Initial Research

I have decided to focus my blog on nuclear energy. I visited several sites related to nuclear energy and learned some important facts. First, I found out that nuclear energy is NOT classified as a “renewable” source of energy. Nuclear energy reactors convert uranium and plutonium into new, smaller particles, and not all of this waste can be reprocessed into usable material.
Furthermore, unlike “renewable” sources such as solar, wind, and tidal power, nuclear energy produces waste and tends to be very expensive in the long-term. Although solar, wind, and tidal power plants tend to be very expensive to construct (much more so than nuclear energy plants), once these plants begins operation, they are very economically efficient to maintain. On the other hand, nuclear plants require raw materials (uranium/plutonium) and produce waste that must be treated.
During my next step of research, I plan to research the chemical reactions that convert uranium/plutonium into energy. Additionally, I will compare these reactions to those of oil, natural gas, coal, solar, and wind engines/plants. In my analysis, I intend to include how much energy each type of reaction produces and compare the relative costs between these different energy sources.