Alex I.

The Nightly Nuclear      

          Have you ever wondered about nuclear power?   This article is dedicated to that topic.  Nuclear energy is very beneficial for power and for anti-global warming.  It is actually 10 times stronger than a regular power plant and produces as much as a massive 1000 megawatts.  Nuclear power is also less expensive after the plant is built because it uses less fuel.  However, there is a higher risk of catastrophe than a regular power plant that runs on coal.  That is because a coal run power plant will almost never blow up.  Also, uranium used in the process will be radioactive for many years and disposal is almost impossible.

          The process that creates nuclear energy is surprisingly quite simple.  It is known as nuclear fission.  In the nuclear reactor, discharged nuclear rods and charged nuclear rods spew out neutrons and atoms.  When a heavy atom collides into a neutron, it creates immense heat.  The heat is then used to form steam.  The steam is used to power turbines.

                   Power plants have giant stack which can reach 150 feet tall and are made of reinforced concrete.  The nuclear blast that a core meltdown produces is catastrophic but can’t easily escape because of these immensely thick towers.  The towers are topped off with a large metal cap. The nuclear reactors sit inside.  The cooling towers which stack up to 150-250 feet discard useless steam.  The inside of a reactor is similar to a pool.  The water is used to cool the reactor while it is splitting atoms.  If there were no water to cool it, it would melt the steel and spill radioactive gas and molten steel all around.  That is the description of a nuclear power plant.