Facts About Nuclear Power Plants
Nuclear power plants generate energy around the world, either by splitting atoms or forcing atoms together. Albert Einstein's theory, E = mc2, helps explain this conversion of mass to energy. Today, most of the world's power plants use uranium to produce energy, the properties of which were first discovered accidentally by a French physicist, Henri Becquerel, in 1896.
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Power Plant Locations
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There are 400 nuclear power plants worldwide in 2009, and those plants supply 16 percent of the world's electricity. France is far and away the leader in this regard, as nuclear plants produce 80 percent of that country's power. In the United States, 104 nuclear power plants produce 20 percent of all electricity. Thirteen of those plants are in Illinois, the most of any state.
Envinronmental Impact
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Most sources agree that nuclear power is the U.S.'s largest source of non-polluting energy, accounting for 73 percent of electricity from non-carbon sources, including wind and solar power. Additionally, the radioactive waste produced by nuclear power plants is stored underground to minimize its impact on the environment.
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Creating Energy
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A nuclear power plant creates energy by splitting atoms in three different ways. Radioactive decay produces energy when a proton or neutron decays spontaneously by emitting a particle. The process of fusion creates energy when two atomic nuclei fuse together to form a heavier nucleus. Fission, the final energy creator, gets its energy from the breaking of a heavy nucleus into two nuclei.
Creating Power
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The fission of an atom of uranium can create 10 million times the energy as the combustion of an atom of carbon from coal. That is why nuclear power plants need less power to operate than plants that run on fossil fuels like coal. One ton of uranium can produce more energy than several million tons of coal or several million barrels of oil.
Nuclear Accident
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The meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Russia in 1987 is considered the worst nuclear disaster in world history to date. It is the only nuclear disaster to receive a 7, the highest score on the International Nuclear Event Scale, developed by the International Atomic Energy Commission to measure nuclear power plant accidents.
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