explosion are similar to the one in Japan. In this explosion, hot fuel was mixed with cool water, when hot and cold met it caused destruction to the reactor because of the increased pressure that occurred. So the way they both exploded were similar, but the causes are different. However, this explosion was one of the worst yet because everyone who lived near Chernobyl, were said to have a lifetime of radiation in their systems. Radiation is a harmful when you are exposed to large amount and causes cancer.
Nuclear Power Plants present more negatives than positives. They can explode if one thing goes wrong such as a build up of pressure. They produce pollutants which are released into the environment and cause health issues to humans and animals. The one positive of the nuclear power plants is it produces electricity. Remember with every good there comes the bad.
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