sellafield

Background
Sellafield is the name of a nuclear site close to the village and railway station of sea scale. Sellafield is operated by Sellafield limited but owned since April 2005 by the nuclear decommissioning authority. Previously, Sellafield was owned and operated by British nuclear fuel limited (BNFL). Sellafield is located on the coast of the Irish Sea in the Cumbria, England. Sellafield houses the Thorp nuclear fuel reprocessing plant and the Magnox nuclear fuel reprocessing plant. It is also the site of the remains of Calder hall magnox nuclear power station, the world’s first commercial nuclear power station. At the moment Calder hall magnox nuclear power station is now being decommissioned. This was used to make nuclear weapons for world war.
Objectives
Sellafield offers a potentially an environmentally friendly and sustainable energy source. Unlike nuclear power, burning fossil fuels cause the emission of green house gases and gases that cause acid rains. Fossil fuels are not renewable and are likely to run out in the next hundred years unlike for nuclear power. There is a wide range of raw materials for nuclear power and are easy to obtain. Sellafield provides power to 70% of the population in Ireland; it also produces power that is exported to other areas for money. Sellafield directly employs around ten thousand people and is one of the two large nongovernmental employers in the west Cumbria with approximately 90% of the employees coming from west Cumbria. The government of Ireland export energy generated from nuclear power station to the neighbouring areas and it is believed that this contribute up to 10% of their revenue. Beside nuclear power wastes being radioactive, the power station produces energy that the Irish people need to sustain their living standards without at the same time harming the environment. The government also generate around 5% revenue by taxing Sellafield Company limited and its employees. Sellafield has contributed allot to the tourism industry of Ireland as It homes the remains of Calder hall magnox nuclear power station, the world’s first commercial nuclear power station.

Current status and issues
60% of the Irish population are not interested in the nuclear power. This is due to the concerns that were raised in the UK about apparent clusters of leukaemia near nuclear facilities. Detailed studies carried out by the committee on medical aspect of radiation in the environment in 2003 found no evidence of raised childhood cancer around the nuclear power plant, however they did find an excess of leukaemia. Sellafield railway station is a train station serving the nuclear facility of sellafield in Cumbria England. It is operated by the northern rail who provide all passenger train services. The station is also used for transporting sellafield’s nuclear waste. Having nuclear waste transported by the same train services as passenger is one of the greatest risk because in case of any accident passengers and local people will get exposed to the radiation which will probably cause cancer and other serious illness. Sellafield being a matter of some consternation in Ireland, with the Irish government and some members of the population concerned about the risk that such a facility may cause to the country, the Irish government made formal complaints about the facility and recently came to a friendly agreement with the British government about the issue, as part of which the radiological protection institution of Ireland and the Irish police force are now allowed access to the site. This will help to make sure that there is no improper disposal of wastes to the environment. However the Irish government policy remains that of seeking the closure of the facility.

Technical alternatives
Sellafield nuclear power station produces it power by the process called nuclear fission.
Nuclear fission is the process were a large atomic nucleus is split into smaller fragments. Uranium is one of the common raw materials of nuclear fission. When an atom of nuclear fuel (uranium) absorbs a neutron, the uranium will fission into two smaller atoms (waste) and release one to three neutrons. The kinetic energy of the waste is used to heat the water for the steam turbine. The neutrons are used to fission the next lot of uranium atoms and the process continues. If none of these neutrons are absorbed by another uranium atom then the reaction dies out. Another problem is that allot of radioactive waste are produced, it is also not safe if something goes wrong and it is hard to refuel without stopping the reactor.
The only alternative of using nuclear power without facing the above problems and contributing to the global warming is by using the process called nuclear fusion, as it has the potential to solve the world’s energy crisis. Nuclear fusion is the process were multiple atomic particles join together to form a heavier nucleus. In this process the neutron is given out and it is then absorbed be the liquid lithium. The kinetic energy of the neutron causes the liquid lithium to heat up, the hot liquid lithium heats up the water into steam which then drives the steam turbine to generate electricity.

Potential political effect of nuclear power
There are very many countries that miss use the resources of nuclear materials, i.e. North Korea. We all know that North Korea has invented weapons of mass distraction using its nuclear power plants which are meant to produce energy. These weapons are not made for tourist attraction or for study purposes. We all believe that they are made to destroy their enemy countries including babies, disabled people, young people and pregnant women. As a result America was forced to act and order North Korea to destroy their weapons. But North Korea is not willing to do that. The united states hope to get North Korea to move beyond the disablement and to dismantle all its nuclear facilities by the end of this year, although there is doubt that North Korea will ever give up its nuclear weapons. In the end, America might end up going to war with countries like North Korea and Iran as they are scared that these weapons might be sold to terrorists who will then attack America.

Potential financial effects of nuclear power
The government has approved the recent reports on the future of nuclear energy by the UK Royal academy of engineers that the issue of climate change will require vastly to find how best to develop and make use of non carbon energy source than presently planned. This will need a mechanism for international collaboration to ensure the funds for such work which would cover nuclear energy expenses. The government believes that such an effort needs strong partnership between governments and industries. The UK will benefit more from nuclear power as they will not need to import oil and gas from countries like Russia etc. It is expected that very many people in the oil and gas industry will became unemployed and economies for countries like Russia to go down as a result of nuclear power achievement.
It’s said that the number of terrorism attacks will increase as terrorists might use nuclear power stations for manufacturing nuclear weapons. The waste are highly radio activated and they have a very big half life. These will damage people’s cells and may cause cancer and other serious illness if exposed to. It will cost a lot of to dispose off waste products and it is hard to repair and maintain the nuclear power stations as they are hazardous. The positive potential effect that this project may have is producing energy that we all need to sustain our living standards without at the same time harming the environment. To tackle this problem we have to consider all possible ways of obtaining energy and see how they affect the environment. We have to take in to consideration their capacities, their costs and their reliabilities. The government believes that the whole world will benefit from the nuclear power project as it will solve the problem of global warming which is the biggest threat at the moment.

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sellafield
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_stations
http://www.visitcumbria.com/wc/svc.htm
http://www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg/nuclear.htm
nuclearinfo.net