although nuclear weapons are a threat to humanity, nuclear energy is still very help. it produces massive amounts of energy but a accidental mistake can lead to a huge disater.
so wat do u guys think, im really interested in opions.
p.s. despite the threats im pro nuclear energy use. its a neccesity for humanity's progression
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Anonymous2005-02-03 19:01
The problem with fusion is that most of the energy released from a hydrogen fusion reaction is in the form of extremely energetic neutrons--and when I say "energetic," I mean they're moving at a fat fraction of lightspeed. A hydrogen fusion reactor would rapidly turn itself and everything around it radioactive as soon as it was turned on. Whatever cooling equipment and control circuitry you put inside it had better be very good, very idiot-proof, and very durable, because once you turn it on, you're going to have to seal up the door and stay a long, long way away.
Fission reactions generate energy mostly as heat and gamma rays, and the gamma rays are absorbed by the dense nuclei of the fuel rods themselves and re-radiated as heat.
I have read the claim that all "civilian" fusion power research is in reality research into fusion reactions to further refine nuclear weapons, but I have no idea whether it's true. The physics of the matter do suggest strongly that nuclear fusion is inherently non-usable for generating electricity, at least without a great many innovations that people a lot more clever than I am are going to have to come up with.
At the present time, only nuclear fission is readily usable as a power source.