“The laws of life are written into every atom, molecule, and heartbeat. We are immersed in the sweet law of unfolding mystery called life.”

                                          ― Bryant McGill

Having a coffee and sitting on a bench, suddenly a notification pop up on my mobile. Nothing it was just a theme, and this quote was written over it. After thinking and taking deep dive into it, I found some conclusions and some facts that I will surely share with you guys. Have you ever thought about what is atomic energy? It has only disadvantages or advantages too? How is it discovered? What role does it play in our life?

Am sure these questions can attract anyone among us. So, let’s discover them more, and after reading this article, I am sure you will know everything about it and will learn some exciting facts too. Before going deep one must know what is an atom? This is a place where atomic energy arose.

One must know about the atom, radiations, and their effect on humans to understand the topic further. All the universe is the combination of the various substances known as chemical elements. The smallest particles into which element can be divided so that it does not lose its properties is known as an atom. It consists of the two main parts popularly known as nuclear, with a circling nuclear cloud. There exist radioactive elements too. These are the elements in which the atoms are unstable and breakdown to form atoms of another element. So this is all about what an atom is.

Atomic Radiations

Many of our books and newspapers are full of the word radiation. Aren’t you excited to know about it? So, let’s see what the word radiation means? It is the energy that travels through space in the form of the particles or electromagnetic waves. It refers to various other forms of energy such as radio waves, microwaves, infra-red waves, visible light, UV rays, gamma rays, alpha rays, and many more. Radiations are further broken into the two major classes known as:

  • Ionization radiations and
  • Non- ionizing radiations.

Don’t you know there are a lot of effects of the radiation? It is a very small term, but its dangers are more than the alphabets in it. No doubt everything has two sides, so there are some positive aspects of radiation too.

Negatives Effects

  • Growth retardation
  • Mental retardation
  • Child growth
  • Childhood cancer
  • Cell damaged or die
  • Causes a lot of abnormal disorders on the unborn babies too

Positive Aspects

  • Electrical generation
  • Medical applications
  • Industrial applications
  • Agricultural applications
  • Archaeological applications

Atomic Energy

So, now after the basic understanding of these concepts, let’s see what atomic energy is :

What is atomic energy?

Ernest Rutherford originated this term in 1903. It is the energy released through a nuclear reaction or radioactive decay process in which fission occurs and produces heat in the form of energy in the nuclear reactor—for example, nuclear power plants, atomic bombs, nuclear submarines, and the sun.

More than 30 countries worldwide are operating 444 nuclear reactors for electricity generation, and 66 new nuclear plants are going to be built very soon. Atomic energy is the source of nuclear power, which uses sustained nuclear fission to generate heat. That’s why atomic energy is also known as nuclear energy.

How atomic energy is produced?

Atomic Energy originates when the uranium atoms are split by a process which is popularly known as fission. As we know, nuclear power plants do not burn fuel, so no greenhouse gas emissions are produced. This generates steam and heat is produced, which will further help the turbines to move, and further electricity will be produced.

Sometimes people took advantage of the discoveries of science and use them in the wrong way further. We all are familiar with the horror of the Second World War, culminating in the nuclear blasts at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This brought home the need to address the nuclear issue.

Nuclear safety:  We can use the discoveries of science safely too. It is the responsibility of every nation to utilize nuclear technology. The department of nuclear safety provides the framework, instructions, and all the guidelines about how to use the discoveries of nuclear emissions safely. Due to the danger of nuclear terrorism, The international convention for the suppression of acts of nuclear terrorism is also introduced.

Future of Nuclear Energy

Aren’t you excited to know about the future of nuclear energy? Let’s see what it is going to contribute in the future. Nuclear fission has a wide variety of environmental and health issues associated with electric generation. The concept to think is about radioactive wastes such as uranium mail tailings, reactor fuel, and many more radioactive wastes. Several of such wastes had a great effect on the health and the environment. These effects are long-lasting, for example, the newborn babies in such areas are abnormally born, some of them are paralyzed, and many more problems are there. So, these wastes result in a very harmful manner for the children.

Nuclear Power- The Energy Source

So, prove this myth right some facts, theories, and researches are introduced by scientists.

As we know that nuclear fission takes place rather than chemical burning, so it produces baseload electricity with no output of carbon. Basically, we know that carbon is a very harmful element and results in great damage and cause global warming. By switching from coal to nuclear power plants results in decarbonizing and we also know that the nuclear power plants release a number of greenhouse gasses which are not too dangerous for us. These gases are released by the use of fossil fuels during construction, mining, maintenance, and many other things.

atomic energy
nuclear energy

Nuclear power plants also have high capacity factors than renewable energy sources such as fossil fuels. The third useful feature of nuclear power plants is they release less radiation into the environment than any other major energy source. Studies always indicated that even the worst possible accident at the nuclear power plants could produce less destruction than any other major industrial accidents.

So, we can easily conclude that just like a coin has two sides, nuclear energy also has two sides one is the positive one while the other is the negative one. It will only depend on our mind what we think about them. Most of us mind see the negative side first but these experiments of the scientists proven that science can be used in a better way, not every experiment cause implosion some of them can help to protect our environment too.

Nuclear bombs and nuclear power plants both have a common feature of atomic energy, but in both cases, the theme is just the opposite. In one case atomic bombs are very harmful and can cause everlasting destruction. But on the other side, nuclear power plants help us a lot to protect our environment.

Major Research Institutes

Several international organizations are discovering more about nuclear energy, such as :

  • Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA)- Headquarters in Paris, France
  • International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)- Headquarters in Vienna, Austria
  • International Nuclear Societies Council (INSC)
  • World Nuclear Association (WNA)- Headquarters in London, United Kingdom
  • International nuclear law association
  • International Institute of nuclear energy

Many environmentalists have opposed nuclear power, citing its dangers and the difficulty of disposing of its radioactive waste. But the Prize-winning author argues that nuclear is safer than most energy sources. It is needed if the world hopes to decrease its carbon emissions radically.

Atomic Energy as a Global Issue

Don’t you think may news are full of the concept of atomic energy? People are making others alert about this concept. After the second world war, everyone thought of the negative impact as it caused a lot of destruction, and further generations have to suffer a lot there. So, these atomic bombs, nuclear bombs, and all of these are causing destruction, which is proven the only way atomic energy has many disadvantages.

All the cases are increasing day by day. Many bombs are made every day and are used in wars too. This causes a great increase in the issue of global warming too as the heat and energy produced by them are too high and the radiations are too harmful to the environment and the health of the children.

So, let us conclude nuclear waste is piling up, and it can be proved dangerous for us sot the government needs to stop dithering and take action against it. Conservative ‘nuclear fusion by 2024’ pledge is a fantastic approach, but they won’t save us from climate change.

Nuclear power plants should be allowed all over the world as this proved the positive impact of nuclear energy too. These steps will prove the myth of atomic energy as a global issue wrong and will help all the world to understand the positive impact of nuclear energy too.

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ALSO READ- Positive and Negative Sides of Technology

About the Author

Simarpreet Kaur

Hey! Simar here. I love to read and write a lot and I believe that "You can always edit a bad page. You can't edit a blank page ". Wish you a happy reading ;)

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