...University of Hong Kong and University Distinguished Professor. As an expert in the area of safety reliability, Professor Kuo wrote one of his popular science books named “Key Report of Nuclear Power” (2013), which aroused great impacts. The presentation was based on this book, which we could divide into three areas: Nuclear Safety & Environmental Issues, People’s Acceptance and Public Media Impacts. Nuclear Safety & Environmental Issues In the presentation, Professor Kuo said, currently the main resource to generate electricity was fire, such as coal and gas etc. The next would be water resource, nuclear resource and other new energy resources. In China, the most frequently used was fire to generate electricity. However, this created a lot of environment pollutions such as haze in Beijing. Moreover, in spite of the large amounts of rivers in China, waterpower was still lacking. It could not 1 become an alternative generation to support the increasing electricity consumption demand. Due to these reasons, now China was actively promoting the development of nuclear energy, with constructing a large number of nuclear power plants and investing a lot of money on nuclear research in order to try to change the current energy structure. Threaten of nuclear safety However, once we talked about nuclear power, the public would be...
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...lead to a much increased demand for power. The intention of this paper is to provide a background for a dialogue concerning the adequate support of current research programmes and the development of technologies for future energy needs beyond the middle of the 21st century. Fossil fuels In the last century, world energy supply was mainly based on fossil fuels - oil, coal and natural gas. (Cucchiella 2012)(1) This will not change in the near future. However, in view of environmental concerns, it may prove undesirable to use mainly fossil fuels to meet the growing energy demand. Moreover, limited reserves of natural gas and oil as well as their concentration in certain areas are potential sources of conflict. It is therefore of utmost importance to expand the contribution of alternatives to fossil fuel combustion during the next decades. Supply of electricity is a key ENGINEERING CHALLENGES FOR THE WORLD-WIDE3 factor in economic development. In advanced industrialized regions like the EU, electricity demand tends to increase over time within a framework of improvements of efficiency of overall energy usage. In...
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...Climate change has meant a renewed interest in nuclear power as a means of providing for the world’s energy needs. Discuss the implications for Australia’s mining industry? Australia is the world’s largest coal exporter and has the second largest deposit of coal in the world. Although the world is currently in the throes of a global financial crisis, Australia’s economy one of the few in the developed world to stay afloat has been buoyed considerably by its exports industry, particularly that of coal. Despite Australia’s promise to reduce carbon emissions by 5% in accordance with its commitment to the Kyoto protocol, the coal industry has been lucky enough to avoid almost all penalties that other industries are set to receive under the proposed carbon emission trading scheme . This combined with Australia continuing to stall further international discussions on combating climate change has earned Australia the reputation of “A nation of climate sinners” . It is obvious that despite a lot of rhetoric on the importance of addressing climate change, the Australian government is not willing to commit to solving the global challenge of climate change to an appreciable degree while such a large part of the Australian economy is at stake. For the Australian government to fully commit to its promises on combating climate change, a way to free the Australian economy of its coal dependence needs to be found. The world is in a new era of energy production where it is no longer a question...
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...The Benefits Of Powering Our Future With Nuclear Energy February 26, 2015 The Benefits Of Powering Our Future With Nuclear Energy A significant issue that impacts the American economy today is the increasing demand for energy, the availability of fuel, and the rising cost of electricity. There are many Americans who have anti-nuclear views for many different reasons related to safety, security and economics. These Americans oppose the construction of new nuclear plants because they are focused solely on the potential negative aspects of nuclear power generation such as radiation exposure and terrorism. These concerns are legitimate; however, evidence suggests that America should support building more nuclear power plants because nuclear power is a safe, economic and environmentally sound energy source. In exploring the safety aspects of nuclear power generation, we find that one of the most prevalent reasons that people are opposed to nuclear plant construction is their fear of the risks that are associated with radiation exposure. When nuclear power is generated, material is produced that emits radiation. This material can come into contact with people during routine power plant operation. In addition, radiation can be released during nuclear power plant accidents, and transportation of nuclear material. As described by University of Pittsburgh Professor Bernard Cohen, “radiation exposure can damage biological cells and thereby initiate a cancer and cause genetic diseases”...
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...Indian context. 3. Find ways to protect the environment and play pro-active roles Title Hours SLO Module-1 Environment and Ecosystem 5 1, 5, 12,14 Key environmental problems and their basic causes; Ecosystem, earth – life support system and ecosystem components; Energy flow in ecosystem; Ecological succession; Nutrient, water, carbon, nitrogen, cycles; Effect of human activities on these cycles. Module-2 Biodiversity 5 1,5,11, Importance, types, mega-biodiversity; Species 12,15 interaction - Extinct, endemic, endangered and rare species; Hot-spots; GM crops; Threats to biodiversity: Natural and anthropogenic activities; Conservation: Terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity. Module-3 Sustaining 5 Natural Resources and 1,2,3,5,8,12,13, Environmental Quality Environmental hazards: Biological, Chemical, 14,20 Nuclear; Risk and evaluation of hazards; Types of pollution: Air and water – Pollution sources, effects and mitigation. Water quality management and its conservation; Water footprint and virtual water, Solid waste management; Climate disruption and ozone depletion (Kyoto protocol, Carbon sequestration methods and Montreal Protocol – can be discussed). Module-4...
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...SOUTH AFRICA 756 SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH AFRICA 1. GENERAL INFORMATION 1.1. General Overview The Republic of South Africa occupies the southernmost part of the African continent (see Figure 1), stretching latitudinally from 22° to 35° S and longitudinally from 17° to 33° E. Its surface area is 1 219 090 km². It has common boundaries with the republics of Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, while the Republic of Mozambique and the Kingdom of Swaziland lie to the northeast (Figure 2). Completely enclosed by South African territory in the southeast is the mountain Kingdom of Lesotho. FIG. 1. African Continent To the west, south and east, South Africa borders on the Atlantic and southern Indian oceans. Isolated, 1 920 km southeast of Cape Town in the Atlantic, lie Prince Edward and Marion islands, which became part of South Africa in 1947. South Africa has a lengthy coastline of about 3 000 km. This coastline is swept by two major ocean currents – the warm south-flowing Mozambique-Agulhas current and the cold Benguela. The SOUTH AFRICA 757 former skirts the east and south coasts as far as Cape Agulhas while the Benguela current flows northwards along the west coast as far as southern Angola. The contrast in temperature between these two currents partly accounts for important differences in climate and vegetation between the east and west coasts of South Africa. It also causes big differences in marine life, the cold waters of the west coast being much richer in oxygen...
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...Using material from item A and elsewhere, assess sociological explanations for the types and patterns of green crime. Green crime is environmental crime of which rapidly increased with the enlightenment, and as ITEM A SUGGESTS 'IT IS AN INEVITABLE PART OF LATE MODERN SOCIETY'. Green crime has a unique nature due to the fact the world is divided into nation states and therefore green crime is hard to prosecute as we all have separate jurisdiction. For example, one nation state can damage and interconnected eco state with the form of acid rain pollution. BECK argues that in late modernity (our post-modern society) we can now provide adequate resources- however this allows manufactured risks to also develop such as Greenhouse gases from the productivity. MESSNER AND ROSENFIELD would suggest that the reason these manufactured risks develop is due to our capitalist 'Dog eat dog' attitude, we live in a consumerist postmodern society and therefore want more technological developments which produce green crime. WHITE backs up the view in ITEM A THAT SUGGESTS 'SINCE NO LAWS ARE BROKEN, SOME DO NOT CONSIDER IT TO BE A CRIME'. He presents two different attitudes towards the 'harm' that green crime creates. Anthropocentric harm is a human centred view of environmental crime. This is generally adopted by he nation states and transnational corporations who assume that humans have the right to dominate the natural environment. This implies that the damage is not a crime...
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...Oil Alternatives Examine the changing importance of three energy alternatives to oil [20 Marks] 1200 words. Correct citations. Oil has been an important resource for humanity for centuries. It is easily accessible and efficient and over time has been extremely versatile in its uses. Today oil is used for fueling cars, cooking food, cosmetics, lubricants, paintings, organic chemistry, etc. For a long time oil has been the primary and main provider of energy, but due to increasing environmental effects, scarcity, and global inflation, it seems as if it will not last much longer. This essay will highlight the growing importance of three alternatives of oil that may rise to prominence in the future: algae biofuel, nuclear energy, and hydroelectric power. The first alternative that will be discussed is algae biofuel. In essence algae biofuels are the same as normal fuels except that the components of the fuel are organic and biological rather than fossil fuel based. Production is caused through a series of chemical reactions and is nontoxic and renewable. Algae sources can be re-replaced through more farming. The standard production method consists of planting lots of algae pods and letting them interact with the sun and bacteria to create oil. (Howstuffworks) Although this method releases a lot of CO2 it is all taken back again through growing more algae. This is of the many advantages of algae biofuel. Firstly its production yield far surpasses that of other variations...
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...The decline and deterioration of water quality occurs when the amount of water is overstretched. This mainly effects on the areas such as wastewater treatment of household and industrial water, water recycling for health care system (Rivett, 2011). In the other hand, the status of the lack of infrastructure and because of their age these are originally occur with the discharge of contaminated waste liquid and solid directly to the surrounding environment and which find their way into surface water or groundwater(Grand-Clement at el.,...
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...fractionation is a useful technique. Enables scientist to determine the functions of organelles. A Panoramic View of the Cell Distinguish between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. They both have: Plasma Membrane, Cytosol (semifluid subst), Chromosomes (carry genes), and Ribosomes (make proteins). Prokaryotic: are small, simple, and NO nucleus or membrane-enclosed organelles, DNA is concentrated in the nucleoid w/o membrane separating it. Eukaryotic: are big, complex, the chromosomes are contained within a membranous nuclear envelope, and numerous organelles suspended in the cytosol. Explain the advantages of compartmentalization in eukaryotic cells. They have both hydrophobic region tail and hydrophilic head. Head composed phosphate group attached to one carbon of glycerol is hydrophilic. The Nucleus and Ribosomes Describe the structure and function of the nuclear envelope, including the role of the pore complex. Nuclear Envelope: a complex double membrane structure that encloses the nucleus. - Studded with pore-like openings - Its inside surface...
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...Introduction Energy is an important material foundation that survives and develops in human society. Throughout the history of development of human society, every civilization is accompanied by major advances in energy improvements and change. The development and utilization of energy has greatly advanced the world economy and development of human society. The types of energy They can be divided into two kinds of energy- renewable energy and non-renewable energy. Renewable energy derives directly from the sun, or from heat generated deep within the earth. They can be used to produce electricity, transport people and good, and generate heat from solar, wind, ocean, hydropower, biomass, geothermal resources, and biofuels. Since it comes from nature, so it is endless. Non-renewable sources are not environmental friendly and can have serious effect on our health. They are called non-renewable because they can be re-generated within a short period of time. Non-renewable sources exist in the form of fossil fuels, natural gas, oil and coal. In the future, the amount and proportion of renewable energy generated is set to rise, because of scarce supplies of gas and oil and also because of government policy and program to support renewable energy generation. China is the second nation that produces and consumes of energy in the world. Also, it is the world's largest developing country. To get rid of poverty and to expand economic, Chinese government and people...
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...Nuclear Energy and its importance in context of India Every single atom in the universe carries an unimaginably powerful battery within its heart, called the nucleus. This form of energy, often called Type-1 fuel, is hundreds of thousands, if not million, times more powerful than the conventional Type-0 fuels, which are basically dead plants and animals existing in the form of coal, petroleum, natural gas and other forms of fossil fuel. I. Terminology - Nuclear fission –splitting of atoms to produce energy in the form of heat. Uranium a naturally occurring radioactive metal - only element in which fission(splitting off nucleus) can take place easily, setting off a chain reaction or a self-sustained splitting of atoms. The atoms of Uranium are the largest and the heaviest known on earth so its nucleus is unstable. Besides uranium, plutonium can undergo fission. Fertile material – composed of atoms which do not undergo induced fission themselves but fissile material can be generated from them by irradiation in a nuclear reactor. E.g. U- 238 gives plutonium 239, TH- 232 gives U-233, and U-234 gives U-235. Criticality – When the chain reaction takes place for the first time in a nuclear electricity reactor, it means the reactor has reached its first criticality. Moderator – used to slowdown neutrons surrounding the fuel core of the reactor,e.g.Light water, heavy water (D2O) Pressurised Heavy Water reactor (PWHR) –fuel used is natural uranium. Heavy water is both coolant and...
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...Nuclear Fusion’s Vital Role in Energy Dystopian civilization with poor lifestyles and defunct societies are portrayed all the time in fiction. Building off the notion of chaos, writers have made these fears evident in their work. Whether it be through zombie outbreaks or political dysfunction, we fear losing all the progress humanity has made over the past four millennia and falling into anarchy. As much as these events can seem extreme or fictitious, they could become reality. But over the course of the next century, the world will experience an unprecedented catastrophe known as the energy crisis that could incite a dystopia. Scientists describe the energy crisis as the combination of increasing energy need, the need for environmentalism,...
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...pacific ocean. -Scheid, Jean. "Littering the Environment." LoveToKnow. Web. 8 Oct. 2014. Jean Scheid is an author, although worked for the automobile industry, loves to write about organic things. This might have led her to write the article” Littering the Environment.” In the article, she discusses the motives of why people litter, she offers the effects of littering on the environment. In addition, She offers actions that we can do to help get rid of littering such as recycling bottles, or buying reusable items. -West, Krista. Critical Perspectives on Environmental Protection. “Can Nuclear Waste Be Stored at Yuccan Mountain” Chris G. Whipple, Scientific American, June1996, New York: Rosen Pub., 2007. Print. This book contains a portion of Chris G. Whipple article “Can Nuclear Waste be Stored at Yuccan Mountain”. In the excerpt, Whipple discusses how people can be exposed to radioactive waste if not stored properly. He also discusses how radioactivity can contaminate the water we drink without being aware it is...
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...MODULE - 4 Contemporary Environmental Issues Environmental Science Senior Secondary Course Notes 10 ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION Developmental activities such as construction, transportation and manufacturing not only deplete the natural resources but also produce large amount of wastes that leads to pollution of air, water, soil, and oceans; global warming and acid rains. Untreated or improperly treated waste is a major cause of pollution of rivers and environmental degradation causing ill health and loss of crop productivity. In this lesson you will study about the major causes of pollution, their effects on our environment and the various measures that can be taken to control such pollutions. OBJECTIVES After completing this lesson, you will be able to: • • • • • • • define the terms pollution and pollutants; list various kinds of pollution; describe types of pollution, sources, harmful effects on human health and control of air pollution, indoor air pollution, noise pollution; describe water pollution, its causes and control; describe thermal pollution; describe soil pollution, its causes and control; describe radiation pollution, sources and hazards. 10.1 POLLUTION AND POLLUTANTS Human activities directly or indirectly affect the environment adversely. A stone crusher adds a lot of suspended particulate matter and noise into the atmosphere. Automobiles emit from their tail pipes oxides of nitrogen, sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and a complex...
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