Nuclear power plant Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Nuclear power plant - Essay Example This is due to their devastating effects on the environment and people generally. Radiation exposure can also lead to DNA damage and this can result in dysfunction or cell death. Underground uranium mining is the most dangerous than other underground mining because uranium ore emits radon gas. This has led to miners in uranium ores developing small cell carcinoma a lung cancer. Even the decay product of uranium has been shown to be cancer causing agent which is a serious health problem. Employees in nuclear reactors and the surrounding society can be affected by radioactive radiation which can leak through the piping system or pressurizers. Radioactive substances released to the air or rivers leads to contamination which ends as a cause of cancer. Nuclear power is however clean because it does not involve projection of dust to the environment like in the case of fossil burning. Most power plants are located near a large water body like an ocean or a lake to get enough supply of water for cooling effects to expel heat from the reactor. The use of natural water bodies adversely affects the aquatic life e.g. fish, of the ecosystem under which heat has been released to because this heat can be the cause of anomalies in the sea or cause fluctuations in the river flow rates. This use of water bodies can be avoided through the use of cooling towers in the nuclear reactors which are located beside the reactors to cool the reactor. The civilians living near nuclear reactors should be properly educated to avoid responsible response during disasters. It can be described as healthy since they produce clean energy that does not pollute the environment while it’s used. Accidents in nuclear reactors are very rare but devastating when they happen. The worst nuclear reactor accident at Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine was as a result of flowed reactor design and mistakes of the plant operators. It destroyed the reactor killing 30 people within 3 months and