Nuclear Reactors

So it is no question that the earthquake in Japan is a big deal, but at the moment I really think their nuclear reactors are definitely a bigger deal.  When I first heard about these, I didn’t even know what a nuclear reactor was.  According the World Nuclear Association, “a nuclear reactor produces and controls the release of energy from splitting the atoms of certain elements…the energy released is used as heat to make steam to generate electricity.”  Components of a nuclear reactor include fuel, moderator, control rods, coolant, pressure vessel or pressure tubes, steam generator, and containment. 

ABC News posted an article titled “Emergencies at 5 Japanese Nuclear Reactors; Radiation Levels Spike at Most-Affected Site.”  According to the article, these reactors exploded after the earthquake which caused the cooling system to lose power.  Because of this, the level of radiation in the air was over 1,000 times what it normally was.  “Officials declared a ‘nuclear emergency’ at the plant (Fukushima Daiichi), about 200 miles northeast of Toyko, amid the cooling system failure after the No. 1 reactor lost power and automatically shut down.  Later, officials announced cooling ability also had been compromised at the second reactor at the site and in three of four reactors at the nearby Fukushima Daini plant.” 

Because of the dangers of these nuclear reactors, workers have been evacuated from the plants in fear of the amounts of radiation that has been released in such a short time.  Yahoo News reported “The level of radiation at the plant surged to 1,000 millisieverts early Wednesday before coming down to 800-600 millisieverts…Experts say exposure of around 1,000 millisieverts is enough to cause radiation sickness.”  Anywhere from 30-70 percent of the reactors at each of the plants have been damaged by the earthquake and tsunami.  The idea of this is absolutely terrifying.

Why do people rely so much on nuclear power plants to supply energy? There are definitely other sources out there that could and might possibly actually be better for people and the environment.  For instance, we could use solar power.  EHow explains solar power as “Solar panels create power in direct relation to their size, latitude and weather.  These panels convert sun into power and store it in batteries that can be used at anytime.”  We could also place windows and doors in proper places around houses and businesses that would help to heat and cool that location according to the temperature at the given time.  Another option is wind power.  Wind turbines generate the power.  The other option (also from EHow) is geothermal power that uses” water heated deep in the earth to the surface and utilizing the steam to power a generator.” 

Now, granted, I am no expert on the use of nuclear power plants as opposed to solar, wind or geothermal power.  I’ve done some research but I do not know a crazy whole lot about the situation.  But these are other options.  And with the situation that the Japanese are facing at the moment, it will interesting to see what happens to the future of these plants.