Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Nuclear Power: Lindsey Garst Jay Nargundkar Jonah Richmond
Nuclear Power: Lindsey Garst Jay Nargundkar Jonah Richmond
Origins
After World War II, development of civilian nuclear program Atlantic Energy Act of 1946 1954: first commercial nuclear power program
The Vision
It is not too much to expect that our children will enjoy in their homes [nuclear generated] electrical energy too cheap to meter.
Lewis Strauss, Chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (1954)
Manhattan Project
Early Beginnings
Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) established by Congress in 1946 as part of the Atomic Energy Act
AEC authorized the construction of Experimental Breeder Reactor I ( EBR-1) at a site in Idaho in 1949 in August of 1951, criticality (a controlled, self-sustained, chain reaction) was reached using uranium A football sized core was created and kept at low power for four months until December 20, 1951
power was gradually increased until the first usable amount of electricity was generated, lighting four light bulbs and introducing nuclear generated power for the first time In 1953, the EBR-1 was creating one new atom of nuclear fuel for every atom burned, thus the reactor could sustain its own operation With this creation of new cores, enough energy was created to fuel additional reactors A few years later, the town of Arco, Idaho became the world's first community to get its entire power supply from a nuclear reactor This was achieved by temporarily attaching the towns power grid to the reactors turbines
Uranium Mining
There are three main methods:
Underground mining Open pit mining In Situ Leaching (ISL)
Underground Mining
The Case of the Olympic Dam Mine
Ya Got Trouble.
Lake uses an intense amount of water Rabbit popluation has crashed as a result of drinking from the lake
The Western Mining Corporation (WMC) is owned by BP
In Situ Leaching
Wells are drilled into aquifers, the water is removed, and a solvent, such as hydrogen peroxide, is pumped in
The peroxide dissolves the uranium, and the solution is pumped back up An ion exchange system causes the uranium to precipitate in the form of UO42H2O (uranium peroxide)
In Situ Leaching
Department of Energy
Oversight of nuclear weapons; public relations side of nuclear energy
Origin
Eisenhowers Atoms for Peace Formed in 1957 Promote peaceful nuclear use
IAEA Today
Forum for scientific cooperation Institutes safety measures Promotes non-proliferation Featured prominently in recent news
Iraq inspections
Mohammed El Baradei
Head of IAEA 2005 Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Cost
More expensive than coal and natural gas, but could be made cheaper with carbon credits
New nuclear plants could generate power at $31-$46/MWh It would take 3-4 new plants to absorb the the early costs of these new plants
Safety
Public remains wary of nuclear power due to Chernobyl and three mile island accidents Nuclear plants vulnerable to terrorist attacks
Safer, more efficient, and more secure plants planned for the future
Waste Disposal
Yucca mountain Use breeder reactors instead
Alternative storage site
Yucca Mountain
Yucca Mountain
NRC has found 293 technical issues with the repository that must be fixed
Danger to the public with the transportation of the waste to yucca mountain
Located in an earthquake region and contains many interconnected faults and fractures
These could move groundwater and any escaping radioactive material through the repository to the aquifer below and then to the outside environment
Oops!
At right is a map of the Yucca Mountain site The area within the dotted line is the burial site Two faults run directly through the site
Current Situation
The Government maintains that Yucca Mountain will open on time, in 2010 Those in the nuclear energy industry put that date closer to 2015 or not at all
It has been suggested that the construction of concrete and steel cask fields will add additional waste storage space to nuclear plants
This would allow several additional decades for the government to put together a permanent nuclear waste storage facility
Proliferation
Fuel cycles that involve the chemical reprocessing of spent fuel to separate weapons-usable plutonium and uranium enrichment technologies are of obvious concern Once-through cycle sends discharged fuel directly to disposal, thus allowing the used fuels to be broken down, leaving no options for proliferation
Threat of Proliferation
North Korea (DPRK) part of Axis of Evil 2003 admission of nuclear weapons Kim Jong-Il* justifies nukes as defense Kimmy Neutron against the U.S. Other potential *Not to be confused with Jeong Kim, namesake of the beautiful new threats? Engineering building at UMD
No Nukes
Look across the sky from your home, Can you see the tower blinking while you sit a spell at home? Can you see the branches growing? Can you feel the awesome power?
People soon will stop this money tree, And well stop its hangin people, you and me.
And as we struggle all together all the powers that be will go down with their own hanging tree. And out of this struggle we can plant a seedling tree, A tree that lets the sunlight share its space. A tree in tune with living, whose branches lift the soul, When youre watching from a distance and youre sitting all alone.
France:
Impact of oil shock during 1970s Advantage of strong centralized govt Huge lobbying campaign Trust in technology Today, France is energy exporter!
A production tax credit of 1.8 cents per kilowatt-hour for the first 6,000 megawatthours from new nuclear power plants for the first eight years of their operation Would put nuclear energy on par with other sources of emission-free power, including wind and closed-loop biomass