Since we learned about solar power, bio-energy, and diesel energy in the class, I would like to talk about the Nuclear energy here. Nuclear power is a very controversial topic lately in Japan. It does not generate CO2 but once some accidents happened, it will kill a lot of people, and damage huge area.
Now, nuclear fuel reprocessing is under the research in Japan. They take out plutonium or uranium from the nuclear fuel which was already used in the Nuclear power generating station, and use it again as a fuel. There are two types of natural uranium, which does nuclear fission; Uranium 235 and which doesn’t fission; Uranium 238, and only 0.7% of them is the Uranium 235. However, Uranium 238 can be changed into plutonium 239 reacting neutron in the atomic pile. After that, they put it into fast breeder:FBR and burn it. At this point, if they put Uranium 238 around the Plutonium together, they would be able to change the Uranium 238 into new plutonium at the same time, and produce more plutonium.
Since this reprocessing would be able to reduce the radioactivity of the waste Japanese government is making efforts to promote the research. Furthermore, the political situation of the countries which have a lot of uranium are relatively stable, therefore the security risks are low. Yet, as I mentioned above, its advantage and risk are opposite side of the same coin. They have to consider about this plan very carefully.
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