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Nuclear Energy : Nuclear Power Station

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Introduction
A nuclear energy plant is a power station that produces electricity from nuclear reactions. Like other conventional thermal power stations, nuclear power plants heat up water into steam that is then used to drive power generators. The nuclear reactions involve extremely radioactive elements that contain a lot of energy. These are atoms with an unstable nucleus that continually emit small packets of energy called radiation in an attempt to attain a stable configuration (Timberlake, 2013). When such atoms are bombarded with a neutron, they easily split in a process called fission. Since Uranium is a large atom, the atomic force that holds it together is relatively weak, making it a suitable atom for fission in nuclear reactors. …show more content…

Since Uranium is a highly radioactive element, it is highly dangerous to the human body as is evidenced by the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 (Timberlake, 2013). This makes the costs of handling it at any stage quite expensive. There has been a long-standing debate on the safety, environmental and economic effects of nuclear power plants. This paper summarizes various literatures by a number of nuclear energy critics, most notably Benjamin Sovacool, a Social Sciences professor and a renowned scholar mainly due to his critical stand on nuclear energy. An analysis and a response follow the literature review
Literature Review
1. Economics
In his book, “Contesting the Future of Nuclear Power”, Benjamin Sovacool discusses that the economics of starting and operating a nuclear power plant. He compares it to those of other sources of electricity such as the renewable sources of energy which consist of wind, water and sunlight (WWS) and other non-renewable sources such as coal and other fossil fuels. Nuclear power plants inherently have a high initial capital budget for the construction of the plant. The initial investment may contribute between 70% and 80% of the cost of electricity (Du & Parsons, 2009). Cost projections thus need to take into

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