History Of Nuclear Energy Essay, Research Paper

The nuclear age began in Germany, in the 1930s in the lab of chemist

Otto Hahn.

Hahn was attempting to produce radium (In great need during the war) by

bombarding uranium atoms with neutrons. To his surprise, he ended up with

a much lighter element, barium.

That was 1938, This started the race for the power of the atom. Just

four years later Canada entered nuclear age in cooperation with the british.

Wartime, 1942: The British wanted a safe place to conduct nuclear

experiments; Since their country feared invasion by the nazi’s or bombing

attacks, Canada provided the haven the british needed in return for a

opportunity to work in the project.

The leader of the team that crossed the atlantic to Canada was Hans von

Halban, who along with Dr. Lew Kowarski had escaped from the Institute Du

Radium in Paris one step ahead of the invading german army. They took the

world supply of 200 Kg of heavy water with them to Canada.

Having pioneered the chain reaction using uranium and heavy water, the

scientists applied their knowledge and their heavy water to the new

Canadian nuclear industry.

On September 5th, 1945 near Ottawa the team started up the first

operating nuclear reactor outside the USA. Of course, the output was

minuscule, but the significance was immense; the principal of getting

energy from splitting atoms in a controlled chain reaction (fission) was

established beyond doubt. It was now the job of the scientists and

engineers to put it to a practical use.

Nuclear Reactors

A nuclear reactor is a device which produces heat. In a nuclear power

station, the reactor performs the same function as a boiler in a

conventional coal, gas or oil-fired station. Whether from a conventional

boiler or a nuclear reactor, heat is required to turn water into steam. The

steam is used to spin large turbines which in turn drive generators that

produce electricity. A reactor creates heat by splitting uranium atoms.

This is called ‘Nuclear reaction’ or ‘Fission’.

When the nucleus of an uranium atom is stuck by a neutron travelling at

the right speed, it splits into fragments which separate rapidly and

generate heat. It also gives off a few, new neutrons. In order to sustain a

continuous nuclear reaction, the speed of these neutrons must be slowed

down, or moderated. CANDU reactors use heavy water (Deuterium Oxide is

called heavy water because it is heavier than normal water by about 10%),

Thus the reactor is named CANDU, for (CAN)ada (D)euterium (U)ranium.

During Fission (the process used in nuclear reactors) some of the atom

breaks up, and energy is released. On average, 80% of the released energy

is carried off by the fragments in the form of kinetic energy. The other

20% is collected by the heavy water in the form of heat.

The core of a CANDU reactor

The core of a reactor is contained in a large cylindrical tank called

the ‘Calandria’. The calandria contains a series of tubes that run from one

end of the calandria to the other. Inside the calandria tubes are smaller

tubes which house fuel bundles containing natural uranium in the form of

ceramic pellets.

Heavy water is also used as the reactor coolant and is pumped through

the tubes containing the fuel pellets to pick up heat generated from the

reaction. The heated, heavy water travels to heat exchangers to produce

steam from ordinary water. This cooled heavy water is recycled back to the

reactor. The steam is then piped to conventional turbines and generators

that produce electricity. In this way the nuclear reactor is separate from

the equipment used to produce electricity.

Viable solutions for Energy needs

Annually, the demand for energy in Ontario increases by 5%. In response

to this increase, Hydro companies around Canada facing similar situations

have the responsibility of meeting the increase, usually by adding to their

arsenal of generators. The question which is brought up at this point is

how to do this most effectively in terms of impact on the environment, cost,

efficiency and several other aspects. In the case of Ontario Hydro, they

have chosen to expand on the method which appears to be best: nuclear power.

(Note: All of the following data on nuclear generating stations is based

on information on Canada’s CANDU plants.)

There are four main competitors in the energy race, but only two of

them are ‘technically viable’ Those right now are Nuclear and fossil fuels.

Of the other two, Solar energy is in limited use at the moment to things

like Solar calculators, or Solar cells used to supplement energy needs in a

large building. To collect 10^14 kWh (kilo-watt hours) (Average reactor

output) per year with solar cells, they would take up 1% of the earths

total land surface, or a area comparable in size to Western Europe!

Wind energy is an unviable solution because, the wind is not a constant

energy, unlike fossil fuels or nuclear. Another problem with wind energy,

is that it would take a space as big, or bigger than Western Europe to

place all the wind collectors to generate the electricity.

The problem with fossil fuels is demonstrated below. this makes Nuclear

energy the best solution for the worlds energy needs.

Energy sources such as fossil fuels (coal, etc.), and nuclear, emits by?

products which are often harmful to much of the environment. However,

nuclear plants are considerably less harmful than coal burning plants in

this respect. 1 tonne of coal used in coal burning plant produces 2.5

tonnes of carbon dioxide (which harms the environment in more ways than

one), 45 kilograms of acid rain (coming from the plant’s SO2 and NOx

emissions) and 90 kilograms of ash. In comparison of emissions, nuclear

plants are harmful as well, but are not harmful to this degree.

One harmful by-product which is virtually unique to nuclear plants is

’spent nuclear fuel’ coming from the fission reaction. Much of the waste

from nuclear plants is radioactive. Coal plants produce radioactive waste

as well, but the amount is so small that it is not insignificant. While

coal burning plants produce 450 grams of radioactive residue per 90

kilograms, 9 kilograms of radioactive residue are produced from 90

kilograms of ’spent nuclear fuel’. From this it is possible to see that

nuclear plants produce 20 times as much radioactive waste as coal plants do.

Radioactive waste is widely considered to be nuclear plants’ biggest

problem, currently. More specifically, the problem of storage and handling

of it has not yet been permanently taken care of. Meanwhile, temporary

storage sites carry the radioactive waste until a later time when permanent

locations might be found. Research is still being done on what methods

should be used to store the waste over long periods of time.

It is feared that the idea of keeping it inside containers buried

beneath the ground will be faulty since the containers may break with time

or when occasional earthquakes hit. Radioactive waste does, however, become

stable after several hundreds of years.

One solution for the disposal of nuclear plant waste draws a large

amount of criticism. Tritium produced in the fission reactions in Canadian

plants is sold to the United States for use in their nuclear weapons. Many

people object to this as they do not wish to support the use of nuclear

weapons.

Nuclear energy is extremely efficient when compared with coal burning

plants. 1 tonne of coal produces the same amount of energy as 50 grams of

nuclear fuel. Since mining is often a very disruptive process to the

environment around the mining operation, this relatively small amount of

fuel needed is better for the preservation of some land.

Public Concerns

The public and the workers who operate nuclear plants have concerns

about the amount of radiation which they are receiving. Radiation is

measured in millirem. Any dose of radiation is considered safe if it is

under 3500 millirem. Operators of the plants usually only receive 700

millirem per year, as long as there are no problems. This dose is 20% of

the 3500 millirem limit. Office staff on the site receive less than 20

millirem per year (which is equal to the amount of radiation received by a

person living 4 months in Denver). Should a person live at the fence of a

station, the dose would be equal to that of a round trip (flight) between

Toronto and Vancouver: 5 millirem. Residents living closest to nuclear

stations only receive 3 millirem per year, however. Also the amount of

radiation coming directly from fission of 1 Lb of Uranium 238 is the same

as the combustion of 6000 barrels of oil, or 1000 tons of oil. When

presented with these facts, I am in support of nuclear power. Overall the

effects to the environment are less, and if the spent nuclear fuel is taken

care of appropriately, I only see benefits for the world with nuclear power.

In the case of the Chernobyl meltdown in April 1986, one of the

generation site’s 4 units failed, which was because of poor design. The

remaining 3 units should be out of service soon, however, another 9 units

of the same design are still in operation. A similar accident is not

likely to happen in a CANDU plant because of the many fail safe devices.

Nuclear Energy and It’s Costs

Large generators such as nuclear and fossil fuel plants often cost

several billions of dollars. In terms of cost, nuclear stations cost

considerably more than fossil fuel stations to begin with. The Darlington

nuclear generating station (with 4 units) is currently having construction

completed. When it was first planned, Darlington was to cost $2.5 billion.

After 7 revisions of this price, it is 5 times higher at $12.63 billion. In

contrast, a fossil fuel plant would cost approximately $7 billion.

However, in operation, nuclear stations do not cost as much as fossil

fuel ones do. On April 7th, 1990, the distribution of energy sources, and

their prices went as follows:

Kilowatt hours of electricity Source Cost

($) —————————————————————- 157

561 000 Nuclear 1 016 268 102 399 000

Fossil fuel 3 870 272 113 630 000

Water 153 400

37 856 000 Purchased 979 296

411 446 000 Total $6 019 296 ———-

—————————————————— (1 kilowatt = 1000

watts. 1 kilowatt hour = 1 kilowatt per hour of use.)

Clearly, although nuclear generation was used on this day more than

fossil fuel generators, the operation of the fossil fuel ones was more

expensive.

The difference between the initial costs of nuclear ($12.63 billion)

and fossil ($7 billion) stations is $5.63 billion. However, since nuclear

plants cost considerably less in operation ($0.79 billion yearly), this

difference is paid for after several years of use. At $0.79 billion being

saved annually, the difference of $5.63 billion is met in roughly 7.1 years

of operation. As nuclear plants normally last for approximately 40 years,

at the end of this time one nuclear plant will have saved $31.6 billion

dollars for energy consumers. In terms of cost, nuclear power is less

expensive than other sources which can equal its amount of energy output

(water, for instance, cannot). Nuclear Plants do not create a lot of jobs

directly but because of money big industries may be able to save because of

nuclear energy more money can be put into hiring.

Summary

Of the energy sources that can currently be used on a large scale, none

are harmless to the environment and none are extremely inexpensive. Nuclear

energy is far from a perfect source, but no source of this size is. While

people wait for advancements in energy technology (such as cold fusion or

efficient solar and wind generation), with all aspects considered, nuclear

plants can supply the public with energy in the best possible way.

Bibliography

Atomic energy council of Canada.

“Nuclear facts” Toronto: AEC, 1989.

“Understanding Nuclear power” Toronto: AEC, 1989.

“What is Radiation?” Toronto: AEC, 1988.

“CANDU Operations” Toronto: AEC, 1988.

“A Journalists guide to nuclear power” Toronto:

Ontario Hydro, 1988.