What is nuclear power? Is it safe and eco friendly? All I really know about it if from watching The Simpsons and hearing about chernobyl. But I somehow don’t think theres drums of glowing gloop laying around anywhere!
In: Technology
**EDIT: Please check the REPLIES to this post instead. They’re more accurate.**
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*Virtually all power plants work by using heat to create steam to spin a turbine. Coal works this way, geothermal works this way, nuclear works this way… basically, uranium pellets are put into a controlled reactor, and the heat generated from that creates the steam. What makes nuclear *infinitely* more environmentally-friendly than coal is the sheer difference in the amount of heat created for the amount of fuel used, and that the waste doesn’t go into the air.*
*The glowing goop portrayed in fiction doesn’t actually exist. Uranium is just metal. After the nuclear reactions have occurred, you have *depleted uranium* — slightly less radioactive metal which is often (albeit controversially) recycled for other purposes.*
*Chernobyl was the result of exceptionally poor management, exceptionally cheap building materials, and exceptionally absent safety protocols.*
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