The benefits of nuclear technology far outweigh the disadvantages. Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons for your answer. It is a common knowledge that there is a need for alternative sources of energy due to external factors. Tat is why the use of nuclear technology has become a Nuclear Technologies Essay: Shirley Ann Jackson President Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute The current state of nuclear technology has benefited dramatically from persistent efforts on each of these fronts. Not all of the challenges of nuclear technology have been solved. The terrorist attacks of September raised the ante for nuclear Nuclear Technology essays The use of nuclear technology for civilian and military use is a highly controversial issue. Most people argue that nuclear technology is bad. However, they do not analyze how nuclear technology can be a good thing. To me, the advantages of nuclear technology
Nuclear Technologies Essay - Greatest Engineering Achievements of the Twentieth Century
Isotopes are variants of a given chemical element that have nuclei with the same number of protons, but different numbers of neutrons. Some isotopes are referred to as 'stable' as they are unchanging over time. Others are 'unstable' or radioactive since their nuclei change over time through the loss of alpha and beta particles. The first practical application of a radioisotope was made by a Hungarian man named George de Hevesy in At the time de Hevesy was a young student working in Manchester, studying naturally radioactive materials.
Not having much money he lived in modest accommodation and ate his meals with his landlady. He began to suspect that some of the meals that appeared regularly might be made from leftovers from the preceding days or even weeks, but he could never be sure. To try and confirm his suspicions de Hevesy put a small amount of radioactive material into the remains of a meal. Several days later, when the same dish was served again, nuclear technology essay, he used a simple radiation detection instrument — a gold leaf electroscope — to check if the food was radioactive.
It was, and de Hevesy's suspicions were confirmed. History has forgotten the landlady, but George de Hevesy went on to win the Nobel prize in and the Atoms for Peace award in His was the first use of radioactive tracers — now routine in environmental science.
The main isotope suppliers are Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals IrelandMDS Nordion CanadaIRE Europenuclear technology essay, NTP South AfricaIsotop-NIIAR Russiaand ANSTO Australia. Most medical radioisotopes made in nuclear reactors are sourced from relatively few research reactors, including:. Output from each varies due to maintenance schedules. The targets are then processed to separate the Mo and also to recover I However, in medical imaging, the cost of Nuclear technology essay itself is small relative to hospital costs.
Mo can also be made by bombarding Nuclear technology essay with neutrons in a reactor. This is still about two days from the end of irradiation, so someTBq must be made in the reactor to allow for cooling, processing, and decay en route to the nuclear technology essay. See nuclear technology essay information paper on Research Reactors. The Food and Agriculture Organization FAO of the United Nations UN estimates that about million nuclear technology essay one in nine were suffering from chronic undernourishment in Radioisotopes and radiation used in food and agriculture are helping to reduce these figures.
As well as directly improving food production, agriculture needs to be sustainable over the longer term. The FAO works with the IAEA on programs to improve food sustainability assisted by nuclear and related biotechnologies. Plant mutation breeding is the process of exposing the seeds or cuttings of a given plant to radiation, such as gamma rays, to cause mutations. The irradiated material is then cultivated to generate a plantlet. Plantlets are selected and multiplied if they show desired traits.
A process of marker-assisted selection or molecular-marker assisted breeding is used to identify desirable traits based on genes.
The use of radiation essentially enhances the natural process of spontaneous genetic mutation, significantly shortening the time it takes. Countries that have utilised plant mutation breeding have frequently realised great socio-economic benefits.
In Bangladeshnew varieties of rice produced through mutation breeding have increased crops three-fold in the last few decades. During a period of rapid population growth, the use of nuclear techniques has enabled Bangladesh and large parts of Asia in general, to achieve food security and improved nutrition.
Fertilisers are expensive and if not properly used can damage the environment. nitrogen provides a means of ascertaining how much has been taken up by the plants, allowing for better management of fertilizer use. Estimates nuclear technology essay crop losses to insects vary, but are usually significant. One approach to reducing insect depradation in agriculture is to use genetically-modified crops, so that much less insecticide is needed.
Another nuclear technology essay is to disable the insects. Radiation is used to control insect populations via the Sterile Insect Technique SIT, nuclear technology essay. SIT involves rearing large populations of insects that are sterilised through irradiation gamma or X-raysand introducing them into natural populations.
The sterile insects remain sexually competitive, but cannot produce offspring. The SIT technique is environmentally-friendly, and has proved an effective means of pest management even where mass application of pesticides had failed.
The International Plant Protection Convention recognises the benefits of SIT, and categorises the insects as beneficial organisms. SIT was first developed in the USA and has been used successfully for more than 60 years. At present, SIT is applied across six continents. Since its introduction, SIT has successfully controlled the populations of a number of high profile insects, including mosquitoes, moths, screwworm, tsetse fly, and various fruit flies Mediterranean fruit fly, Mexican fruit fly, nuclear technology essay, oriental fruit fly, and melon fly.
The most recent high-profile application of SIT has been in the fight against the deadly Zika virus in Brazil and the broader Latin America and Caribbean region see also Insect control within the section on Medicine below. Three UN organizations — the IAEA, the FAO, the World Health Organization WHO — with the governments concerned, are promoting new SIT programs in many countries.
See also information paper on Radioisotopes in Consumer Products. The function of many common consumer products is dependent on the use of small amounts of radioactive material. One of the most common uses of radioisotopes today is in household smoke detectors. These contain a small amount of americium which is a decay product of plutonium originating in nuclear reactors.
The Am emits alpha particles which ionise the air and allow a current between two electrodes. If smoke enters the detector it absorbs the alpha particles and interrupts the current, setting off the alarm. This problem is particularly prevalent in hot, humid countries. Food irradiation is the process of exposing foodstuffs to gamma rays to kill bacteria that can cause food-borne disease, and to increase shelf life.
In all parts of the world there is growing use of irradiation technology to preserve food. More than 60 countries worldwide have introduced regulations allowing the use of irradiation for food products. In addition to inhibiting spoilage, irradiation can delay ripening of fruits and vegetables to give them greater shelf life, nuclear technology essay, and it also helps to control pests.
Its ability to control pests and reduce required quarantine periods has been the principal factor behind many countries adopting food irradiation practices. See also information paper on Radioisotopes in Industry, nuclear technology essay. Radioisotopes are used by manufacturers as tracers to monitor fluid flow and filtration, detect leaks, and gauge engine wear and corrosion of process equipment.
Nuclear technology essay concentrations of short-lived isotopes can be detected whilst no residues remain in the environment. By adding small amounts of radioactive substances to materials used in various processes it is possible to study the mixing and flow rates of a wide range of materials, including liquids, powders and gases, and to locate leaks.
Radioactive materials are used to inspect metal parts and the integrity of welds across a range of industries. For example, new oil and gas pipeline systems are checked by placing the radioactive source inside the pipe and the film outside the welds. Gauges containing radioactive usually gamma sources are in wide use in all industries where levels of gases, liquids, and solids must be checked.
They measure the amount of radiation from a source which has been absorbed in materials. These gauges are most useful where heat, nuclear technology essay, pressure, or corrosive substances, such as molten glass or molten metal, make it impossible or nuclear technology essay to use direct contact gauges.
The ability to use radioisotopes to accurately measure thickness is widely utilised in the production of sheet materials, including metal, nuclear technology essay, textiles, paper, plastics, and others. Density gauges are used where automatic control of a liquid, powder, or solid is important, for example nuclear technology essay detergent manufacture. Analysing the relative abundance of particular naturally-occurring radioisotopes is of vital importance in determining the age of rocks and other materials that are of interest to geologists, anthropologists, hydrologists, and archaeologists, among others.
See also information paper on Nuclear Desalination. Potable water is a major priority in sustainable development. Where it cannot be obtained from streams and aquifers, desalination of seawater, mineralised groundwater, or urban waste water is required, nuclear technology essay. Most desalination today uses fossil fuels and thus contributes to increased levels of greenhouse gases, nuclear technology essay.
The feasibility of integrated nuclear desalination plants has been proven with over reactor-years of experience, chiefly in Kazakhstan, India, and Japan. Large-scale deployment of nuclear desalination on a commercial basis with reactors built primarily for that purpose will depend on economic factors.
See also information paper on Radioisotopes in Medicine. Many people are aware of the wide use of radiation and radioisotopes in medicine particularly for diagnosis identification and therapy nuclear technology essay of various medical conditions.
In developed countries about one nuclear technology essay in 50 uses diagnostic nuclear medicine each year, and the frequency of therapy with radioisotopes is about one-tenth of this. Diagnostic techniques in nuclear medicine use radiopharmaceuticals or radiotracers which emit gamma rays from within the body. These tracers are generally short-lived isotopes linked to chemical compounds which permit specific physiological processes to be scrutinised.
Dependent on the type of examination, radiotracers are either injected into the body, swallowed, or inhaled in gaseous form.
The emissions from the radiotracers are detected by the imaging device, which provides pictures and molecular information. The superimposition of nuclear medicine images with computed tomography CT or magnetic resonance imaging MRI scans can provide comprehensive views to physicians to aid diagnosis. An advantage of nuclear over X-ray techniques is that both bone and soft tissue can be imaged very successfully.
The most widely used diagnostic radioisotope is technetiumm, with a half-life of six hours, and which gives the patient a very low radiation dose, nuclear technology essay. Such isotopes are ideal for tracing many bodily processes with the minimum of discomfort for the patient. They are widely used to indicate tumours nuclear technology essay to study the heart, lungs, liver, nuclear technology essay, blood circulation and volume, and bone structure.
Nuclear medicine is also used for therapeutic purposes. Most commonly, radioactive iodine I is used in small amounts to treat cancer and other conditions nuclear technology essay the thyroid gland. The uses of radioisotopes in therapy are comparatively few, but important. Cancerous growths are sensitive to damage by radiation, which may be external using a gamma beam from a cobalt sourceor internal using a small gamma or beta radiation source.
Short-range radiotherapy is known as brachytherapy, and this is becoming the main means of treatment, nuclear technology essay. Many therapeutic procedures are palliative, usually to relieve pain. A new field is targeted nuclear technology essay therapy Nuclear technology essayespecially for the control of dispersed cancers. The short range of very energetic alpha emissions in tissue means that a large fraction of that radiative energy goes into the targeted cancer cells once a carrier, such as a monoclonal antibody, has taken the alpha-emitting radionuclide to exactly the right places.
Hospitals use gamma radiation to sterilise medical products and supplies such as syringes, gloves, clothing, and instruments that would otherwise be damaged by heat sterilisation. Many medical products today are sterilised by gamma rays from nuclear technology essay cobalt source, a technique which generally is much cheaper and more effective than steam heat sterilisation.
How bad is it really? Nuclear technology -- facts and feelings: Sunniva Rose at TEDxOslo 2013
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The nuclear power option will only be exercised, however, if the technology demonstrates better economics, improved safety, successful waste management, and low proliferation risk, and if public policies place a significant value on electricity produc-tion that does not produce CO blogger.com study iden-tifies the issues facing nuclear power and what Nuclear technology essay formal vocabulary for essay writing ID: Language: English School subject: English as a Second Language (ESL) Grade/level: upper-intermediate Age: 14+ Main content: Formal vocabulary for essay writing Other contents: formal vocabulary for essay writing Sep 26, · Nuclear technology essays. Provides current news on uranium mining, weapons, nuclear medicine technologists typically need to do so. It is a major rethink amongst the poorest regions of the japanese nuclear reactors. Pakistan began development of nuclear society believes in your home. How technology has made many tasks so, with the nuclear
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