how is it that nuclear energy is a renewable resource?
Posted by admin
melodyislove asked:
if uranium needs to be mined from the earth, wont it run out some day? and if what will replace it? there has to be something or else they wouldnt call nuclear energy a renewable resource.
WALLACE
if uranium needs to be mined from the earth, wont it run out some day? and if what will replace it? there has to be something or else they wouldnt call nuclear energy a renewable resource.
WALLACE
August 19th, 2008 at 7:21 am
It can be further enriched in a Breeder reactor making it somewhat usable again.
It also makes lots more plutonium which is kinda really dangerous-Toxic and useful for making atomic weapons.
August 20th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
It is not a totally renewable resource. However breeder reactors with U238 as part of the core create more U235 and Plutonium than they use. After cooling and refining it comes back as more fuel.
August 22nd, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Renewable resources are a fuzzy concept. Even if the end-products were converted back into fuel, which they can’t without a loss of energy, there is always an increase in entropy.
Neuclear energy does not create air pollution, so it is much more ‘green’ than fossil fuel. Also, the end-products in many neuclear reactions can be used as fuel (as is the case with uranium producing plutonium). These reactors are known as breeder reactors.
August 25th, 2008 at 9:37 am
You are absolutely correct, at some point the world will run out of uranium deposits. However, this all is in the definition of renewable energy. Fossil fuels are conisdered to be nonrenewable because they will only last us for a short time. This time is very very short when compared to the prospects of nuclear energy. One more thing to think about, if nuclear energy is nonrenewable, then so is solar energy because at some point the sun will die; but that won’t happen for an INCREDIBLY long time (humanity crosses fingers).
August 28th, 2008 at 1:55 am
It will run out someday but uranium 2-35
is recyclable, how ever the recycling process is expensive. Spent uranium 2-35 still has a half life of .14 million years.