Welcome to my web page on

If we fight a war and win it with H-bombs, what history will remember is not
the ideals we were fighting for but the methods we used to accomplish them.
These methods will be compared to the warfare of Genghis Khan who ruthlessly
killed every last inhabitant of Persia.

Hans A. Bethe

Even though this web page is concerned with the nuclear energy we use as electricity in our nuclear power plants, we cannot simply ignore this horrible aspect of it or of our past. We have to be aware that in continuing to use this type of energy, there are those that may take advantage of the technology for purposes not in keeping with the safety of our environment.

(Now for the issue at hand-nuclear energy as is used for electricity)

I. Finite Resources 

The earth has a wide variety of resources to support human life. These resources include the air we breathe, the water we drink and the land that we use to grow our food. There are other resources that humans seem to take for granted, and unfortunately these resources are limited. Wood, oil and coal are examples of these, and without these natural resources, how would the human population survive? Before the industrial revolution of the 1900's, wood was the most widely used energy source to the humans of the planet. After this revolution and the new technologies that came about because of it, oil and coal became the more popular source for things like transportation and heating our homes. Today, coal and oil account for about 75% of the national energy source.(2) As little as 25 years ago only 5% of our nations families had refrigerators. Today over 95% have them. As the population and new technologies increase, so will our demand for energy. This leads us to a very important question; where do we turn for our energy needs? Other sources of energy that have either been tried and/or experimented with are wind, solar and water current. These issues will be discussed later in the semester. Our concern here is of nuclear energy and its usefulness to us as an energy source for our future.

Uranium-235, the most popular of the uranium isotopes and the one used in nuclear fission is as abundant as zinc and tin. It is found in rocks and in the sea. The amount of uranium on the earth is limited however. Some of the concentrations of the earth's supply will be shown in my presentation. The supply that is now known that can be used in nuclear reactors is expected to last for another 45 years. A consideration that some are suggesting is to use the uranium that is still found in nuclear weapons since no one is supposed to be using them anymore. I will discus this shortly.

 II. Costs

III. Considerations

Radiation is of major concern to anyone who cares about themselves and their environment. What some do not realize however is that they can be exposed to more radiation from getting an x-ray taken or from the natural environment like the water and rocks around them. Also, there is a small amount of radiation in everyone's own bodies. Here are the specific breakdowns:

Radon 55%

Cosmic 8%

Terrestrial 8%

Internal 11%

Medical 11%

Nuclear medicine 4%

Consumer products 3%

Other(including nuclear energy) <1%

The other major consideration of using nuclear energy is that of waste and its disposal. Every radioactive isotope has a half life. This is the time it takes for half of the isotope to break down. When talking of nuclear waste of power plants, there are three levels. These are low, moderate and high level wastes. Low level waste include solids, liquids and gases from the reactor and from processing. These are also from the clothing worn inside the plant. Ways for disposing of these wastes are by incineration and by being buried in trenches of clay. Moderate level wastes are made up of contaminated equipment and materials such as the metal casings from the fuel rods. These wastes are stored at the plant in concrete cylos that are 4-5 feet thick. These are first dissolved in nitric acid and then reduced by incineration before pouring into the concrete. After it is determined that there is no leaking, they are taken to salt formations for burial. High level wastes include the liquid part of all radiation from the fission process. The best way to store this liquid is to turn into solid glass, which keeps its integrity.

 IV. Safety

The layout of a nuclear power plant is one that takes into consideration the highest level of safety. Safety not only for the workers and equipment inside the plant but for the environment as well. There was a diagram in the book I will be discussing in class, on how the nuclear power plant works and the safety features involved. Outside of the plant, some common safety measures include monitoring ground and water radiation levels to ensure no leaking has occurred.

We have all heard of the three-mile island incident and of chernobyl and of the latest incident in Japan a couple of weeks ago. All of these listed have been due to human error not due to the instability of the fuel itself. This may be a good topic for discussion in class.

 V. Future

So, what does the future hold for our energy needs? Will we continue to deplete our resources until they no longer exist? Will new technologies be discovered that will make even the safest of our energy resources obsolete? These are some things to be considered before we wipe nuclear energy off the list of possibilities for our future.