Researching for Science WAC #3-Should We Expand the Use of Nuclear Energy? | 4/16/18 - 4/20/18

Summary:

       This week in science we researched for our 3rd Science WAC of the year, our research was to help us to figure out the answer to this question, "Should we expand the use of nuclear energy?" Through my research I have figured out the pros and cons of nuclear energy. First of all, nuclear energy is created "when a neutron crashes into a certain kind of uranium atom, that uranium atom splits into two smaller atoms. This fission releases a lot of energy, but it also releases more neutrons that are free to crash into other uranium atoms creating a chain reaction of lots more fission. When this fission chain reaction is carefully controlled in a nuclear reactor a constant supply of energy is produced." said in a PBS video. Just one uranium pellet that is just 1 inch long produces just as much energy as a ton of coal (2000 pounds of coal). Nuclear energy is produced in 400 operating nuclear energy plants worldwide. Nuclear energy is a very effective and clean source of energy that is carbon (greenhouse gas) free. The problem is that nuclear energy has safety issues and is very expensive. Nuclear energy has two main safety issues, what happens when there's an accident and what is left behind. When their is an accident, people may die and it can be very dangerous, such as an explosion. The last safety issue is what gets left behind after a plant goes through decommissioning. This also correlates with the expense of power plants due to how the cost of running a plant and producing energy cost so much money, also how using nuclear energy also costs a lot of money. When plants do not have enough money they are forced to store this nuclear energy, which means that they are forced to leave behind radioactive waste. One place they can store it is underground where no one can get to it and hope that no water finds its way to it, or else the waste can explode. In terms of expense, “when you take into account the cost of mining uranium, and ensuring safety, and dealing with waste, nuclear can also be very expensive. Especially when compared with safer energy sources like solar and wind.” As you can see, nuclear energy has its pros and cons, it is very clean and concentrated, but it is also unsafe and expensive. Although many people have created and designed new ways of producing nuclear energy, in the a Vox video I learned about those ways.

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S&EP 3-Planning and Carrying out Investigations

       This week in science I investigated nuclear energy to find out if we should expand the use of it. I found a lot of information on this topic and made a pros and cons chart about it. I noticed in my investigation that when we think about nuclear energy, we think of the accidents, and do not think about what is currently happening right now with it. Almost all the cons I found had to do with the past and not the new technology that we currently have now. We are not giving nuclear energy a second chance, and looking at how much more advanced it has gotten. Such as Leslie Dewan's advancement known as Transatomic Power or Per Peterson who has developed a nuclear energy in new form and different forms. This technology is much safer and does not produce nearly as much waste, the only problem is that it still does not fix the expense of nuclear energy. But we are running out of time, if we keep using energy the way we currently do, the earth will just grow to be to hot. We need to begin using more alternative energies such as nuclear, wind, and solar energy. We need to fix these old plants and change them so that they can use these new technologies we have developed, then expand the use of nuclear energy. Although it may be expensive, it so efficient and will make solving this climate change problem much easier. And, we now longer have to worry about the dangers of nuclear energy plants, if we use and expand these new technologies.

XCC-Cause and Effect:

       This week in science I noticed two cause and effect relationships that have to do with nuclear energy. This first relationship I noticed is between the cost of nuclear energy (in terms of actually producing it and running a plant) and the plants being forced to decommission. Because of how plants cost millions upon billions of dollars to operate (cause), sometimes people do not have enough money to continue to run the plants, so they are forced to close the plant and store the nuclear energy (effect). The second relationship I noticed is between neutrons and uranium atoms, and energy. When a neutron crashes into a certain uranium atom, that uranium splits into smaller atoms, and this fission releases a bunch of energy. And it releases more neutrons that are free to crash into even more uranium atoms. When this process is controlled in a nuclear reactor, a lot of energy can be produced. So the cause is when neutrons crash into uranium atoms, the effect is the uranium atom splitting and that fission creates energy.
     
Multiplier-Wanderer:

       This week in science I was a wanderer, I was consistently sharing my new things that I found out from different sources about nuclear energy. I was constantly looking around or "wandering" around to find as much information as possible that could help me in my WAC. I would also share my knowledge with my peers to add knowledge. I also told them which sources were the best and had the most information in them that would be helpful for us. Throughout the week I kept trying to find as much information as possible and shared some of that knowledge with my classmates.