The majority of thermal power plants burn fossil fuels because thermal power plants are cheaper to maintain and have to meet less of the governments requirements compared to nuclear power plants. Fossil fuels are coal and oil. The downfall of using fossil fuels is that they are limited. Fossil fuels are developed from the remains of plants and animals that died millions of years ago. Burning fossil fuels has other downfalls, too. All the burning that is required to turn the turbines releases much sulfur, nitrogen gases, and other pollutants into the atmosphere.

The cleanest, cheapest, and least polluting power plant of the two types is the hydroelectric power plant. The main reason most countries use thermal versus the hydroelectric is because their countries don't have enough concentrated water to create enough energy to generate electricity. (World Book vol. 14, 586)

High-level radioactive waste is the by-product of commercial nuclear power plants generating electricity, and from nuclear materials production at defense facilities. This high-level waste must be isolated in a safe place for thousands of years so its radioactivity can die down and not be harmful to people and the environment.

The cooling pools are a type of concrete warehouse. Inside the warehouses are steel caskets containing the spent fuel rods and cooling pools. Scientists say that the cooling pool prevents the spent fuel to explode, but the extreme weight of the fuel inside the warehouses might cause the structures to rupture, especially in the case of an earthquake. (Shulman, 15)

Radioactive, or nuclear, waste is the by-product of nuclear fission. Fission occurs when atoms' nucleus' split and cause a nuclear reaction. (General Information) When a free neutron splits a nucleus, energy is released along with free neutrons, fission fragments that give off beta rays, and gamma rays. A free neutron from the nucleus that just split splits another nucleus. This process continues on and is called a chain reaction. (World Book vol. 14, 588)

"DOE's Yucca Mountain Studies." A repository is an enormous challenge. URL: http://www.ymp.gov/faq/facts/geninfo/y0343p.htm (4 Feb. 1997)

In a nuclear power plant, Uranium is used as fuel to boil the water for the steam that makes the turbines turn. So, uranium is, in a sense, the coal of a coal-fired power plant.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1427
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)