Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Waste

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Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Waste

• The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

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What is Nuclear Energy?

• Nuclear energy is the energy that exists within
  the nucleus of an atom.
• There are 2 types of Nuclear Energy

• Nuclear fission is the splitting of a large
  nucleus, releasing HUGE amounts of energy.
• Nuclear fusion is the combining of smaller nuclei
  to form heavier nuclei, releasing HUGE amounts of
  energy.

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How is Nuclear Fission Energy produced?
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If a Nuclear Reaction is not controlled
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Nuclear Energy must be harnessed if used to make
energy.

• Nuclear reactions in a nuclear power plant occur
  at a controlled, manageable pace and release
  energy slowly.
• Heat is generated and used to boil water,
  creating steam. The steam turns turbines which
  rotate electric generators, creating electricity.
• Steam is released from the cooling towers.
• (click on picture for more info)

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How does a Nuclear Power Plant Work?
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How much energy is produced?

• Nuclear power is an extremely rich energy source.
• One gram of Uranium-235 delivers as much energy
  as 3.5 metric tons of coal!!!
• One in every 5 houses in the U.S. is supplied
  with nuclear energy.

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Where are Nuclear Power Plants located?
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Pros for Nuclear Power

• Rich energy source.
• 1 gram of Uranium-235 delivers as much
• energy as 3.5 metric tons of coal.
• Reactors run for years without refueling or being
  shut down and need little maintenance.
• No air pollution!

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Cons about Nuclear Power

• Produces Radioactive Waste
• There is no permanent long-term disposal site for
  commercial nuclear waste.
• There is a relatively short supply of 235U (only
  enough left for 100200 years)
• Nuclear Power Plants are expensive to build.
• Minor maintenance problems can be very expensive
  to fix.
• Safety concerns!!!

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Potential for Disaster!

• Chernobyl meltdown in the former Soviet Union.
• Hundreds died from radiation exposure.
• Thousands contracted cancers from high levels of
  radiation exposure.

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A Close Call at Home!!!

• The most serious nuclear accident in the U.S.
  occurred in 1979 at Three Mile Island nuclear
  power plant in Pennsylvania.
• A small amount of radioactive gas escaped the
  containment structure.

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Nuclear Waste

• Plutonium, cesium, strontium, and other -ium
  elements created in a nuclear reactor emit
  dangerous radiation that can literally knock
  electrons off the atoms of our cells, disrupting
  or destroying cell function or even causing cells
  to mutate into cancer cells.
• Radioactive elements emit radiation because they
  are unstable theyd rather be something else.
• They achieve this by going to pieces emitting
  particles and waves billions of times per second.
  This process is called a half-life.

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What is a Half-Life?

• Every radioactive element has a half-life
• Half-life is the time it takes for half of its
  atoms to decay.
• Half-lives range from a fraction of a second to
  billions of years 4.5 billion for uranium 238.
• The longer the half-life, the less intense the
  radiation.
• After 10 half-lives, an element is usually
  harmless

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Types of Waste

• High-Level Waste
• The most dangerous radioactive waste
• Spent fuel comes from nuclear reactors (52,000
  tons)
• liquid and solid waste from plutonium production
  (91 million gallons).
• About 70 percent of the available storage space
  is now filled with used fuel assemblies at Turkey
  Point.

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Types of Waste

• Transuranic Waste
• Includes clothing, tools, and other materials
  contaminated with plutonium, neptunium, and other
  man-made elements heavier than uranium. (11.3
  million cubic feet)

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Types of Waste

• Low and Mixed Low-Level Waste
• Includes radioactive and hazardous wastes from
  hospitals, research institutions, and
  decommissioned power plants (472 million cubic
  feet)
• Turkey Point produced annually on average about
  2,500 cubic feet of low-level waste. This amount
  of waste could be contained within an area about
  the size of a 30'x30' room.

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Types of Waste

• Uranium Mill Tailings
• Residues left from the extraction of uranium ore
  (265 million tons).