Atomic Energy

The August 1945 atomic bombings of America in Hiroshima Japan proved to be among the most disastrous events that has befallen Japan during World War II. As what most of my history teachers and professors have said, almost the whole of Hiroshima city was completely destroyed, many were seriously injured, while the unfortunate ones instantly died.

As I thought about the details of what happened in Hiroshima based on the different stories of the survivors, I came to my conclusion that the Americans during that time found a perfect way to exude superiority and power over the Japanese enemies. The US practiced the use of atomic bombs against Japan, thinking that if such a thing works, (Hell, indeed it worked) the enemy would surely surrender. A perfect strategy, I should say, for the Americans to have come up with a deadly yet effective method to win the war. Moreover, I guess the funny point in the bombings is that Japan was said to be claiming the brainchild of using atomic bomb as warfare. Due to lack of necessary materials to continue with the bomb production, the Germans supposedly carried on with the idea, while the Americans somehow got hold of the secret and have miraculously created a bomb that they can use against their enemy who was first claiming to have discovered them.

On the other hand, another good issue that can be raised about the Hiroshima bombing event would be so-called ethics with the utilization of bombs. This part, for me, no longer has to be considered an ethical point to debate upon. My reason would be that in a total war like the Americans over the Japanese, the difference between the soldiers and civilians does not matter anymore. A bomb warfare, whether an atomic bomb or any other kind of deadly bomb, is created to shed blood and to create fear and warning against the enemy to give in or surrender to the stronger side. Unfortunately for Japan, they were then proved to be the weaker side during that war.

More and more countries are becoming aware of the fact that nuclear energy might be the sole solution to counteract the large appraisal of energy costs. I firmly believe that we must think of sources that will help us alleviate the financial problems while providing for our needs. Nuclear energy is just an alternative, but if taken seriously, it could really set a stable energy price.

However, nuclear energy cannot and will not counteract global warming. Although Australia has already declared that it will adhere to the plans of US, it turns out that majority of its people disagree to the decision of the Prime Minister. Sooner or later, nuclear plants will be constructed in Melbourne, making the country not only a major coal producer, but nuclear energy source as well.

If we try to realize, the proposals still produces no concrete solutions. In other words, nuclear energy has no chance of becoming a progressive energy source because it fails to pass the tests of environmental security. Apparently, it affects the atmosphere, thus adds up to the fatal global warming. Also nuclear energy produces toxic wastes that could only make matters worst.

Amidst the debates on whether nuclear power plants should be supported or rejected, Europe and US are on the move to prove the world that nuclear power is the best source of alternative energy. One of the reasons some countries object to the proposition is that constructing a nuclear plant can be real expensive. True, it could be uneconomical, but, according to experts, once the technology has been fully embraced by the country, people will find it more economical than gas or oil.

On the other hand, as if to prove the notion, France and Finland managed to calculate the possibilities of nuclear energy competing with gas. When nuclear energy was discovered, it was also detected, incidentally, that the cost of the production of electricity will very predictable. On the other hand, Finland declared that private sectors can finance the building of the stations, thus alleviating the people of high taxes. Aside from that, each power station is estimated to last up to sixty years. This means, we do have to defray for large business taxes to support the funding of nuclear energy.

On the other hand, almost all the countries who promised to adhere with nuclear energy announced that they are in the process of thinking of the appropriate means to totally take away the burdensome tax off the shoulders of the people. We can rest our worries. That is, once the plants are constructed and low-priced, reliable electricity is supplied to our homes and industries.

For all of you Dan Brown fans out there, you probably have an idea by now what I am talking about. I just finished reading Angels & Demons last week and I was very much intrigued by this "antimatter" that became the subject of the novel. The story surrounded on how an invention that intended to contribute a lot to energy-production can endanger the seat of modern Christianity, which is the Vatican City.

I made a research about this antimatter. Contra-terrene matter, or the antimatter, is matter that is composed of the antiparticles of those that constitute normal matter. It is based on the theory that everything has an opposite. Light and dark, night and day, heat and cold etc. Antimatter is made of everything "not matter," hence the name. Antimatter is currently produced for further studies in elite laboratories, namely the European Organization for Nuclear Research (French: Organisation Européenne pour la Recherche Nucléaire), commonly known as CERN situated in Geneva.

Antimatter, if it collides with anything that is made of matter, will result to explosion producing energy, which makes antimatter a good source of energy. But this only involve a very small amount. Because a gram of antimatter, if bombarded by a matter particle, even air, can cause an explosion that can destroy a city. This is why antimatter research is plagued with so much controversy and antagonism.

Before looking at how atomic bombs work, we first have to understand two relative things. First is nuclear fission. This is the process whereby an atom is split into two smaller components. The other one is nuclear fusion, whereby you bring two smaller atoms into one component. Nuclear fission and nuclear fusion are the two forces that hold the nucleus of an atom. Whenever these two processes occur, large amount of energy is released. By the way, the nucleus is the center of an atom.

For it to work, there must be a nuclear reaction using the isotopes of either uranium or plutonium. These isotopes have heavy nuclei so when they are bombarded with a neutron they break apart causing nuclear fission. The chain reaction occurs when a nuclei breaks apart bombards another nuclei and so on.

Thus, the fission that occurred can release terrible amounts of energy. An atomic bomb is more than a million times more powerful than regular TNT. The first atomic bomb was created in the United States through the Manhattan Project that came out with Little Boy and Fat Man. These were the atomic bombs that were dropped in Hiroshima during the World War II.

The technologies that we have today have made things function as never before. Now, the things that we never imagined to have solutions can now be possible through these technologies. I am not merely talking about electronics and internet communication. I am also talking about technologies that can affect the environment and worldwide relations, like nuclear or atomic energy.

Atomic energy and the technologies that develop it are being initiated by some countries in the world and in recognition of the possible dangers it can cause to health, climate, and the environment, an organization was founded to promote peaceful and safe nuclear development and use. This global organization is the International Atomic Energy Agency or better known as IAEA. Dubbed as an "Atoms for Peace" agency, IAEA is the United Nations' arm in helping control and sanction countries that are creating and keeping nuclear technologies that are potentially hazardous or those that can be used in warfare. The agency is the one who makes reports and recommendations to the UN, in accordance, of course with the members of the UN.

As such, it is inevitable that some would claim the IAEA biased. They claim that IAEA is only after the interests of the powerful countries like the United States. But, I think IAEA is just doing its job in securing not just the current state of affairs, but also the future generation of our children.

A product of mid-20th Century ingenuity and military proliferation and technology, nuclear energy has been an unlikely source of energy in developed countries. Nuclear energy is produced from the interaction of atoms at the nuclear level, like the one that happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the 1940's.

These nuclear interactions take place in closely guarded reactors stationed inside industrial plants. Nuclear reactions are enhanced to produce heat and electricity that can be used by the public. The security and the proper maintenance of nuclear power plants is very important considering the environmental and health impact of the nuclear leak that happened in Chernobyl in what was the former Soviet Union in the 1980's.

Nuclear fission is used to produce for nuclear power energy. In fission, the nucleus of the atom is split two thus generating a tremendous amount of energy. The procedure also produces free neutrons, photons and nuclear fragments.

Heavy elements such as urianium and plutonium are used as nuclear fuels. These nuclear fuels can sustain a chain reaction in large enough quantities to be useful. The amount of free energy contained by a nuclear fuel is millions of time more compared to chemical fuels such as fossil fuels.

The first thing that concerns people regarding nuclear energy is the waste. Hollywood has shown in various beautiful films how nuclear waste, when improperly disposed, causes drastic changes in the landscape, the wild life as well as people.

While nuclear radiation does have its share of negative effects on the environment, such examples are exaggerated. The amount of nuclear waste produced by nuclear fission is extremely small, in fact in 1995 all waste products produced in the United States for the last 30 years could fit in a single football field. Though long lived used nuclear material can be recycled, the volume of those needed to be stored is quite small.