Green Revolution Part 4 Nuclear Energy VOCABULARY WORDS

Green Revolution Part 4 Nuclear Energy

VOCABULARY WORDS • Nuclear Energy Sources 1. Fission – Splitting Atoms 2. Fusion – Fusing Atoms • E=mc 2 – Can convert Mass to Energy or vise versa. • Radiation – Going to look at 5 of the worst kinds: 1. Gamma - Light 2. X-ray - Light 3. Alpha - Particle 4. Beta - Particle 5. Neutron - Particle • Meltdown – “China Syndrome” • Fusion – Two types of reactors 1. Internal Confinement Fusion – proof of concept reactor 2. Tokamak Reactor – One that may produce power

E=MC 2 • Matter is just condensed energy…. • Mass Times • Speed of Light which is a really big number 186, 282 Miles Per Hour – 299, 792, 458 m/s. • Then square that and you get the Energy of matter • So, it is possible to extract huge amounts of energy if you can convert matter into energy. • There are several ways to do this. Fission, Fusion, and Antimatter Annihilation.

Fission Interesting Facts: • Doesn’t have to be uranium, fission means the splitting of any atom. • Splitting different atoms and/or isotopes produces different product atoms, different amounts, and kinds of radiation.

Fusion • Could blow up. A steam boiler could blow up at any power plant! • But, fusion reactors cannot have a meltdown. • Doesn’t have to be Hydrogen, fusion means the joining of any two atoms. • Combining different atoms and/or isotopes produces different product atoms and radioactive byproducts • Fusion can be done cleanly, in theory could be done with no radioactive waste….

Radiation Interesting Facts: • Well, any emission of energy is technically radiation… • We are concerned with the type of radiation, amount, and duration of the exposure. • There is high frequency light: Ultraviolet, X, & Gamma Rays (yes, a photon is technically a particle) • There are loose particles: Electrons, Protons, and Neutrons.

Radiation • Are particles that when they hit other molecules/atoms cause damage/change to them. • If that molecule happens to be your cells it does damage to your cells. • A sun tan is from ultraviolet light radiation damaging your skin! A sunburn is what happens when you get a lot of damage in a short time and cell death & even cancer is occurring…

Radiation • If that molecule hit by the radiation happens to be your DNA in your cells nucleus then cell death/cancer can be formed.

Radiation – X-Ray • Light particle with a lot of electromagnetic energy, which makes it harder to stop. • Lead shielding can stop it. • When other forms of radiation strike nuclei of other atoms XRays are sometimes produced. (so when that neutron hits lead atom in a shielding material a x-ray is released inside from the shielding material itself)

Radiation - Gamma • Most powerful form of light. • This light particle has so much electromagnetic energy that it is really hard to stop. • It takes inches of lead to stop it. • Earths magnetic field blocks most of these from hitting Earth!

Radiation - Alpha • Made in nuclear reactors and explosions • It’s essentially Helium missing electrons and moving very fast • Can be stopped with just a few inches of shielding – a piece of paper could stop it!

Radiation - Beta • Made in nuclear reactors and explosions • It’s essentially electron/positron • Much more shielding is needed to stop them because they are so small and moving so fast – still a inch of water, plastic, or etc. will stop it.

Radiation – Neutron • It’s a free neutron • It’s out looking for a home inside an atom • When it gets inside another atom it turns it into a different atom makes an isotope… • It can be the hardest to stop taking many inches of lead, water, etc.

Movie: The China Syndrome (1979) Scared the crap out of people: • No new reactors built in US since this movie came out! • “The China Syndrome” is a term used to describe what would happen if a water cooled nuclear reactor where to ever have a full blown meltdown.

China Syndrome What does a full nuclear reactor meltdown look like and what happens: • Molten 5, 000 degree very heavy uranium melts its’ way into the earth until it hits groundwater. • Steam/Uranium explosion – a radioactive geyser • Makes an area half the size of the US uninhabitable • And, it Irradiates the whole planet

Three Mile Island (1979) Happened 12 days after the movie and reinforced publics fears about Nuclear Power – Partial Meltdown in reactor #2 in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. A stuck open valve let a bunch of coolant boil off, a burned out light bulb, systems of the plant offline (under repairs), and some bad decisions by staff. • Some radioactive coolant was released • Got reactor to shut down • Core is partially melted

Chernobyl (1986) Reinforced The Publics Fears about Nuclear – They where doing a dangerous TESTS They wanted to see how hard they could run the reactor while having the least amount of coolant, while parts of the plants safety features where disassembled for repair! • Incredibly Stupid!!!! • It blew up

All of the cleanup and construction people died – SLOW EXCRUCIATINGLY PAINFUL HORRIBLE DEATHS!!!!!!! • I’m not going to show you the pictures of what happened to these men. • Dug under plant poured a giant concrete bowl. • Put a concrete dome over the top.

Chernobyl (1986) New Dome • They are building a multibillion dollar new larger concrete dome over the reactor, trying to seal it in many more feet of concrete. • They area is able to be visited, in fact it’s a tourist attraction, but the radiation makes living their unwise.

Fukushima Daiichi (2011) Earthquake and really the Tsunami wave that hit the plant did the damage. • 13 foot tall seawall and 26 foot tall wave! • Two of the four reactors blew tops of buildings off with hydrogen explosions. • Cores didn’t rupture, but radiation continues to escape.

Fukushima Daiichi (2011) • Earthquake and the plant immediately started shutting down the reactors. Backup diesel power generators started to power the plant during shutdown. • Tsunami wave flooded and took out the generators leaving the plant without power to shut down properly.

Are there reactors that can’t meltdown • YES!!!!! However, people in the US are so scared of nuclear power that they will not approve the reactors. • So, power plants keep using the 50 year old water cooled reactors. • They would like to replace them with newer safe reactors, but they cannot get approval from people/government.

Internal Confinement Fusion • Proved we could do it. • Fires Many lasers at on small point. • Generates fusion for a second, not sustained so not useful as reactor. • Doesn’t produce more power than it takes to fire the lasers

TOKAMAK STYLE REACTOR Several Have been built: • We know it can produce fusion • 100 Million degree temps • Largest built so far at best break even on power production • A new REALLY BIG one is being built right now called the ITER TOKAMAK.

ITER TOKAMAK Interesting Facts: • Being build in France. • Mathematically predicted to produce 10: 1 power ratio. • 2020 we should know if it works.

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