Power Generation in France
Webquest
Tidal Power
Nuclear Power
This is a web quest designed to allow you to explore the positives and negatives of different types of power generation. There are 2 basic groups of power generation, renewable and non-renewable. Renewable energy resources can be used over and over again, whilst non renewable resources will eventually run out.
Tasks:
1. Download a copy of the chart for you to fill in. Click here to download the word file.
2. Research the following web sites to complete your table
News round from the BBC - a guide to energy
Department of the environment guide to energy
3. How should France produce it's energy? give reasons for your answer and include information from your table.
4. Print a copy of
your chart to use next lesson.
More websites on
France's energy use
How Tidal Power at La Rance, France, Works.
The diagram above shows how tidal power, like
the station at La Rance on France's Northern coast, would work. Water is allowed
through the sluice gates as the sea approaches high tide. When the Estuary is full the
gates are then closed. When the sea level drops to low tide the sluice gates are
opened and the water from the estuary is allowed to pass into the sea, as it does it turns
huge turbines which generate the electricity in conjunction with a generator.
La Rance (seen above) is the world's largest tidal power station, could this be the alternative for France and its energy issue?
France's Nuclear Energy Program
In the 1970s and 1980s, a period during which the world experienced two oil crises, the French government decided to build thirty-four 900 MWe reactors. The first program was launched in 1974; two years later it was decided to build an additional twenty 1,300 MWe reactors.
Due to the successful use of its nuclear program, France has succeeded in meeting the challenges that have arisen as a result of two successive oil crises in 1974 and 1979, and has now entirely replaced fossil fuel plants with nuclear units. France now has 58 pressurized water reactors with a net installed capacity of 63,000 MWe. In 2000, nuclear energy represents 75 percent of the country's electricity production, satisfying national needs and representing a growing volume of export sales.
Pro's and Cons of Nuclear Power
Cons |
Pros |
| Nuclear power plants produce large quantities of nuclear waste that remains dangerous for thousands of years and cannot be disposed of safely. | Nuclear power plant waste can now be disposed of using new technology like embedding the waste in glass nodules and burying them in deep salt domes. |
Nuclear power plants are dangerous. The fission chain reaction can run out of control, causing the hot fuel rods to burn through the bottom of the plant and release large amounts of nuclear material into the environment. |
The strict safety guidelines make an accident in a modern nuclear power plant IMPROBABLE. The backup and emergency systems would prevent any kind of accident from becoming dangerous. |
|
Nuclear power plants can be used to produce radioactive materials and weapons grade nuclear materials that could be used by terrorists to poison the populace or make nuclear weapons. |
The typical nuclear power plant cannot be used to make weapons grade nuclear material or nuclear bombs. The security is very tight and the chances of radioactive materials leaving the plant are nearly zero. |
The cost of the electricity generated from nuclear power plants looks cheap until you factor in the hidden costs to dispose of the nuclear waste. These costs are ultimately picked up by the government and therefore by the people. |
There is pollution and hidden costs associated with all types of power plants, not just the nuclear ones. All in all, nuclear power plants produce the cheapest electricity available. |