Rise Of Nuclear Power

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The rise of nuclear power started back in 2000 with the election of George W. Bush; it was with him that the development of nuclear power plants started to form in the United States. One of the countries that turned to nuclear energy was India, but it wasn’t until 2005 with the Nuclear Treaty, that it actually came into the picture and developed their Nuclear Sector. Then in 2010 India’s government passed the Civil Nuclear Liability for Damage Act, which dealt with any nuclear damages that happen to India. As of 2012, India has seven Nuclear Power Plants, generating 4,780 MW of energy. With the rapid growth of population the demand for electricity also increased each time, making it harder for the industrialization of power to produce just …show more content…
In the past there has been accidents where the nuclear power plant core melts creating a huge chaos or the disaster is caused by natural causes. For instance the Three Mile Island accident that occurred at 4:00 a.m. on Wednesday, March 28, 1979 [when] a valve in the system inexplicably closed and interrupted the water supply for the steam system, which caused the water pumps to shut down, decreasing the steam pressure and shutting down the turbines. The transfer of heat to the reactor cooling system was then interrupted and the pressure began to rise. A valve opened, which help reduce the pressure but it also let radioactive water and steam to drain into the excess water tank. The valve stayed open for over hours and the coolant water kept draining. The tank began to overflow and through many other malfunctions thus radioactive gases were release, temperatures kept rising resulting in the explosion and meltdown of the core. This accident exposed serious weaknesses in U.S. nuclear power plant operations, as well as in government oversight of the nuclear power industry [but] prompted reforms intended to prevent such accidents in the …show more content…
In the other hand it does release radioactive waste but electricity supply sector accounts for the release to the atmosphere of over 7700 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually [making it] 37.5% of total CO2 emission, that’s coming from using coal, as if there was nuclear plants where the main source was uranium, there wouldn’t be any sign of CO2 emission. To add into that coal also release many other gases such as sulfur oxide which in then creates acid rain. However coal remains to be the largest source for energy at 38% followed by renewables at 20% [and] nuclear at 17% and at this pace the amount of CO2 being release will only be increasing annually. When in the other hand, nuclear power could be generating [at a] cost between 3.9 to 8.0 c/kWh competing against coal and natural gases. Yet with coal being the largest source, the overall amount spent to capture CO2 is about $150-220/t C emission and that goes for capturing the CO2 in power stations, underground storage plus the transportation, only makes the cost of electricity go up by

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