Nuclear Power and Radiation:
How does it work?
Turbine and steam create nuclear radioactive material that generate electricity is the very basics of it.
Nuclear plants rely on the heat the occurs during nuclear fission - when an atom splits in two and releases energy. Uranium is one material that is constantly undergoing nuclear fission, which is why it is used in nuclear plants but because of it's constant activity, it releases radiation.
"U-235 decays naturally by alpha radiation: It throws off an alpha particle, or two neutrons and two protons bound together. It's also one of the few elements that can undergo induced fission. Fire a free neutron into a U-235 nucleus and the nucleus will absorb the neutron, become unstable and split immediately."
http://science.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-power1.htm
When the atom splits, a large amount of heat and gamma radiation is released and later in the process, beta radiation is also released.
Why is it so destructive?
The radiation that is released is extremely beneficial to the plant and as it is a cleaner process for creating electricity, but when released into the air, man-made radioactive elements have severe decaying effects. Although the effects of radiation are "natural", they are highly dangerous to living things - capable of causing genetic mutations and cell death.
The radioactive particles cannot penetrate skin, so exposure in this way is not harmful, but they can be ingested in food that it is contaminated or the particles can be inhaled which is when the damages can start to take effect.
Ok my head hurts. yikes! Complex stuff!
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