Month: March 2016

Nuclear disaster, as known as nuclear and radiation accident, is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency as an event that has led to the significant consequences to human, environment or the facility. The impact of nuclear disasters has been a topic of debate since the first nuclear reactors which were constructed in 1954. Also, it became a key factor in public concern about nuclear facilities. The official number of accident in nuclear power plants is 99 around the world.There were fifty-seven accidents have occurred since the Chernobyl disaster, and 57% of all nuclear related accidents have occurred in the United States. In my blog i will discuss some famous accidents; Hiroshima and Nagasaki followed by Chernobyl.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki:

This accident is the result of human’s cruelty  among each other.On August 6, 1945, during World War II (1939-45), an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later… another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Here, humans made a bad use of nuclear power with the goal of hurting other humans rather than helping society to foward.

Chernobyl:

This disaster happened in 1986, in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant locates in a town of Pripyat in Ukraine, which was uder the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities of the Soviet Union. The picture above shows the power plant after the nuclear disaster in 1986.

According to World Nuclear Association what caused it was simply a flaw within the reactor design. But this simple flaw is attributed to the “killing [of] 30 operators and firemen within three months and several further deaths later. One person was killed immediately and a second died in hospital soon after as a result of injuries received. Another person is reported to have died at the time from a coronary thrombosisc. Acute radiation syndrome (ARS) was originally diagnosed in 237 people on-site and involved with the clean-up and it was later confirmed in 134 cases. Of these, 28 people died as a result of ARS within a few weeks of the accident” (World Nuclear Association).

Following the accident, an are of 18 miles around the plant was closed and deserted from inhabitant.

sources:

http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/chernobyl-accident.aspx

http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bombing-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki

 

The excitment of watching a science movie is never really high. When assigned  to watch it I told myself “here we go again for a boring movie”. However by the end of the movie my perception changed completely.

Pandora’s Promise is a hour thirty long documentary film about nuclear power debate.The central argument is that nuclear power, an energy source which still faces historical opposition from environmentalists, is a relatively safe and clean source which can help mitigate the serious problem of anthropogenic global warming. This movie is convictunal movie, indeed in cites people that used to be against nuclear power that changed their minds after watching it. Another proof of the enthousiasm of people toward it, the movie raised $1.2 million in order to be produced.

Safety of nuclear power:

Is nuclear power safe? Yes.The risk of accidents in nuclear power plants is low and declining. Moreover, the radiological effects on people of any radioactive releases can be avoided.The radiations did not affect dangerously to human lives as what we had seen on the news. Because of social media, we created an antipathy to this energy source without understand clearly about how it works and impacts. Also, there has not been a single death from operation of commercial nuclear reactors in the United States.

To conclude:

The movie does a great job to teach the spectators about getting informed about a subject rather than just basing his knowledge on common stereotypes. In this case on nuclear power which is really affraying for some people when it is a better deal than most other forms of electricity production.

Overall the movie will deserve a 4/5 for me for being so informative and attention seeking. however, more tone change in the narration will have made it better.

 

 

Iceland?

Iceland is a Nordic Island country between the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean. The island is composed of a lot of volcanoes with most of them very active. All those volcanoes and the heat produce can be use as a source of electricity.

Geothermal Energy?

Geothermal energy is the thermal energy generated and stored in the Earth. In Iceland they are currently six geothermal power plants in Iceland that are actively used. They produce 26.2% of the nation electricity in 2010. Hellisheiði Power Station is the third largest geothermal power station in the world. This station has a capacity of 303 MW of electricity and 400 MW of hot water. Nesjavellir Geothermal Power Station is the second largest geothermal station in Iceland which produced approximately 120 MW of electrical power 1,100 litres of hot water.

Use?

Other than being involved in the production of electricity, geothermal heat is used in varied fields such as in the fishing industry as well as in bathing and recreation.

Conclusion:

According to Geothermal Energy in Iceland, Liquid rock is close to the surface in Island, and that natural system is in which no greenhouse gasses are produced which being geothermal energy. Drilling into a volcano is risky, but the steam is captured into pipes which in turn are transported into turbines thus producing electricity. Geothermal energy will not only work in Iceland considering in Western United States Projects have begun to form. Geothermal source’s can be found almost anywhere, because molten rock is in the core everywhere. Why is Iceland significant? With liquid hydrogen and geothermal energy it concludes that economic growth can be rooted the utilization of environmental technologies and free enterprise. Wildlife is thriving in Iceland, and we tend to over complicate things in which are right below us thus creating an innovative simplistic society with the use of what could have been within our past.

Sources:

 

Background:

Thermoelectric device is made from thermoelectric modules. It produces voltage with the temperature of each side of the device. An example of thermoeletric device is thermoelectric generator. In simple words it converts temperature into electrical power.

Thermoelectric Generators:

The heat source drives electrons from the n-type element toward the cool side, creating a current. Holes in the p-type will flow in the direction to the current. With the utilization of that current, the current itself powers a load. This in turn converts thermal to electrical energy. Charge flows through the n-type element, crosses the metallic interconnect, and passes the p-type element.

Daily Life:

Everyday, a lot of energy is lost in the form of thermal energy produced by cars, factories, nuclear plant and many others.  However, some companies such as BMW are making a good use of it by developing new models of car exploiting thermoeletric devices as cooling system for the cars’ inside. It allows a smaller alternator to reduce the roll friction, leading to an increase in fuel efficiency and reduced CO2 emissions.

Conclusion:

Thermoelectric energy is a source of power that hopefully will be developed more in close future to provide a additional source of energy and an alternative to the penury of fossil fuels.

Solar energy?

Solar energy is the energy produced by the sun.It  is produced under the form of solar radiation that turns into solar electricity. Solar energy produces the most electricity during hot days as expected.solar Energy is a renewable source of energy in unlimited quantity.

Solar Projects

1) China’s solar powered Office

This building is located Dezhou, China. China as one of the country that pollutes the most and depends on fossil energy the most. With the development t of solar energy China is hoping to cut down pollution numbers and reduce the dependence on fossil energy.

2) Sanyo’s solar Arc

The biggest solar power building in the world located in Japan. It produces over 500,000 kWh of electricity per year. Property of the technology company Sanyo.

3) Sahara forest

The Sahara Forest Project is designed to utilize what we have enough of to produce what we need more of, using deserts, saltwater and CO2 to produce food, water and clean energy. This is done by combining already existing and proven environmental technologies, including saltwater-cooled greenhouses, concentrated solar power (CSP) and technologies for desert revegetation around a saltwater infrastructure. The synergies arising from integrating the technologies improve the performance and economics of the system compared to those of the individual components

Conclusion:

The Solar energy in the long term will be a good solution to some ecological problems and power issues that we have today. With a better and easier technology to produce, Solar energy will surpass all the other source of energy because of its humongous amount and accessibility.

sources:

http://www.greenoughsolarfarm.com.au/solar-energy/what-solar-energyhttp://inhabitat.com/the-worlds-6-coolest-solar-powered-projects/http://inhabitat.com/solar-ark-worlds-most-stunning-solar-building/http://inhabitat.com/worlds-largest-solar-energy-office-building-opens-in-china/http://inhabitat.com/norway-and-jordan-sign-agreement-to-make-sahara-forest-project-oasis-a-reality/