A Look at Nuclear Science and Technology

Larry Foulke
Radiation and Modern Life 8.1 Course Recap

Humanitys Top Ten Problems for the next 50 years*

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

ENERGY WATER FOOD ENVIRONMENT POVERTY TERRORISM & WAR DISEASE EDUCATION DEMOCRACY

10. POPULATION

2012 2050

7.0 Billion People 8-10 Billion People

Image Source: See Note 1

Adapted from a presentation by Richard Smalley At the MIT Enterprise Forum 1/22/03

Where is tomorrows energy going to come from?

Image Source: See Note 2

Fission

Nuclear Engineering Program

Image Source: See Note 3

Closed Nuclear Fuel Cycle

Front End Back End Reactor

Interim Storage

Fuel Fabrication Spent Fuel Reprocessing

Plutonium Enriching

Uranium Transmutation Processing

Milling

Nuclear Engineering

Exploration & Program Mining

Geological Repository

Image Source: See Note 3

The Einstein Connection

E=mc2

Image Source: See Note 4

One truck load per month (2,000 kilograms) versus 25 trainloads of coal per month (260,000,000 kilograms)

Image Source: See note 14

Image Source: See note 13 Nuclear Engineering Program Image Source: See note 15

Cross Section Hierarchy

Micros on each level are the sum of all constituent micros on lower levels. s=e+i

t=a+s

a=c+f
Nuclear Engineering Program Image Source: See Note 3

Neutron Interactions
Pre-Collision Fission

proton neutrons ray

Electrons (beta particles)

Fission fragments (some unstable)

Nuclear Engineering Program

Image Source: See Note 5 for Ionized nucleus

Radiation Dose Effects

Equiv Dose Sv (Rem) 0.05-0.2 (5-20) 0.2-0.5 (20-50) 0.5-1 (50-100) 1-2 (100-200) 2-3 (200-300) 3-4 (300-400) 4-6 (400-600) 6-10 (600-1000) 10-50 (1000-5000) >50 (>5000) Symptoms None No external. Temporary reduction in red blood count. Mild radiation sickness. Nausea and vomiting. Immune system depressed. Nausea and vomiting. Loss of hair, loss of white blood cells. Uncontrollable hemorrhaging. Widespread internal bleeding. Near shutdown of immune system. Complete destruction of bone marrow. Widespread damage to organs. Direct damage to central nervous system. Direct burning damage to skin. Increased severity of symptoms listed above. Lethality 0% 0% 0% LD 10/30 LD 35/30 LD 50/30 LD 60/30 LD 100/14 LD 100/7 LD 100/2
LD xx/yy gives the percentage of fatalities (xx%) within yy days, without medical attention.

No detectable response <0.25 Sv Mild radiation sickness

Human LD 50/30 4.5 Sv

Nuclear Engineering Program

3.7 mSv

100 mSv
Above 1 Sv

Image Source: See Note 6

Human Health Effects of Radiation Dose

NEUTRON MULTIPLICATION
k Critical Subcritical = 1 < 1

neutron population

= 0 < 0 > 0

steady state decreasing increasing

Supercritical > 1

k = effective multiplication factor = neutron production/ neutron loss

= reactivity = (k -1)/ k
Nuclear Engineering Program

Response to Positive

Power x10 ~ 0.25 sec

n(t ) = a1et /T n(0)

Nuclear Engineering Program

Image Source: See Note 3

Pressurized Water Reactors!

Nuclear Engineering Program

Image source: See Note 7

Fuel Assembly Features Rod Cluster Control Assembly Top Nozzle Guide Tubes Grid Strap Fuel Rods Grid Strap Grid Strap Bottom Nozzle
Nuclear Engineering Program Image Source: See Note 8

(not in all assemblies) shown partially withdrawn

Grid Strap

Sodium Cooled Fast Reactor

Three loops Sodium coolant No moderator Fast Spectrum Breeder

Nuclear Engineering Program

Image Source: See Note 9

Accident Types - Overcooling

Removing too much energy from Overcoolingworking fluid on secondary side

Nuclear Engineering Program

Image Source: See Note 7

Multiple Barriers

1st & 2nd Barriers Pellet & Cladding

Nuclear Engineering Program

3rd Barrier Primary-System Boundary

4th Barrier Reactor Containment

Image Source: See Note 10

Engineered Safety Features

Nuclear Engineering Program

Image Source: See Note 11

Nuclear has best safety record Deaths from Accidents from Generating Electricity per Billion MWe-hr Hydro Coal Gas Nuclear 1 10
*Includes Chernobyl

101 39
400-page study of 4,290 energyrelated accidents: 15,000 deaths related to oil, 8,000 related to coal, 5,000 related to gas. Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland, 2001
Image Source: See Note 12

Nuclear Engineering Program

 Solar panels fill needs for inner solar system Deep-space research requires alternate power source Radioisotope power sources have been used for many missions

Image Source: See Note 16

Image Source Notes

1. Public domain: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/ 9/97/The_Earth_seen_from_Apollo_17.jpg 2. Public domain: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ a8/NASA-Apollo8-Dec24-Earthrise.jpg 3. Reprinted with permission from the American Nuclear Society. Source: Nuclear Engineering Theory and Technology of Commercial Nuclear Power by Ronald Allen Knief, 2nd Edition, American Nuclear Society. Copyright 2008 by the American Nuclear Society, La Grange Park, Illinois. Figures 2-7 (slide 4), 1-2 (slide 5), 2-10, (slide 8), and 5-1 (slide 13).

Image Source Notes

4. Public domain: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Einsteinformal_portrait-35.jpg 5. Public domain: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alpha_Decay.svg 6. Reprinted with permission from Alan Waltar, World Nuclear University, Oxford, UK, 7-11-12. 7. Public domain: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students/ animated-pwr.html 8. Reprinted with permission from Westinghouse. Source: The Westinghouse Pressurized Water Reactor Nuclear Power Plant (The Masche Book)

Image Source Notes

9. Public domain: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SodiumCooled_Fast_Reactor_Schemata.svg 10. Reprinted with permission from the USNRC. http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/research/soar/ soarca-accident-progression.html 11. Reprinted with permission from Nuclear Energy Institute. http://www.nei.org/corporatesite/media/filefolder/ containment_wall_construction.jpg
12. Graph based on data from Comparison Of Severe Accident Risks In Fossil, Nuclear And Hydro Electricity Generation," S. Hirschberg, et al., Invited Paper, EAE'2001, International Conference on Ecological Aspects of Electric Power Generation, 14-16 November 2001, Warsaw, Poland (2001) 13.1-13.21, Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland. http://manhaz.cyf.gov.pl/portal/cykle-paliwowe/ strona_konferencja_EAE-2001/13 - Paper Hirschberg Polish Conference November 2001a.pdf

Image Source Notes

13. Public Domain: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_train#Bulk 14. Reprinted with permission from the USNRC. 15. Reprinted with permission from Erik Arroyo University of Pittsburgh 16. Public domain: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/rps/contact.cfm