Экология сегодня. Макеева М.Н - 33 стр.

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Still, in consideration of the power that can be generated by Uranium and the burgeoning global energy
demands, many governments are placing more emphasis on nuclear energy. The largest user of nuclear energy
is the United States, followed by France, Japan, Germany and the Russian Federation. In the US alone, the na-
tion’s 103 nuclear power plants each generate an average of around 20 tons of radioactive spent fuel a year.
Spent fuel now sits in cooling pools and temporary storage areas waiting for somebody to figure out what to do
with it.
A second form of nuclear energy comes from the same process that gives life to our sun and other stars in
the universe: nuclear fusion. Fusion occurs when two lighter elements, like hydrogen, are forced together – or
fused – to create a heavier element, Helium. This occurs only under extraordinary heat and pressure, but it re-
leases enormous energy in the form of heat, light and other radiation.
Deep inside the sun’s core, hydrogen is converted to helium at temperatures of 10 – 15 million degrees
Celsius. Fusion provides the energy necessary to sustain life on Earth. Sunlight is energy released from fusion
reactions inside the sun. This process also produces all of the chemical elements found on Earth.
In 1952, seven years after the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, the United States developed and suc-
cessfully tested the hydrogen bomb. Using the same fusion process and hydrogen elements used in the sun and
stars, the hydrogen bomb yields thousands of times more energy than that provided by nuclear fission. One hy-
drogen bomb would release five times more energy than all of the bombs dropped in World War II! Fortu-
nately, there have been no hydrogen bombs used in warfare.
Duplicating the fusion process that is constantly occurring inside the Sun is not that easy. While fusion
does not have the harmful radiation side effects that fission creates, the problem with nuclear fusion is to start
the fusion reaction in an area small enough at sufficiently high temperatures – about 180,000,000 degrees Fahr-
enheit! There is currently no known substance that would not melt or vaporize at just a few thousand degrees.
Words and Expressions:
− fission – расщепление, деление атомного ядра при цепной реакции
− to condemn – браковать, признавать негодным для использования
− to envision – воображать что-либо, представлять себе, предвидеть
− to divert – отвлекать, переключать, переводить
− meltdown – расплавка, растворение
− facility – оборудование, приспособления, аппаратура
− tissue – ткань, материя
− to lurk – скрываться в засаде, прятаться
− to plummet – кидать, бросать, швырять вниз, сбивать
− isotope – изотоп
− mainstream – основное направление, главная тенденция
− premiere – премьера
− exploitable – использующийся
− to burgeon – распускаться, расцветать
− fusion – синтез, слияние
− to yield – давать такой-то результат, приводить к чему-либо
− warfare – война, приемы ведения войны
− to duplicate – повторять, копировать
− to vaporize – испаряться, распылять
Exercises on the Text:
Answer the following questions.
1. What is the smallest component of any element?
2. What does the process of fission look like?
3. In what form is nuclear energy always released?
4. Which episode of the Second World War led the international community to condemn further use of
atomic weapons?
5. When did commercial nuclear power become a commercial reality?

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