Nuclear Energy? Safe or No Way!

[Racoon]

I did search the Physics and Chemistry forums using "search this thread" and I know this topic has been posed a few times regarding energy... but I did not find what I was looking for...

Well, 20 years ago Chernobyl happened!
and today there was heated debate about Nuclear Energy and its viability.

There are YES and NO sides regarding Nuclear Energy:

the Pro's:
* Besides 3-mile island and Chernobyl there have been relatively few serious accidents.
* This type of energy creation emmits NO greenhouse gasses >>> unlike all the dirty coal plants we use
* Technology has gotten better, and the President supports new modernized reactors
* We will need something besides fossil fuels soon, and re-newable energy realistically won't be able to provide for all our energy needs.

the Cons:
* Spent fuel disposal
* Potential for catastrophic accidents
* Nuclear proliferation and nuclear weapons made with the materials

What is your stance on Nuclear Energy?
Good Idea or Bad Idea?

There hasn't been a new Nuclear Plant built here since 1977 I believe...
So, with new Technologies, couldn't we build super efficient and safe reactors?
Or is building more Nuclear Plants asking for big trouble?

[Racoon]

OK, here are a couple links:

This shows energy usage percentages in the US

http://www.nei.org/documents/U.S._El...uel_Shares.pdf.

And this is a good site for Uranium production, designs, and other info...

http://www.eia.doe.gov/fuelnuclear.html

[Jay-qu]

I think there is nothing wrong with it, anti-nuclear energy people should stop using chernobyl as an example. Ok yes, what happened there is an example of when things go wrong but only when the people running the joint start performing experiments that breach protocol and go against safety regulations..

[Panjandrum]

Chernobyl was a faliure of reactor design, and shouldnt be used as a reason to scrap nuclear technology. The biggest problem the nuclear industry faces is the reliabilty and therefore predictability of itssupply. Because its always on, always at the same rate of production, its underpriced in the energy market, so nuclear reactors cant make a profit on the energy they sell.

[Pyrotex]

Originally Posted by Racoon

...the Cons:
* Spent fuel disposal
* Potential for catastrophic accidents
* Nuclear proliferation and nuclear weapons made with the materials
..?

There appears to be a "safe" reactor out there. Has been for a decade or two. It was invented by the Canadians {}, which is probably why we Americans have heard so little of it. Can't think of its name. It works by having the moving coolant water support a "bubble" of air around the core. The core gets hot and drives a turbine. So far, so what? But if the coolant is interrupted for any reason--the bubble collapses and the core is surrounded by water which damps the reaction and pretty much shuts things down.

What is the name of that reactor design??? {senior moment}

EDIT: It was the CANDU reactor, and it dates back to the 50's. Safe? Well, it was safer, but not as safe as I suggested. It is also cheaper, more reliable, easier to operate, and uses ordinary Uranium or even radioactive waste! The trouble was, it could be used as a "breeder" type reactor:

"In 1974, India explodes an atomic device using plutonium from a Canadian [CANDU] reactor." Wikipedia.

[TheBigDog]

Our entire stockpile of nuclear waste is viable fuel for the correct type of reactor. You can reprocess until all mass is lost. Trouble is you need to enrich it to weapons grade plutonium. So politics not technology is the impeding factor. No new reactors have been commissioned since 3 mile island. And that in hindsight is almost a non-event.

I live in the shadow of the Perry Nuclear Power Facility in Perry Ohio. It has been online for 25 years. If has only ever used one of the two reactors. As I understand it the other is built and maintained, but not licensed for use for purely political reasons. A damn shame. A terrible waste of money.

Bill

[Racoon]

Originally Posted by TheBigDog

Our entire stockpile of nuclear waste is viable fuel for the correct type of reactor. You can reprocess until all mass is lost. Trouble is you need to enrich it to weapons grade plutonium. So politics not technology is the impeding factor. No new reactors have been commissioned since 3 mile island. And that in hindsight is almost a non-event.

I live in the shadow of the Perry Nuclear Power Facility in Perry Ohio. It has been online for 25 years. If has only ever used one of the two reactors. As I understand it the other is built and maintained, but not licensed for use for purely political reasons. A damn shame. A terrible waste of money.

Bill

Well, I live, as does Turtle and several other million folks, down stream from Hanford Nuclear facility. Their storage tanks are antiques! and the once beautiful and bountiful Columbia river is the suffering consequence.
It is a nasty scenario. Nobody wants Nuclear waste. Not even Nevada!

It takes like 40 years before you can re-use the stuff again, but you are right theoretically BigDog.

Nuclear is a viable option. I would prefer that we switch to cleaner re-newable sources, and reduce use....
Asia is building most of the new Nuclear Energy plants as it is now. Europe derives much of its energy from Nuclear too.
Coal burning is having a negative impact, and gee, tough emmision standards are ignored...or rolled back

I think a couple modern Nuclear plants might be OK. But put them in the middle of nowhere...
If something happened though.... May there be a God and that it helps us!!

[Boerseun]

Nuclear energy's the way to go, but not in the current design.

Incredibly interesting article at http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1...ina&topic_set=
- do yourself a favour and read the whole thing, only three pages!

The Pebble Bed Modular Reactor's been thrown around a bit as an alternative, but the world got scared of nuclear power after Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. The way the Chinese are taking it up, seems pretty good! Two leaders in this field today, China and South Africa - and it seems as if nothing's gonna stop China from exploiting it. South Africa's having a spot of bother from the greens - although the first modular reactor was built and tested at the University of Potchefstroom a few months ago.

Interesting take on the third page, using the same pebble bed reactors to thermochemically split water into hydrogen for fuel production for automobiles. So, you generate electricity without any emissions, and in the same process produce clean auto fuel! A win/win situation!

With us either approaching (or already on top of) the Hubbert Peak, I don't see any real alternatives...

Interesting article - give it a read!

[Kayra]

Boerseun, that was a good read, thanks.

I had been looking into these reactors for a while now, and always thought they were quite interesting. Hydrogen has such a small nuclear profile that the atoms almost never become radioactive. (the neutrons mostly miss )

The newer CANDU II reactors, while more efficient and safer then any predecessors, can not hold a candle to the safely of the pebble bed reactor.

Interesting note on reactors, ever since anti-nuclear protesters have gotten involved, the costs of the plants have risen 10 fold over what was estimated or planned. One particular group claimed on their website that they singlehandedly stopped a nuclear installation through 10 years of court actions, that drove the company into bankruptcy. On the very next page of their website, one of the reasons that they lambasted the designers was because of the massive cost overruns of all nuclear reactors since the 1980's.

Before there was such an uproar from these groups, almost every installation was under budget, and in the estimated time frame.

[Jay-qu]

Great article Boerseun.

More nuclear reactors = good for Aussie economy, since we hold 40% of the world's total identified resources of uranium recoverable at low cost! Just $US40/kg

Originally Posted by From article

This temperature ceiling makes HTR-10 what engineers privately call walk-away safe. As in, you can walk away from any situation and go have a pizza.

Now thats what I'm talking about! "Hey guys its not like the reactors gonna blow while where gone, just come down for a couple'a beers"