Because Uranium 236 emmits 3 neutrons in this reaction, these neutrons then travel at a fast speed. The heavy water acts as a moderator to slow these down. Fast moving neutrons have too much kinetic energy to combine with Uranium 235, so the heavy water moderator slows the neutrons down so there is a higher change of another reaction. The neutrons moving around in the heavy water are absorbed by other uranium 235 nuclei. This creates a chain reaction. This process continues, and more neutrons are emitted by the reactions, then travel around slowly and absorbed again by more uranium 235. This single reaction results in large amounts of energy being produced, in the form of radiation.
A nuclear power station creates electrical energy from nuclear fission. The process begins when Uranium pellets being packed inside long rods made of zirconium alloy, which are mostly resistant to heat and corrosion. These rods are then placed inside the radioactive core. Heavy water is then filled into the vessel, and surrounds the Uranium filled rods. The heavy water acts as a moderator, and slows down the neutrons so they are able to react with the Uranium and create energy. Heavy water contains low atomic weight material, so the particles take kinetic energy from the neutron in order to move. The neutrons lose kinetic energy, therefore slow down. Neutrons travel slowly through the heavy water, entering and exiting the zirconium rods until they collide and react with a Uranium atom. Nuclear fission happens, and the Uranium atoms splits into Barium, Krypton, and three neutrons, releasing energy. The three neutrons emitted from this reaction then travel out of the zirconium rod and continue in the chain reaction. This is a problem, because the neutrons will continue in this chain reaction, and more and more energy will be created, resulting in a nuclear meltdown. To prevent too many neutrons reaction with the Uranium, control rods are placed inside the reactor. These control rods are made up of chemical elements which can absorb neutrons without fissioning, such as cadmium, silver, boron, and indium. These control rods are lowered and raised in the reactor core. To slow down the chain reaction, more of these control rods are lowered into the reactor core. This results in fewer neutrons which create the reactions, therefore ewer reactions. You can even stop this fission process by lowering enough control rods to absorb neutrons and prevent anymore reactions with the Uranium pellets. The large amount of energy created from the reaction heats up the water in the reactor. This water reaches around 320 degrees celsius. This heated water is confined in pipes with immense pressure, to prevent the water from turning into steam and boiling. This occurs inside the reactor vessel. This extremely hot water travels through pipes and travels in a circuit back into the reactor core. Whilst travelling through the pipes, this water can’t exit the containment chamber, as it is radioactive and deadly is come into contact with an organism. The heat from this radioactive water is transferred to non-radioactive water in the heat exchanger. The normal water is in a seperate section called the steam generator. The water in this steam generator is heated from the radioactive water, and turns into stream, as it is not pressurised. This steam then travels through pipes and into the stream turbine. This steam pushes the blades of the turbine, and turns the shaft of the turbine which is connected to a generator. This is where the kinetic energy/motion of the steam is converted into mechanical energy, which is then converted into electrical energy by the generator. Michael Faraday was an English scientist who discovered the generator in 1831-32. Faraday found that ‘electric charges could be induced by moving an electrical conductor, such as a wire that contains electric charges, in a magnetic field. This movement creates a voltage difference between the two ends of the wire or electrical conductor, which in turn causes the electric charges to flow, thus generating electric current’. Inside the generator, a coiled wire cylinder spins inside a magnetic field, creating alternating current. Electrons are forced to move and collide with each other, moving along the wire and creating electrical current. AC power is hence created, and the power is furthermore sent to enter the national grid. Once the steam has passed through the turbine, it travels over cooling pipes filled with cold water, usually from the ocean. These cooling pipes cool the steam, turning it back into water. This water is then pumped back to the steam generator to be turned back into steam and start the process again.
3 and 4. Waste Materials, and potential short and long term issues of nuclear containment failure
Despite the fact that nuclear power is a good and efficient way to create large amounts of electricity, the risks are usually the biggest reason it isn’t used over other sources such as renewable. The nuclear reactor is the most dangerous part of having nuclear power, as the Uranium reaction produces radiation. Radiation is the release of energy in the form of waves. When Uranium combines with a neutron, it becomes unstable and radioactive. This is because it now has too many neutrons, and wants to get rid of neutrons and become stable again, so release energy. The Uranium releases energy in the form of kinetic and radiation, and this is called radioactive decay. The three types of radioactive decay are alpha, beta, and gamma. This gamma radiation can make changes to our DNA and change or kill our cells, which can be deadly, which is the reason why so many people are against nuclear power. This nuclear reaction happens in the nuclear reactor inside the containment structure of the nuclear power plant, but there are cases where something has gone wrong, and the radiation has escaped and been emitted into the air. When there is radiation in the air, people have to stay far away from it and the land can’t be lived in for a lengthy time as the radiation is harmful to humans. There are three types of radiation; alpha, beta, and gamma. An alpha particle contains two neutrons and protons. A beta particle contains one single electron, and a gamma particle contains one photon An alpha particle is also known as a helium nucleus. An alpha ray has low penetration, meaning it can be stopped by a sheet of paper. A beta particle has stronger penetration, but can be stopped by aluminium. A gamma particle has high penetration, and can be stopped by lead. Alpha particles can be stopped by skin, so aren’t an issue unless consumed. Beta particles can penetrate the skin, and can cause damage to deep tissue. Gamma particles can penetrate right through the body to organs, which can cause serious damage as it can change DNA. However, alpha particles have the highest ionization, whilst gamma has the lowest. This means that although the alpha particle can be stopped easily, if it were to be consumed for example by breathing, it would have the largest effect on the body, as it has high ionization and can change DNA and create mutations or stop cells working. Beta particles have medium ionization and penetration, so once again it can be serious if come into contact, with as it can penetrate skin as well as ionize DNA. Gamma particles have high penetration, so can get right into the body, but low ionization, so doesn’t have as much ionizing effect and can’t change DNA as much as beta and alpha rays do.
The Fukushima nuclear power incident in 2011 is an example of a containment failure. A powerful earthquake hit, and about an hour later a tsunami followed. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was affected by this. This power plant had six nuclear reactors, but only three were functioning at the time. As soon as the earthquake hit, sensors caused the control rods to be inserted fully, absorbing neutrons and stopping the chain reaction. Although these control rods stopped the chain reaction, steam was still produced due to the residual heat. If these control rods hadn’t been fully inserted immediately, things would have become much more serious. The control rods slow down/stop the chain reaction between Uranium 235 and neutrons. If there weren’t any control rods, the neutrons would most likely continue to react with the Uranium 235. Not just in this Fukushima incident, but with any nuclear reactor, if there were no control rods, there would be serious damage. First off, the reaction between Uranium 235 and neutrons would become larger and larger, as more and more neutrons would be produced resulting in more and more reactions. This would create a large amount of heat energy in the nuclear reactor, which would furthermore turn the heavy water moderator and coolant into steam. This would mean that there is no longer any water to keep the nuclear reactor cool. The fuel rods would end up melting and falling to the bottom of the chamber, which was seen in the Fukushima incident. Fuel rods are fairly easy to control, and are a great safety mechanism to use unless they melt, which is highly unlikely apart from a large disaster such as the Fukushima disaster. Fuel rods absorb neutrons and slow the reaction down, but if they melt they are useless. The earthquake cut off power to the nuclear reactor, so back up generators were turned on to cool the water. The generators pumped the steam into a cold water tank, cooling it down and turning it into water. Whilst the hot steam was taken out of the nuclear reactor, cold water was pumped into it. This was going well until the tsunami hit, which disabled the backup generators. If the tsunami hadn’t hit, the nuclear reactor would have continued to be cooled, and everything would have been fine. This is hard to control though, as any natural disaster or event could cut off the power to this. Because the nuclear reaction was still taking place, but there was nothing to cool it, the water in the reactor vessel became so hot that it began turning into steam, lowering the water level surrounding the control rods and zirconium rods. This is a danger, as lower water levels means that part of the fuel rods aren’t being cooled, and are at risk of melting. The water surrounding these rods kept it cool, but with this lowered it meant that the fuel/zirconium rods holding the Uranium became too hot and melted. This coolant safety system could have been fixed if cold water was continuously pumped into the reactor, but because it wasn’t the water turned into steam. This turned into a lava like substance called Corium, which ended up lying at the bottom of the reactor chamber. As it was extremely hot, it made a hole in the bottom of the reactor vessel and fell down to the concrete floor of the containment structure. At the same time, some fuel rods cracked, releasing radioactive substances such as Krypton and Barium. The fuel rods are made of zirconium, which are corrosion and heat resistant, unless the heat exceeds 1,855 degrees celsius, which is an extreme heat, and wouldn’t occur in a nuclear reactor unless the coolant system stopped working. The zirconium in the rods also reacted with the steam, creating hydrogen. This would have caused an explosion if it had’ve reacted with air, but luckily the containment structure was filled with nitrogen. This is a good safety system, as it ensures that even if there is an incident and fuel rods melt, there is no risk of a reaction between hydrogen and the air. The steam kept building up in the reactor vessel, and created too much pressure, which opened the safety vent for the steam to travel into the wet well, which is a section filled with water. This is a great backup safety system, as it is a second way on cooling the steam as much as possible and preventing an outburst. The steam flowed into here, but because the emergency generators weren’t working, the water couldn’t be cooled. Once again, the water heated up and began boiling. This safety system wasn’t good enough, as the water just boiled and turned into steam. This created large amounts of pressure, which would soon become too much and cause an explosion in the chamber which would release every bit of radioactive substance. To prevent his happening, the nuclear power plant operator had no choice but to open the vent and allow the steam/gas to flow out into the air. This last safety system is the only way to stop the nuclear reactor from blowing. It prevents all the radioactive substances from escaping, and ensures that the used stored Uranium isn’t released. Uranium 235 has a long half life of 700 million years. This means that it takes this long for it’s radioactive nuclei to half. Isotopes with long half lifes give off smaller amounts of radiation, but for a longer time. A more active isotope with a shorter half life will give off larger amounts of radiation, but for a shorter time. Even though more active isotopes are more dangerous, in the long term they will run out, and you can return, whilst isotopes with longer half lifes means that you can’t return for a long time. The earthquake and tsunami also created pathways which the hydrogen escaped through, entering the concrete reactor structure. There was oxygen present in the reactor building, so when the hydrogen enters, an explosion happened, breaking the containment structure, but not the containment building. This allowed the radioactive substances to escape into the atmosphere. In one of the reactors, the operator wasn’t able to release the steam into the air, so the wet well pool cracked. Radioactive substances were released into the air, and contaminated water spread through the nuclear reactor and ended up in the sea. The used fuel was stored in separate cooling pools in the nuclear reactors. Because there was no power, there was nothing cooling the pools. This meant the water began boiling, and without something to cool the water fast, the spent fuel would have released considerable radioactive elements into the air. Firefighters and helicopters were able to use water to keep this used fuel cool, so no more radiation was released. Although they were able to contain the used fuel and prevent it from emitting radiation, radioactive elements had already entered the air. In total, 160,000 people have to evacuate their homes. This nuclear meltdown meant that the air in Fukushima was filled with radiation, and that people living close would have to evacuate to prevent serious cell damage or death.
In the short term the radiation would be emitted into the air and only affect places close to the nuclear power plant, so Fukushima. If the Fukushima residents didn’t evacuate, and did come in contact with the radiation, things would become serious. The ionising radiation would damage their biological material and alter it. DNA would be effected, and the structure would change. Cells would do either three things. It would either repair itself, die, or mis-repair itself and become altered. If the cell repaired itself then nothing would change. If it died, once again it wouldn’t have a great effect. However if the cell mis-repaired itself and became altered, cancer could soon be present. This cancer cell would multiply, and take over the body and its function if immediate action isn’t taken. 30-50 km in radius of the nuclear power plant had seen radiation levels rise, and people within a 20km radius were asked to leave. 1368 people in total died related to the nuclear disaster. This number isn’t just those affected by radiation. Because so many people has to evacuate their homes (160,000), it was extremely hard to locate safe places for them to stay. Many elderly and sick died due to hyperthermia, dehydration, or an rise in their medical problems due to lack of medication. In the long term, it is estimated that 32 million people in Japan were affected by radiation, although the levels of radiation weren’t deadly. Some of the radioactive elements emitted into the air have extremely long half lives. This means that it takes a long time for the radioactive elements mass to half. Plutonium is radiation which has a half life of 24,000 year. This means after 24,000 years, the radioactive elements radioactivity is half. 24,000 years is an extremely long time time, which means that people won’t be able to return to their homes anytime soon. Those evacuees will have to continue to live in smaller/lower standard houses without the ‘luxuries’ they would have had at their homes. It has also been stated that 40% of children living in Fukushima had thyroid nodules or cysts. Although these are extremely unlikely to cause death, it is a pain for these children and something they shouldn’t have to worry about. The Japanese government has estimated that is going to cost $260 billion to clean up the Fukushima nuclear disaster. This is extreme amounts of money, which has to be put into cleaning up the mess rather than improving or building homes for people, building better roads, helping the homeless, etc. A nuclear power plant costs a few billion dollars to build, which basically went up into smoke due to this disaster. All the money spent on building the Fukushima nuclear power plants has all disappeared, as the disaster completely ruined its function and ability to work. On top of all the money costing to clean up the mess, is the amount of time it’ll take, and the dangers in removing all the radioactive elements still stored there. All the workers will have to wear radiation-protective suits, and be scanned everyday to ensure they haven’t been exposed to radiation. So far two workers have had skin burns, but nothing more serious than that. The environment is also affected by this disaster and by nuclear power fullstop. The high radiation traveled through the air and ‘polluted’ the environment. It has been seen in nearby areas that there has been high radiation found in new leaves, an increase in mutations growing on fir trees (abnormal growth), mutations in the blue grass butterfly and worms, a decrease in the population of 57 bird species with high radiation levels, and high levels of radiation contamination in freshwater fish. Around 520 tons of radioactive water is said to have been leaked into the ocean, which is the reason we see high levels of radiation in freshwater fish. If affected badly enough, these fish can also die, or have abnormalities and growth on them. In the long term, the used up nuclear waste has to be stored or disposed of, until it turns into a more stable element. After around three to four years, the fuel no longer makes enough energy, so has to be disposed of. Because uranium 234 has such a long half life, it needs to be safely stored for a long time. It’s half life of 700 million years means it’ll take that long until it’s radiation is half. That means that Uranium will pretty much be radioactive ‘forever’. Because of this, it needs to be dumped somewhere far away from any civilisation. The Yucca mountain was chosen as the best place to store this nuclear waste. It is located in a desert and far far away from civilisation.
Radiation in a nuclear power plant comes from the nuclear fission inside the reaction chamber, so this is the only potential place which is at risk of releasing radiation. As stated earlier, the water runs in a circuit in the reactor vessel. The water is heated up by nuclear fission, and is contained in small pipes with large pressure to ensure the water doesn’t become steam. This reactor vessel is the first potential radiation risk. A few things could go wrong. The controls rods slow down the nuclear fission reaction by absorbing neutrons, and this prevents the water inside the vessel from becoming too hot. If the control rods weren’t put in, the reaction would continue to increase and get bigger, releasing more energy and radiation, and heating up the water inside the vessel. This is one way in which there could be a radiation risk. The extremely hot water would melt the zirconium fuel rods, this ‘magma’ would then fall to the bottom of the vessel and create a hole, releasing radiation. This reactor vessel is inside a concrete containment structure, but if there was a small crack or hole in the wall, the radiation would be able to exit the structure and be released into the air. This is the first potential radiation risk. The second radiation risk could be when the radioactive water is being pumped through the circuit pipes. This pipe travels directly through the steam generator, where the hot radioactive water heats up the cooler, non-radioactive water. If there was a crack or hole in the reactor vessel pipe, the hot radioactive water would travel into the stream generator, which would be a serious risk. The radioactive water would travel through the new circuit in the steam generator. Nuclear power plants create enormous amounts of heat, but can’t use all of it, so the excess heat (steam) is pumped out large chimneys. This is what would happen to the radioactive steam. As it travels through the steam generator, it is pumped through pipes and exits through the large chimney. If this did happen, radioactive steam would be released into the air and travel miles. No extra water is put into the reactor vessel, so if there was a crack and water escaped it, the water level inside would fall. This water is the moderator keeping the zirconium and control rods cool. If the water did drop, the rods would crack and melt, turning into ‘magma’ and the result would be what I stated in incident one. The third and last potential radiation risk is storing and transporting the spent/used fuel. This radioactive fuel can no longer be used, so is placed inside cooling pools, or fuel pools until they are ready to be transported. Once again, if there was a crack or hole in the cooling pools, radiation would escape and be emitted into the air. Once the spent fuel has been left to cool down, it is then ready to be transported. This radioactive spent fuel is transported by rail, road, or ship/sea. Anyone of these three ways could result in disaster. If a ship sank and released radioactive fuel into the sea, it would contaminate the oceans and travel miles upon miles, affecting the water and things that live in it. If the train or truck crashed and released the fuel, the radiation would be emitted into the air and travel miles. Either way, the radiation would be released into the environment and cause serious damage.
In the short term, the area surrounding the nuclear incident (wherever it occured, such as the ocean, road, or nuclear power plant) would have to be evacuated. Radioactive material was seen in rain in California, which was from evaporated water from the ocean. This is another way radiation can spread and be a serious risk. Although this amount of radiation isn’t enough to harm us, it still shows how far radiation can travel. However because radiation is so strong from the disaster point, a large area surrounding it would be evacuated. This would affect people's ethics, as kids can’t go to school, people can’t go to work, and they have to abandon their homes. This can also affect health. If someone were come into contact with radiation and it was strong enough, it could affect DNA, changing cells causing mutations such as cancer. The spent fuel stored in places such as Yucca Mountain could be affected by an incident such as an Earthquake. The spent nuclear fuel could be again emitted into the air by a natural disaster or incident, and the same thing would happen like a nuclear meltdown. People would be evacuated, and the land would be uninhabitable for years upon years. This is why the nuclear spent fuel is stored in places such Yucca mountain, as it is in a desert which doesn’t get earthquakes, and doesn’t have anyone living nearby, so if there were to be an incident, no one would have to be evacuated, and it would be as serious as if it were in New Zealand. If the nuclear spent fuel radiation was released by an earthquake (which could be likely as we lie upon two tectonic plates/a fault line) it would effect so many more things than if it were in a desert. New Zealand is a small country so doesn’t have any places far away from civilisation. If the radiation was emitted, people would have to be evacuated and if it was bad enough then New Zealand would be uninhabitable. In best case scenario, people would still have to be evacuated, and jobs would be losts, and kids wouldn’t be able to go to school. Flights would no longer be allowed as the radiation could travel by this, and New Zealand's economy would fall. New Zealand are big on agriculture, such as milk, meat, and wool. If there were to be radiation released, countries would no longer want to import our food and materials as it could be contaminated. The countries economy would drop dramatically, and jobs would be lost due to no one wanting to import our agricultural resources/food.
Overall, this nuclear disaster has affected health, economics, and the environment, and occurred despite having multiple safety systems. People have died, had to move away from home, been affected by radiation, and have no idea when/if they will ever be able to return home. Families have been separated, and there has also been much psychological damage. People would still be devastated and upset that they have had to leave home. Smaller businesses would have had to close, and many many jobs would have been lost. Many families and people will have become homeless because of a lack of housing, and just no money for necessities for life. For the economic side, so much money has had to be spent because of this disaster. $260 billion New Zealand dollars is estimated to just clean up the power plants, let alone everything else. The government will have to spend loads on money on housing those 160,000 residents which were forced to leave home. They have to provide food and water, and the basic necessities for life. The government will also have to spend money on more workers to clean up the power plant, and radioactive-resistant suits, as well as radiation scanners. The environment is also affected, as trees and plants have abnormalities, as well as fish in the ocean. As Fukushima is pretty much uninhabitable, and no activity occurs near the powerplant, buildings and roads will start to deteriorate, and even if the land does become safe for humans to live there in the longer term, it will be costly to get everything up and running again.
5. Why you should consider nuclear power:
Nuclear power is considered to ‘save lives’. In 2013, research and study by Nasa found that 1.8 million deaths were prevented between 1976 and 2009, because of the use of nuclear power. Although large incidents such as Chernobyl and Fukushima occured, nuclear energy has the lowest deaths per energy unit, among all the sources of energy. Coal ranks first. Nuclear power has used fuel, which is stored usually underground and takes a long time to become non-radioactive. However this used fuel is usually stored far away from civilisation, therefore won’t affect lifes or kill anyone. Fossil fuel produces toxic gases which are pumped into and pollutes the air, affecting everyone around it. All that comes out of the top of a nuclear power station is steam. Steam isn’t harmful, and doesn’t affect lives, as it is just the gas version of water. When burned, coal emits carbon dioxide into the air, which is harmful to humans. We breathe oxygen, and release carbon dioxide as we cannot use it and therefore don’t want it. If burning coal emits carbon dioxide, there will be less oxygen for us to breathe, and we will end up breathing carbon dioxide. This will lead to sickness, and probably death, as your vital organs such as the brain won’t be getting oxygen, therefore won’t be getting energy and will shut down. Nuclear energy can have a dramatic effect on climate change. One of the main causes of global warming is emission of carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide traps more of the sun's heat, and eventually the earth becomes warmer. This means that the more carbon dioxide that is produced, the more heat that is trapped, and the hotter the earth becomes. Nuclear power can combat this. Nuclear power emits steam, which doesn’t have an effect on the heat. More steam produced from nuclear power plants means that the carbon dioxide produced from coal is combatted. There will be less carbon dioxide, and therefore less heat will be trapped, preventing climate change. Nuclear power is a great way on producing extreme amounts of power. A nuclear power station produces much more power than other energy sources, such as solar, coal, wind, etc. A single Uranium pellet can produce the same energy as an entire tonne of coal. The Palo Verde nuclear power plant in Arizona generates about 13,968MWh. It takes around one pound of coal (0.453592kg) to produce one kilowatt hour or energy. That means that 13,968 pounds, or 6335.77822kg of coal is needed to produce the amount of energy which this nuclear power plant produces. However, the nuclear power plant only has an energy capacity of 3,937KWh, so a lot of energy produced isn’t used, which results in nuclear waste. All the energy from coal is used, whilst only a small bit of nuclear energy is able to be used. On average, a nuclear reactor is said to need 27 tonnes of Uranium fuel, whilst two and a half million tonnes of coal is needed to in a coal power station to produce the same amount of energy. Despite there being large excess amounts of wasted energy in a nuclear plant, it uses far less fuel than a coal power station to create the same amount of electricity. A nuclear power plant is also cheapest at producing fuel. On average, nuclear powers electricity production costs 2.10 cents per kilowatt hour, compared to coals energy production cost of 9 cents per kilowatt hour. This shows that it is cheaper to produce electricity by nuclear power, rather than coal. Nuclear power can be produced 24/7 and in any weather, so is extremely efficient and reliable. In rare cases such as Fukushima, natural disasters can cause catastrophe, but the majority of the time nuclear power plants are safe. Because they can work 24/7 and in any weather, they are an advantage over renewable energy sources. Solar panels require the sun, so don’t work on a cloudy day. Wind turbines require wind, so if it is a calm day, they don’t work. Nuclear power plants are also relatively quiet, compared to wind turbines which are noisy and cause ‘air pollution’ which obviously doesn’t benefit anyone.
6. Personal response:
I am against New Zealand using nuclear power. Let's start with storage. New Zealand is only a small country, and we don’t have many places in the middle of nowhere where no one lives or visits. The used fuel from nuclear reactor needs to be stored where there isn’t civilisation, and we just don’t have the room to do that in New Zealand. The used Uranium fuel has a half life of 700 million years, so would have to be stored in a safe place for pretty much forever. This just isn’t possible in New Zealand, as we are only a small country and are expanding everyday. The Fukushima disaster came from an earthquake followed by a tsunami, which ‘broke’ the nuclear power plant. New Zealand lies on a fault line, so we are prone to large earthquakes such as Christchurch's one. If we did have a nuclear reactor, and it was affected by an earthquake and tsunami, the same thing would happen like Fukushima, accept our small land mass would mean we would have to evacuate to another country. If we did have a small nuclear meltdown, our agriculture businesses would be ruined. The air would be polluted, and possibly the trees and grass. Our animals we farm eat grass, so foreign countries wouldn’t want to buy our wool, meat, dairy, etc, as it could be hazardous or radioactive. No one would import our agricultural food and resources, so our economy would fall. We are known as a clean green country, as we do not have nuclear power. Getting nuclear power would make us as a country look less clean and fresh like we currently do. Tourists who are against nuclear power wouldn’t visit, and our economy would drop. This would also lower our economy, as less tourist would visit places such as the Milford Sounds or the Tongariro National Park. Tourism in New Zealand contributes $34 billion per year. With a nuclear reactor, this number would drop dramatically, and our economy would fall. Another reason I don’t think it is a good idea is because of the cost. We would need to import Uranium from overseas, which would be a large cost. Building a nuclear reactor in 2009 cost around $9 billion per unit. The expenses are just building and building, and the government wouldn’t have anywhere near enough money to do this. If they were to build one, they would have to raise taxes, stop building and maintaining roads and public things, and cut money from health and other important things. The costs of transporting the used fuel, cooling it, and ensuring the power plants are safe also add to the growing costs, and little New Zealand just doesn’t have that kind of money. Raising taxes would upset the public, as people already hate paying taxes. If taxes did increase in order to pay for a nuclear power plant, there would be families and people needing benefits, as their income is no longer big enough to buy necessities they need. This would fall back on the government, which would have to pay for benefits and lose the money they need for the nuclear reactor. Overall, New Zealand is just too small, and we don’t have enough money to deal with nuclear power. I’m not even going to start on coal, as even though it is cheap to mine and use, it pollutes the air, emitting carbon dioxide which is the main cause of global warming. We should continue to build on our renewable energy sources such as hydro, solar, and wind. Although these sources of energy require the weather to be right, we have fairly stable weather to put deal with. We have many vast, high, windy hills which we can produce energy from, we have rivers and a lot of water which can produce hydro energy, and we do get the sun, which we can produce solar energy from. As a country I think we should invest in renewable energy, as it is lasting and we have space and the right weather for all kinds of renewable energy. Even though I think our country shouldn’t get nuclear power, I believe that some other countries should. America and Russia which have relatively large land areas should invest in nuclear power. They have the money and the land to build, keep safe, and dispose of used fuel safely. Boosting nuclear power will ensure that there is less carbon dioxide in the air, therefore stopping climate change and help fix the world. If the weather in the world did turn bad, and there was no wind or sun and we relied solely on wind and solar energy, we would be in a disaster. Nuclear power doesn’t depend on the weather, so these countries can produce energy 24/7. Because we are growing in population and in technology, bigger economic countries with large areas should continue/start with nuclear power, to keep up with the world’s demand for electricity. In New Zealand, we should definitely invest in renewable energy, especially hydro energy, as this isn’t weather dependant. Because hydro energy is produced by the flow of water, which isn’t scarce in New Zealand as we have many rivers, I think that we should choose this as the way to go. Although it doesn’t produce anywhere near as much energy as nuclear power, and it can lower river levels, it is safe and renewable. We should start investing in more hydroelectric dams, as this is clean, renewable, safe, and have far fewer less problems than other sources. They are also usually away from civilisation, so won’t be noisy and annoy anyone like wind turbines do. And they have low maintenance costs, so once build they won’t cost much to keep going. Windmills cost a fair amount of money to instal, and are noisy and large. They also rely on the wind. Without wind they are useless. Because they are noisy, they create ‘noise pollution’ which wouldn’t make the public happy. They are also extremely hard to install. The big windmills have to be carted up hills as they need to be placed in windy spots (high up on hills). This would take trucks and cranes ages to instal, and maintenance is also an issue. If a small bit of the windmill became rusty or damaged, the entire windmill would have to be taken apart and rebuilt again. The windmills also affect nearby birds and their flight paths. If birds were flying towards the windmills, they will have to change direction (off the magnetic field) and may become lost. This would be a negative on the environment, and the birds surrounding the windmills. Solar panels cost less than windmills, but they rely on the sun, so at night and on a cloudy day they are also useless. They also take up an extremely large amount of space. They need to be placed facing the sun, and take up a large surface area, so if you want more power/increasing solar power, more need to be installed, meaning more land is used up. If we increased and build more solar panels, we would be taking up room in the land. We would be building solar panels rather than conserving the environment and nature, or instead of building housing and roads to help the public out. Hydro dams only rely on water, which isn’t just going to disappear or not occur. If the reservoir holding the water was low, water from the river below or from a nearby source could be pumped up to it. Rivers are already ‘built’ so no cost goes into that. The cost in in making the hydro station, but once that is build there isn't much else needed to do. This doesn’t take up any room from the public, it doesn’t affect birds or the environment, and if they do need to be upgraded/maintained, the flow of water just needs to be blocked and the maintenance can take place. All in all I think hydro electricity is a large thing we as a country need to invest in. Although I think we should start building more hydro stations on rivers, we still need to consider solar and wind energy as a backup/joint energy source. There are chances of doubts as well, so although I think we should focus on building more hydro dams, we also need to continue with windmills and solar panels. If we have these three renewable energy sources, they could work together to provide energy 24/7. Solar panels during the sun, windmills during the wind, and hydro dams whenever the reservoir has water (usually anytime if a drought doesn’t occur). Hydro dams are the safest option, but to be safe if a drought occurs, and to ensure we still have rivers for fish and animals, the other two renewable energy sources should be boosted. More windmills on the windy hills, more solar panels in large, open, sunny area, and more hydro dams in places near large sources of water such as lakes or rivers. Windmills on hills would be away from civilisation wouldn’t affect the public as the noise wouldn’t be heard. And I would also consider building these these windmills away from the flightpath of birds, as it wouldn’t affect our nature, environment, and living animals around it (such as birds). And although solar panels do take up large amounts of room, placing them on houses or open, uninhabitable land would be my plan. Placing solar panels on houses would save space, and although they only work during sunny days, they can be a source of energy we can use as an add on to the others, and as a backup just incase hydro or wind fail. All in all, my plan would be to focus on building hydro dams, and then after we have a larger number of them, focus of windmills and solar panels. Once we have more hydro dams build, start planning where to place the windmills so they don’t affect the public and birds/the environment. And also start planning what to do which solar panels, and whether or not there is enough land to place them without affecting expansion of housing and roads, and without affecting the environment and again the animals. In the long term with more hydro dams and windmills built in specially selected areas, we should start thinking of solar panels on houses. This is just a thought, as the public may be against it and it may cause controversy. But again, the public may love the idea, and maybe some of the energy created from the solar panels on homes could be used for free in their electricity usage, lowering the electricity bill and making the public happy. Although taxes may need to rise for this amount of solar panels to be build, people may like the idea if they know that in the long term their electricity bills would drop significantly.