Comparing to renewables
In: Physics
The kind of nuclear energy we use to generate electricity is called “fission”. It comes from the energy that is released when you break an atom apart. Atoms are made of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Electrons and protons don’t stick together very strongly, and so electrons can usually be separated from protons without much fuss (and that’s actually what you’re doing when you make electricity). But protons and neutrons stick together really hard and they are difficult to separate. But if you can do it, they release *lots* of energy in the form of heat. We use that heat to boil water and make steam, and that steam spins a turbine that generates electricity.
Virtually all forms of power plant are ultimately just using something to spin a turbine which is what generates the electricity. Wind power just uses the wind to spin the turbine. Hydroelectric uses falling water to spin the turbine. Tidal power uses rising and falling tides to pump water through a turbine. The only one that doesn’t is photovoltaic solar panels. Instead, they use a chemical reaction that occurs between some materials when they are exposed to certain types of light. That reaction releases some of the electrons in the materials, which generates electricity.
Wind and solar have the problem of being inconsistent. It’s hard to control how much wind is blowing, or how much sun is shining at any given time. Hydroelectric sources are better about this because you can get pretty consistent water flow through systems like that. However, most large dams that can be built in the developed world have already been built. So there’s not much room for expansion there. The benefit of nuclear energy is that it’s extremely consistent, controllable, reliable, and generates no air pollution. It does generate radioactive waste, which is a problem, and if not done properly nuclear power has the potential to be dangerous (though far less dangerous than fossil fuels have been).
At the end of the day, both renewable and nuclear power could potentially provide viable sustainable clean energy for the world. The question is really do we want to spend our time, money, and efforts on solving the consistency and control problems of renewables, or the radioactive waste problem of nuclear. It seems at this point that most of the world has chosen the former.
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