How Nuclear Energy Works

Humans have relied mostly on non-renewable sources of energy for the majority of their time on earth. These sources will run out and not be replenished for a long time. Just recently, we have realised the burden that is put on the Earth and the grave consequences that will come to life if we do not shift over to more sustainable sources of energy. With new technology we have been able to find new, better ways to harness electricity from natural sources which will never run out. However, there is a ‘clean’ source of energy which is not renewable – nuclear energy.

Nuclear energy is a significant source of electricity worldwide. Nuclear energy comes from the fission of atoms of uranium. Fission is the process in which the nucleus or core of an atom splits. This fission releases energy which is then harnessed. This takes place inside a nuclear reactor – the heart of the nuclear power plants. The uranium is converted into small ceramic pellets for the process. They are stacked together and put into metal tubes called fuel rods. Over 200 of these fuel rods make a fuel assembly. Depending on the power level, a number of these fuel assemblies are immersed in water which acts as a coolant and moderator. The moderator helps slow down the neutrons produced by fission to sustain the chain reaction. The heat created by the nuclear chain reactions produce heat which turns water into steam which spins a turbine to produce electricity.

Nuclear power plants are eco-friendly because they give out no carbon emissions and leave no carbon footprints. They do not pollute the environment. Since there are so many atoms in the world, why is nuclear energy not renewable? This is because while nuclear energy is renewable, most nuclear reactors use only uranium. Uranium is found in rocks but the particular type of uranium (U-235) used is very rare. Hence, the nuclear energy we can use is non-renewable. Nuclear power plants are hard to build as well and are very complex. Nuclear waste is radioactive and must be disposed of properly. Thus, nuclear power is a clean source of energy but is expensive and unfortunately, exhaustible as of now.