Introduction:
With the decrease in trust
of fossil fuels for generation of electricity, owing to increased global
warming and biological imbalances, people have now moved over in search of
alternative sources of energy, both renewable and non-renewable. Nuclear energy is one of the
most powerful and common forms of non-renewable energy, which has been used
extensively in past decades for the generation of electricity. In addition,
some of the commonly used renewable sources of energy are solar energy,
hydroelectricity and wind energy.
General debates between
the forms of alternative energy are inevitable, since human beings have the
tendency to procure the maximum from the minimum. Both nuclear and solar have
their own pros and cons. The following paper begins with offering a brief
overview about each of these sources of energy, followed by comparing the two
on the basis of cost, waste material produced and safety, ending with a conclusion.
Argument:
Nuclear energy is the process of nuclear fission wherein the
single neutron collides with the atom of Uranium-235 which results in production of
massive energy in the form of heat along with emission of 2-3 neutrons which
further collide with U-235 atoms , thereby resulting in a chain reaction
process. Thus, in this manner a lot of heat energy is being produced which is
used to drive the turbine in order to produce the electricity.
On the other hand, solar
energy is been generated via solar panels that are made up of certain materials
like copper, indium, aluminum etc. which absorb the sunlight, producing power
which can be further used to generate electricity.
Cost:
After a brief overview
about each of these sources of energy, we are in a better position to
critically think about each them. When both the energies are compared based on
the cost, several different aspects are needed to be considered simultaneously.
There are no two points that the cost of operation, installation and risk
management in case of nuclear power would be any day higher than the solar
power. But on the other side, even the installation of solar panels is less,
along with focusing on the fact that it requires more space for installation of
its solar panels. If we had to generate the electricity for the entire world
via solar energy, it is alarming to know it would require around
5,500,000,000,000 square meters of land for the installation of the solar
panels with an assumption that all of them simultaneously work well, and are
highly maintained and produce the expected amount of energy. Owing to these
many constraints involved in solar power, most of the environmentalists love to
opt for nuclear power. However, we can’t forget that solar power is a renewable
form of energy when compared with nuclear energy and here it is gaining much acceptance all around the world since people
are wanting sustainable sources of energy.
Waste produced:
A comparison has been made in order to
determine the amount of waste and the amount of electricity produced by both of
these sources of energy. The life of a solar panel is 30 years; this means that
if solar power is used to generate the worldwide electricity, it would produce
around 139,700,000,000 cubic meters of PV panels as waste. On the contrary, the
waste fuel produced by nuclear power would somewhere fall around 2,220,000cubic
meters. Thus solar power actually produces 63,000 times higher waste in
comparison to nuclear power in generating the worldwide electricity. In
addition to it, the waste from nuclear power plant still contains almost 95% of
energy and can be recycled fast in comparison to the waste of solar power
waste. In addition to it, the waste from nuclear power would maximum take up
1.5 Panama ships, while the waste from solar power may require up to 95,000
Panama ships for its storage
Another fact that cannot be ignored is that solar power
cannot produce energy during the night and here complete reliance on solar
energy would call for a massive amount of storage of energy which itself may
create a higher risk. Thus, in my view solar energy can be deemed as a
supplement, but cannot be taken as a substitute for nuclear energy.
Safety:
Critically thinking
about both of these powers from the safety point of view, nuclear energy ranks
first in it. The chain reaction and nuclear fission process involved within the
nuclear reactor may pose a serious threat, if it goes uncontrolled. However
there is yet another group of people who believe that solar power with its
openly suited solar panels pose a major risk factor in comparison to closely
monitored and safeguarded nuclear reactors. Thus, there are different opinions
with regard to the safety factor of both the sources of energy.
Conclusion:
Thus from the above discussion, we come to a
conclusion that both nuclear and solar power have their own pros and cons. If
solar power is an inexhaustible form of generating electricity, nuclear power
excels in offering the quality and continuity. Solar power highly depends on
the environmental conditions and they cannot be stored in primary form, along
with high requirement of land area; nuclear energy is more risky and its
installation is quite costly. Solar power requires a high amount of land area
for generating the worldwide electricity along with producing 63,000 times more
amount of waste in comparison to the nuclear waste produced for the generation
of the same amount of electricity.
Thus in my view, both
the energies must be used as a supplement to each other; a small and busy area
that calls for high amounts of electricity may opt for a nuclear power plant,
while solar power plants may be used for generation of electricity away from
the hustle of the city area.
It is interesting to
know that by 2013, the installation of solar power had incremented by almost 38
gigawatts in comparison to the increase of 1.2 gigawatts of nuclear power.
Bibliography
CAROLINE. (n.d.). the real waste problem, solar
edition. Retrieved JUNE WEDNESDAY, 2014, from THINGS WORSE THAN NUCLEAR
POWER: http://www.thingsworsethannuclearpower.com/
HAYES, D., & DENMAN, S. (2104, APRIL). As nuclear power dies,
solar rises. Retrieved JUNE WEDNESDAY, 2014, from CNN:
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/04/22/opinion/hayes-denman-solar-power/
INHABER, H. (n.d.). Is Solar Power More Dangerous. Retrieved JUNE
WEDNESDAY, 2014, from http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Magazines/Bulletin/Bull211/21104091117.pdf
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