DLD Week 6, Day 2

Learn about nuclear energy: its clean benefits, serious risks, and real-world disasters like Chernobyl. Plus, practice CER writing!

Nuclear Energy as an Alternate Energy Source In each section that you see "Listen to Audio Instructions", you can click the Play button to hear the passage read to you. Building nuclear reactors requires a high level of technology and money, and only the countries that have signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty can get the uranium or plutonium that is required. For these reasons, most nuclear power plants are located in the developed world (countries who make more money) .Nuclear power plants produce renewable,clean energy. They do notpollutethe air or release potent (strong) greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide or methane. They can be built in urban orrural areas, and do notradicallyalter the environment around them. -An advantage of nuclear power is no air pollution from the plant and lower greenhouse gas emissions-A disadvantage of nuclear power is higher costs for plant construction The steam powering the turbines and generators is ultimately recycled. It is cooled down in a separate structure called a cooling tower. The steam turns back into water and can be used again to produce more electricity. Excess steam is simply recycled into the atmosphere, however, there have been environmental concerns over the mining of uranium, as well as the discharge of hot water into nearby bodies of water. - An advantage of nuclear power is that the cooling water can be recycled as steam-A disadvantage of nuclear power is the release of hot water into streams and the mining of uranium The byproduct of nuclear energy is radioactive material. Radioactive material is a collection of unstable atomic nuclei. These nuclei lose their energy and can affect many materials around them, including organisms and the environment. Radioactive material can be extremely toxic, causing burns and increasing the risk for cancers, blood diseases, and bone decay.Radioactive waste is what is left over from the operation of a nuclear reactor like control rods and protective clothing worn by workers, tools, and cloths that have been in contact with radioactive dust.Radioactive waste is long -lasting. Materials like clothes and tools can stay radioactive for thousands of years. The government regulates how these materials are disposed of so they do not contaminate anything else. -Two possible effects of being exposed to radioactive material include: Burns and blood diseases -Radioactive waste stays dangerous for thousands of years Used fuel and rods of nuclear poison are extremely radioactive. The used uranium pellets must be stored in special containers that look like large swimming pools. Water cools the fuel and insulates the outside from contact with the radioactivity. Some nuclear plants store their used fuel in dry storage tanks above ground. The storage sites for radioactive waste have become very controversial in the United States. For years, the government planned to construct an enormous nuclear waste facility near Yucca Mountain, Nevada, for instance. Environmental groups and local citizens protested the plan. They worried about radioactive waste leaking into the water supply and the Yucca Mountain environment, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) from the large urban area of Las Vegas, Nevada. Although the government began investigating the site in 1978, it stopped planning for a nuclear waste facility in Yucca Mountain in 2009.Locals feared a near by site for radioactive waste for all of the following reasons EXCEPT: radioactive waste leaking into water supply radioactive waste leaking into soil and environment radioactive waste exploding in a nuclear reaction Use the paragraph below to answer the following questions about Chernobyl Critics of nuclear energy worry that the storage facilities for radioactive waste will leak, crack, or erode. Radioactive material could then contaminate the soil and groundwater near the facility. This could lead to serious health problems for the people and organisms in the area. All communities would have to be evacuated. This is what happened in Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986. A steam explosion at one of the plants four nuclear reactors caused a fire, called a plume. This plume was highly radioactive, creating a cloud of radioactive particles that fell to the ground, called fallout. The fallout spread over the Chernobyl facility, as well as the surrounding area. The fallout drifted with the wind, and the particles entered the water cycle as rain.Radioactivity traced to Chernobyl fell as rain over Scotland and Ireland. Most of the radioactive fallout fell in Belarus.The environmental impact of the Chernobyl disaster was immediate. For kilometers around the facility, the pine forest dried up and died. The red color of the dead pines earned this area the nickname the Red Forest. Fish from the nearby Pripyat River had so much radioactivity that people could no longer eat them. Cattle and horses in the area died.More than 100,000 people were relocated after the disaster, but the number of human victims of Chernobyl is difficult to determine. The effects of radiation poisoning only appear after many years. Cancers and other diseases can be very difficult to trace to a single source. Select all of the following impacts of the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster in Ukraine 1986 Radioactive waste was contained in one country Thousands of people needed to be relocated Plants and animals near by died as a result of the plume No human life was lost due to the disaster Radioactive particles traveled through the water cycle You will answer the following question in the C-E-R format using what you learned from DLD #26, today, and the video below. It has been separated into sections with sentence starters and guidance for each. If you need additional help in writing a CER, you can check out this helpful link HERE. A fun EXAMPLE of CER can be seen HERE. You will be graded on the rubric below. The (fictitious) town of Solutionville is trying to figure out a way to replace their current coal-fired power plants with cleaner and more sustainable energy sources. At a recent town meeting, it was proposed that the town build a nuclear power plant. As a voting citizen of Solutionville, you must decide whether or not you support building a nuclear power plant to provide energy and electricity to homes and businesses. So the question is:"Should Solutionville build a nuclear power plant?" Write your Claim: »This is a statement of your topic (what your paragraph is about) AND your specific opinion or observation about it. Support your claim withEvidence: These are quotes, statistics, or other piece of evidence that supports your claim. It needs to be introduced by a transition sentence, such as "According to," or "Such and Such video stated", etc.. (MUST HAVE MINIMUM OF 2 PIECES OF EVIDENCE). Some sentence starters are provided below. Justify your evidence with Reason: This is an explanation of how your data supports your claim. This is the link between your evidence and claim. It should be about 2-3 sentences.