Nuclear Energy

Emrah Akyüz

Description

Nuclear energy is the most controversial energy source in the 21st century. Both nuclear energy advocates and nuclear energy opponents try to manipulate society by providing incomplete or incorrect information about nuclear energy. Nuclear Energy: Perception or Reality? provides readers with objective information about both the advantages and disadvantages of nuclear energy and explains many common myths about it.

Sujets

• Physique
• Physical attractiveness
• Public Health
• Social Science
• Sciences et techniques
• General officer
• Social sciences
• Physics
• Nuclear power
• Nuclear
• Energy
• Énergie
• General
• Science
• Sciences physiques

Informations

• Publié par: Academica Press
• Date de parution: 01 août 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781680536935
• Langue: English

Extrait

NUCLEAR ENERGY
PERCEPTION OR REALITY?
Emrah Akyüz
Academica Press Washington~London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
Names: Akyüz, Emrah (author)
Title: Nuclear energy : perception or reality? | Akyüz, Emrah
Description: Washington : Academica Press, 2023. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022944786 | ISBN 9781680536928 (hardcover) | 9781680536935 (ebook)
Copyright 2023 Emrah Akyüz
I dedicate this book to my mother Kibriye Akyüz and my father Ismail Akyüz.
CONTENTS CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1. RESEARCH BACKGROUND 2. THE SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH 3. TARGET AUDIENCE 4. SUMMARY OF CHAPTERS CHAPTER II: ENERGY 1. INTRODUCTION 2. ENERGY 3. ENERGY SOURCES 3.1. Fossil Fuels 3.1.1. Coal 3.1.2. Oil 3.1.3. Natural Gas 3.2. Renewable Energy 3.2.1. Solar Power 3.2.2. Wind Power 3.2.3. Wave Energy 3.2.4. Hydroelectric Energy 3.2.5. Geothermal Energy 3.2.6. Biomass Energy 4. ENERGY HISTORY 5. WORLD ENERGY OUTLOOK 6. CONCLUSION CHAPTER III: NUCLEAR ENERGY 1. INTRODUCTION 2. NUCLEAR ENERGY 3. THE SCOPE OF NUCLEAR ENERGY 4. THE HISTORY OF NUCLEAR ENERGY 5. NUCLEAR ENERGY WORLDWIDE 6. CONCLUSION CHAPTER IV: ADVANTAGES OF NUCLEAR ENERGY 1. INTRODUCTION 2. ADVANTAGES OF NUCLEAR ENERGY 2.1. The Long Lifetime of Nuclear Power Plants 2.2. Low Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2.3. Clean Air 2.4. Fuel Efficiency 2.5. Energy Security 2.6. Economic Contribution 2.7. Reducing External Dependency on Energy 2.8. Low Land Use 3. CONCLUSION CHAPTER V: DISADVANTAGES OF NUCLEAR ENERGY 1. INTRODUCTION 2. DISADVANTAGES OF NUCLEAR ENERGY 2.1. High Environmental Cost 2.2. Unsustainable Energy Source 2.3. Nuclear Weapons 2.4. High Installation Cost 2.5. Nuclear Waste Issue 2.6. Terror 3. CONCLUSION CHAPTER VI: PERCEPTION AND REALITY IN NUCLEAR ENERGY 1. INTRODUCTION 2. RISK AND BENEFIT PERCEPTIONS 3. NUCLEAR ENERGY AND PERCEPTION 4. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS 5. CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1:
Distribution of Coal Reserves by Country in 2020
Table 2:
Distribution of Oil Reserves By Country in 2020
Table 3:
Countries with the Most Natural Gas Reserves in 2020
Table 4:
The Ratio of Energy Resources in World Energy Production in 2020
Table 5:
Fossil Fuel Production in the World Between 1800-2019
Table 6:
World Population Rates for 1820-2019
Table 7:
Nuclear Energy Production in the World Between 1980-2020
Table 8:
Renewable Energy Production in the World Between 1965-2020
Table 9:
Electricity Production Amount by Type of Energy Resources Between 1985-2020
Table 10:
Top 10 Countries with the Most Nuclear Energy Reactors
Table 11:
Distribution of Nuclear Energy Reactors by Regions
Table 12:
Countries Building Nuclear Energy Reactors
Table 13:
Average Usage Period of Power Plants
Table 14:
Greenhouse Gases Emission Amount of Energy Sources
Table 15:
Top Oil Importing Countries in 2018
Table 16:
Top Natural Gas Importing Countries in 2018
Table 17:
Countries that Imported the Most Natural Gas in 2019
Table 18:
Countries that Imported the Most Electricity in 2019
Table 19:
Countries Producing the Most Mineral Uranium in 2020
Table 20:
Amount of Land Required for 1 Terawatt hour (TWs) Energy Production (km 2 )
Table 21:
International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale
Table 22:
Installation Cost of Electricity Facilities in 2019 ($/kW)
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1
Mass Housing for Employees Near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
Figure 2
Radiation Measurement in Front of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
Figure 3
An Abandoned Residence in the Area of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Accident
Figure 4
Abandoned Mass Housing in the Region where the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Accident Occurred
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
1. RESEARCH BACKGROUND
Energy is one of the most important needs of human beings. Energy is regularly consumed at many stages of the lives of modern-day people. Energy is considered as one of the most important factors that play a decisive role in the improvement of living standards, the development of the economy, ensuring security, the advancement of technology, the realization of comfortable and safe transportation, and ensuring communication. Without energy, it is not possible for modern societies to maintain and develop their lifestyles. Therefore, energy is one of the most valuable and important tools of the 21st century world. However, the use of energy, which has strategic importance in today’s world, is not a new phenomenon. Energy has been used to facilitate human life since the primitive period.
The history of energy use dates back to ancient times. The energy that people first discovered is renewable energy. The use of wind and sun as energy sources has thousands of years of history. With the use of the power of the wind, goods were transported for commercial purposes by boats and ships. In primitive times, ground mills were used to pump water and grind wheat, but wind power was also used. Wind energy appears to be the most widely used energy source of the primitive period. On the other hand, solar energy was directly utilized. The sun’s rays are used for heating, especially in cold seasons. However, it is not possible to talk about technological developments that can convert renewable energy sources into electricity in these periods.
After renewable energy sources, another energy source that has been used since ancient times is fossil fuels. The use of fossil fuels, which is the most important energy source that meets the world’s energy needs after the Industrial Revolution, has thousands of years of history. Mankind has been using oil and coal for thousands of years for different purposes. Primitive people burned oil and coal for heating, cooking, and security purposes. The environmental problems that emerged due to the excessive use of coal in Europe in the First Age and the Middle Ages reached deadly dimensions. For example, in order to prevent deaths caused by air pollution caused by excessive coal use in England, King Edward I, who ruled England from 1271 to 1307, made legal regulations prohibiting the use of coal. 1
The turning point in the history of energy has been the Industrial Revolution. With the economic and social transformation experienced after the Industrial Revolution, the use of fossil fuels has expanded further. With the use of steam-powered machines in production and transportation, especially coal has started to gain more importance. In addition to coal, oil and natural gas consumption have also increased rapidly with technological developments. This momentum, which started with the Industrial Revolution, continued increasingly until the 1950s. Environmental problems caused by excessive consumption of fossil fuels and their effects on public health have triggered an increase in social reaction and a tendency to alternative energy sources, especially in European countries and the USA, since the 1950s. One of these alternative energy sources is nuclear energy.
Since the second half of the 20 th century, nuclear energy has been at the center of many countries’ energy policies because fossil fuels are a non-renewable energy source, difficulty accessing reserves due to their availability in certain geographical areas and most importantly, the devastating damage to the environment. During the Cold War, nuclear energy technology experienced rapid progress as the competition between the Western Bloc and the Soviet Union took place in the field of nuclear energy. Advances in nuclear energy technology have made it easier for countries to access this energy source.
The most important factors determining the nuclear energy perspective of countries have been energy crises and nuclear power plant accidents. In the 1970s, the tendency to alternative energy sources to fossil energy sources such as nuclear energy increased more due to the oil crises 2 that deeply affected the industrialized countries. Countries have started to invest more in nuclear energy in order to meet their energy needs and to ensure energy security. However, the trend toward nuclear energy has come to a standstill or decreasing with the accidents in nuclear power plants. The most important nuclear power plant accident that affects the energy policy of countries against nuclear energy is the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident that occurred in Ukraine in 1986. The environmental pollution that emerged with the Chernobyl disaster and its chaotic effects on living things have led to more questioning about whether nuclear energy is dangerous for the environment and public health.
With the Chernobyl disaster, while the use of nuclear energy was questioned more, on the other hand, security measures in the field of nuclear energy were tried to be increased more. In order to prevent nuclear power plant accidents like Chernobyl, nuclear technology has made remarkable progress in terms of safety. The view that nuclear power plants, which are protected with high-security measures, do not pose a risk in terms of the environment and public health, gained more prevalence towards the beginning of the 21st century with the reduction of the risk of accidents. However, the public support that has developed in favor of nuclear energy has tended to decrease again with the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident that took place in Japan in 2011. In the 25 years between the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 and the Fukushima disaster in 2011, despite the important developments in nuclear energy technology, the failure to prevent nuclear power plant accidents has led to an increase in nuclear energy opposition all over the world.
Judging nuclear energy only by the environmental pollution caused by nuclear power plant accidents and its effects on living life gives rise to a one-sided perspective. Because when we look at the other side of the coin, it is seen that nuclear energy has significant