nuclear power
TRANSCRIPT
Nuclear Power: Pros & Cons
Group Members:
Darrel Anderson
Nicholas Azadian
Richard Klimas Jr.
Origins Nuclear Power
• First Controlled Chain Reaction under University Chicago Football field
• First reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory 1942
• Originally designed production of weapons grade plutonium
• First Civilian Reactor in Obinsk, Russia 1952
Fission
• Typical element used is Uranium 235• Uranium 235 unstable • Forms Uranium 236 with neutron• Breaks down to Krypton 92, Barium 141• High energy release and neutrons• http://static.howstuffworks.com/flash/nuclear-u
ranium.swf U235 n U236
U236 Kr92 Ba141 Energy
Nuclear Power Cycle (Simplified)
• Functions Similarly to any fossil fuel power plant
• http://static.howstuffworks.com/flash/nuclear-power-reactor.swf
Pros
• Economic
• Environmental
• Portability & Productivity
Economic
• Net external Costs are much cheaper then other forms of production
• As of 2005 Nuclear power was :– 3/4 the cost of coal– 1/5 the cost of gas
Cost Comparison
Efficiency
• Average thermal efficiency 35%– Comparable to Coal, Natural Gas
• 1 Uranium Pellet can produce:
• Equivalent to:• 1780 lbs of coal • 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas• 149 gallons of oil
1.742 107
BTU
Portability and Productivity
• Wide range of uses
• Various military and civilian applications
• Relative large amount of energy produced per land area
Environmental
• Lowest impact on the environment
• No combustion thus Zero emissions of greenhouse gases– Only external product is
Steam
• Water used for cooling can be interchanged with the environment
Cons
• Waste storage
• Accidents
• National Security
• Ease of peaceful usage to weapons program
Waste Storage
• U 235 and Pu 239 half lives are:
U235 7.13 108 years
Pu239 2.411 104 years
Waste Storage
• Store in cool dry place
• Radioactive indefinitely
• Difficult to store
• Has deadly
Radiation
Safety
• Always potential for meltdown– Human error, Mechanical Failure
• Materials are still fissile after thousands of years
• In the past there have been many accidents but few that caused environmental contamination
Radiation and You
Meltdown
• The various mechanical/ structural failures include:
• Pumps breakage
• Turbine/Tank rupture
• http://www.ida.liu.se/~her/npp/demo.html
Disasters
• Chernobyl– Worst nuclear
accident
• Three Mile island– Worst US Nuclear
accident
• Most recent Dimitrovgrod in 1996
• Most deadly recently Japan in 1994
National Security
• Waste storage sites, Plants, various aspects of transporting fissile material are “targets” to hostiles
• Not enough is being done to protect these sites
Summary• History Synopsis
• Economic Potential
• Safety
• Questions?