⇒ Within a nuclear power station uranium is used to create heat

⇒ Nuclear power stations are expensive to set up and start, and they also take a lot longer to build compared to fossil fuel (oil, coal, natural gas) power stations

⇒ Before the nuclear power is set up, the uranium mus be processed. However, this causes pollution and if it leaks this can be disastrous for the environment e.g. the Chernobyl disaster

⇒ The other problem with nuclear power stations is nuclear waste (see below) and the expensive process of decomissioning them (i.e. shutting them down).

⇒ The advantages of nuclear power is that there are no greenhouse gases, meaning they don't contribute to climate change. Furthemore, we have more than enough uranium on earth to keep nuclear power stations running for a long time

⇒ The waste from a nuclear power station, on the most part, is only slightly radioactive, meaning we can simply just bury it underground

⇒ However, sometimes nuclear power stations have high level waste, which is dangerously radioactive

• With such waste, you usually have to seal it inside glass blocks, which themselves are placed inside a metal case and buried very deep underground

⇒ One of the biggest problems with disposing of high-level radioactive waste is that not many places are suitable for its disposal

• For instance, the place you bury such waste has to be geographically stable i.e. no earthquakes as they may cause the radioactive waste to leak.
• Even if somewhere suitable is found, not many people are going to want radioactive waste to be buried near them

⇒ Not all radioactive waste has to be buried as it is possible to reprocess some of it

• Once the waste has been reprocessed, the uranium can be used again inside the nuclear power stations and the plutonium can be used for nuclear weapons

⇒ Geothermal energy is only really a possibility in locations where hot rocks are present close to the Earth's suface

• The source of this heat is from the slow decay of radioactive elements that lie deep inside the Earth, such as uranium

⇒ To utilise this heat, water is pumped towards the hot rocks, causing steam to be produced, which then rises to the surface. This steam drives a generator

• There are very little environmental concerns with geothermal energy, but it can be expensive drilling the holes deep enough to reach the heat source under the ground

⇒ Also see our notes on:

• Moving and Storing Heat
• Melting and Boiling
• Conduction and Convection
• Heat Energy
• Saving Energy
• Energy Transfer
• Energy Transformation Diagrams
• Efficiency
• Energy Sources
• Wind and Solar Energy
• Biomass and Wave Energy
• Hydroelectric and Pumped Storage