Nuclear Engineering Research Paper

The term “nuclear engineering” often denotes connotation of war derived from the use of atomic bombs at the end of World War Two. Wartime often heavily influences the intention of research and World War Two was no different. Although, outside of war, nuclear engineering’s emphasis is as a source of power. With the turn of the 21st century, realization of increasing energy demands, awareness of the importance of energy security, and concerns about global warming have surfaced. With such realizations, energy focus shifted to alternative and renewable power sources to replace the finite processes using fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas. Nuclear engineering developments during the design of the atomic bombs in the 1940’s led to …show more content…
The pre-World War Two era began in 1789 when the German chemist Martin Klaproth discovered a new element “Uranium”, naming it after the planet Uranus. Then about a century later, in 1895, Wilhelm Rontgen performed experiments by running electric current through a glass tube acting like a vacuum and produced X-rays, thereby discovering the existence of ionizing radiation. The next year, in 1896, Henri Becquerel discovered that an ore “Pitchblende”, which contained Radium and Uranium, caused photographic plates to darken. Becquerel and his assistant, Villard, demonstrated that the photographic darkening on the plates was caused by beta radiation, alpha particles, and gamma rays. That same year, in 1896, Pierre and Marie Curie, the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize, coined the term “radioactivity” and were able to isolate the elements Polonium and Radium, later used for medical treatment, from pitchblende. A couple years later, in 1898, Samuel Prescott demonstrated that radiation destroyed the bacteria in food, illustrating the first experiment acknowledging the destructive abilities of …show more content…
In general, this means a constant flow of electricity from a source. Nuclear plants can operate in any environment so this allows for a constant flow of electricity, given the proper fuel requirements. In the United States in 2015, nuclear energy facilities remain reliable amid extreme heat, cold, or historical flooding and during periods of extreme weather, the value of nuclear energy facilities is even greater (“US Nuclear Plants Set Reliability”). Where solar plants can only run during the day, wind plant can only run in windy areas, nuclear provides consistent energy anytime and in any environment. Also, with the proper natural disaster preparations, like flood controls, operations can endure amidst extreme weather. Nuclear power acts as the dependable source of electricity that is