Rethinking Nuclear Power 1. Introduction

1
Rethinking Nuclear Power1. Introduction

• Energy units, uses, sources
• Social benefits, demand growth, conservation,
  developing world
• Periodic table, nuclear fission, nuclear power
  plants

Bob Hargraves, Hanover NH
2
The US has an energy crisis.

• Energy costs are high and rising.
• Carbon emissions are high and rising.
• We rely on oil from unstable countries.
• Trade deficit grows 10/minute/car.
• Farming fuel raises food prices.
• Wind and hydro sites are limited.
• Can nuclear power help?

3
US energy is 80 fossil sourced.
http//www.eia.doe.gov/bookshelf/brochures/aeo/aeo
brochure2007.pdf
4
Electricity is 71 fossil sourced.
http//www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epa_s
um.html
5
US DOE projects energy growth.
http//www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/execsummary.html
6
US DOE projects CO2 growth.
http//www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/execsummary.html
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Rethinking Nuclear Power1. Introduction

• Energy units, uses, sources
• Energy and power units
• Converting between units
• World energy demand
• Energy sources

Bob Hargraves, Hanover NH
8
My electric energy costs 0.136 per kilowatt-hour.
Bob Hargraves National Grid bill
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These costs are added to the cost of generating
electricity.

• Delivery ServiceThe service(s) rendered by the
  local utility that provides the electric service
  to your home or business.
• Customer ChargeThe cost of providing
  customer-related services such as metering, meter
  reading and billing. These fixed costs are
  unaffected by the actual amount of electricity
  you use. 
• Distribution ChargeThe cost of delivering
  electricity from the beginning of the Companys
  distribution system to your home or business. 
• Transmission ChargeThe cost of delivering
  electricity from the generation company to the
  beginning of the Company's distribution system. 
• Stranded Cost ChargeThe cost associated with
  recovering the financial commitments made by
  National Grid to supply power to consumers in a
  regulated environment. 
• System Benefits ChargeThe cost of providing
  energy efficiency programs, low income programs,
  and other system benefits as required by the
  Public Utilities Commission. 
• Consumption TaxA tax imposed by New Hampshire
  law.

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Prefixes denote triple powers of ten.
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BTU is a British Thermal Unit
One BTU is the energy required to raise the
temperature of one pound of water one degree
Fahrenheit. approximately the energy of burning
a wooden match.
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Energy equivalents
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Energy and power sources
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Energy examples range over 87 orders of magnitude.
15
How many watts of heat does a person on a 2000
Calorie per day diet produce?
?
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Express conversion factors as 1.

• 1 Calorie 1 kilocalorie
• 1 BTU 0.252 kilocalories
• 1 kilowatt-hour 3419 BTU
• 1 day 24 hours

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Multiply by 1 Calories to kilocalories.
and cross off like units in numerator and
denominator, just as in algebra.
18
Multiply by 1 kilocalories to BTU.
19
Multiply by 1 BTU to kilo watt hours.
20
Multiply by 1 hours to days.
21
Multiply by 1 kilowatts to watts.
22
Hot? Spaulding Auditorium audience would melt a
ton of ice an hour.
23
How many Exxon-Valdez tanker loads would meet all
US energy needs for one year?

• Hints
• Exxon-Valdez carries 1.48 million BBL oil
• 1 BBL oil 6 million BTU
• US economy consumes 100 quads a year

24
You can multiply anything by 1!
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Multiply 100 quads by 1 x 1 x 1!
26
Cross off like units.
27
Do the arithmetic
28
Energy conversion efficiencies vary.
29
How many truckloads of wood fuel would meet NH
monthly electric use?
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How many truckloads of wood fuel would meet NH
monthly electric use?

• We need to know
• How much electric power used
• How much heat needed to make the power
• How much heat comes from burning wood
• How much wood on a truck

31
Get energy data from http//eia.doe.gov.
32
NH used 926 gigawatt hours in Sept 2007.
http//www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table
5_4_b.html
33
http//Wikipedia.org is an encyclopedia.
34
Burning wood releases 6,500 BTU/lb.
35
A log truck can carry 64,000 lbs.
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Multiply power used by 1x1x1x1.
NH electric power used in September
2007 Efficiency of conversion heat to
electricity Equivalence of BTU and KWH Heat
of combustion of wood Pounds of wood on truck
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Multiply power used by 1x1x1x1.
NH electric power used in September
2007 Efficiency of conversion heat to
electricity Equivalence of BTU and KWH Heat
of combustion of wood Pounds of wood on truck
38
Multiply power used by 1x1x1x1.
NH electric power used in September
2007 Efficiency of conversion heat to
electricity Equivalence of BTU and KWH Heat
of combustion of wood Pounds of wood on truck
39
Multiply power used by 1x1x1x1.
NH electric power used in September
2007 Efficiency of conversion heat to
electricity Equivalence of BTU and KWH Heat
of combustion of wood Pounds of wood on truck
40
Multiply power used by 1x1x1x1.
NH electric power used in September
2007 Efficiency of conversion heat to
electricity Equivalence of BTU and KWH Heat
of combustion of wood Pounds of wood on truck
41
about 22,800 truckloads a month!
42
Homework You can now do energy problems yourself!

• A compact fluorescent light bulb using 23 watts
  gives the same light as a 100 watt incandescent
  bulb.
• There are 106 million US households.
• Assume 5 100 watt bulbs are replaced by 23 watt
  ones in each household.
• Assume they are all on from 5 pm to 11 pm.

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Homework You can now do energy problems yourself!

• A compact fluorescent light bulb using 23 watts
  gives the same light as a 100 watt incandescent
  bulb.
• There are 106 million US households.
• Assume 5 100 watt bulbs are replaced by 23 watt
  ones in each household.
• Assume they are all on from 5 pm to 11 pm.
• What of annual US electric power would be
  saved?
• How many tons of coal a year might not be burned?
• What's that percentage of US coal consumption?

44
How much forest harvesting acreage would replace
Vermont Yankee?

• Vermont Yankee generates 600 MW.
• Assume annual sustainable harvesting of 1/2 cord
  per acre.
• 1 cord 1.2 tons.
• Green Mountain National Forest is 400,000 acres.

• Vermont has 4,629 thousand acres of forest.

http//bioenergy.ornl.gov/papers/misc/energy_conv.
html
http//www.fs.fed.us/ne/fia/states/vt/vthilite97.p
df
45
Rethinking Nuclear Power1. Introduction

• Social benefits, demand growth, conservation,
  developing world

Bob Hargraves, Hanover NH
46
Oil is the largest world energy source.
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_energy_resource
s_and_consumption
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The US consumed 99 quads in 2008.
Coal 24 Nuclear 8 Imports
32
Residential 22 Commerc
Ind 50 Transportation 28
http//www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/diagram1.html
48
Lawrence Livermore flows account for losses.
https//publicaffairs.llnl.gov/news/energy/energy.
html
49
Petrol supplies 4X the energy of US nuclear.
https//http//www.eia.doe.gov/aer/pecss_diagram.h
tml
50
The world consumed 472 quads in 2006.
http//www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/world.html
51
The non-OECD nations demand more energy.
http//www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/graphic_data_highl
ights.html
52
Income is dependent on energy.
GDPpercapita
Nations with populations over 10 million.
Annual kWh per capita
https//www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world
-factbook/rankorder/2042rank.html
53
North Koreas poverty (1,800 GDP per person) is
illustrated by its electric power.
South Korea
Japan
China
http//www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/dprk/
dprk-dark.htm
54
Growth of energy and coal use will be strong in
non-OECD nations.
Non-OECD energy use
World coal use
OECD are 30 leading democratic economies.
http//www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/world.html
55
Coal consumption will increase strongly in
non-OECD nations.
http//www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/excel/figure_5data
.xls
56
Growing 1 kg of cow meat takes 1,000 days of
feeding.
1 kg
50 days
1 kg
400 days
1 kg
1000 days
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Growing meat is energy intensive.
Natural grazing would save 2/3 of the energy
the energy used for raising and transporting
animal feed. Growing pigs uses 40 of the beef
energy, and chickens 5. US people eat 8 oz meat
per day, 2x the recommended diet. Per capita US
consumption is 3x the rest of the
world. Reducing meat consumption 20 has the
same effect as changing all cars from Camrays to
Priuses.
Raising 1 kg 2.2 lb beef uses the same energy
as a 100 watt bulb for 20 days. World livestock
production causes more GHG emissions than
transportation.
http//www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27b
ittman.html
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_conversion_rate
58
In sieges Orvietto residents ate pigeons.
lay egg 10 days hatch chick 18 days eat pigeon 28
days
59
The US is reducing energy consumption.
http//www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/pdf/pages/sec1_12.
pdf
60
Consumption drops as prices rise.
http//www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/pdf/pages/sec1_12.
pdf
61
US energy efficiency is improving gt 1/year.
http//www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/pdf/pages/sec1_12.
pdf
62
US energy efficiency is improving gt 1/year.
http//www.pewclimate.org/global-warming-basics/fa
cts_and_figures/fig18.cfm
63
US energy use per GDP is mid-scale.
? Japan
? Europe
? United States
? World total
http//www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/energyco
nsumption.html
64
US energy use per GDP is mid-scale.
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_intensity
65
US CO2 emissions are dropping.
http//http//www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/environment/emi
ssions/carbon/index.html
66
Three causes are GDP, energy intensity, carbon
intensity reductions.
http//http//www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/environment/emi
ssions/carbon/index.html
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Rethinking Nuclear Power1. Introduction

• Periodic table, nuclear fission, nuclear power
  plants

Bob Hargraves, Hanover NH
68
Periodic table of the elements at ptable.com.
http//www.privatehand.com/flash/elements.html
69
Hover over element for properties.
70
Click Isotope tab, then element to get isotopes,
then hover for characteristics.
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The Sun fuses hydrogen into helium, releasing
energy.
p
p
p
p
The high temperature of the sun can force 4
repulsively charged protons together
http//umbra.nascom.nasa.gov/images/eit_19990209_0
122_304.gif
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The Sun fuses hydrogen into helium, releasing
energy.
p
p
p
p
The high temperature of the sun can force 4
repulsively charged protons together
e
p
n
p
n
e
fusing them into helium 2 protons and 2
neutrons.
http//umbra.nascom.nasa.gov/images/eit_19990209_0
122_304.gif
74
The mass loss is the energy freed.

• Each atomic unit is 931 MeV of energy. E mc2
• The He is stable. It is bound by the 931 x
  .0029158 27 MeV energy that was lost.
• Per nucleon this is 27 / 4 6.8 MeV binding
  energy

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The Crab nebula was a supernova in 1054.

• A supernova is the collapse of a star.
• Within a few seconds, matter in the white dwarf
  undergoes nuclear fusion.
• Uranium and other heavy elements are created.
• Matter is ejected into space at 3 of light
  speed.
• The earth coalesced from such matter over 4
  billion years ago.

http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova
77
The binding energy of uranium is less than that
of more stable elements.
Iron
Uranium
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binding_energy
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A neutron can fission uranium into krypton and
barium.
?Ejected neutrons can create a chain reaction.
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fission
79
Uranium fissioning into krypton and barium
releases energy.
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fission
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Uranium fissioning into krypton and barium
releases energy.
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Uranium fissioning into krypton and barium
releases energy.
166 MeV for one atom. How much for more?
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fission
82
Avogadro's Number is 6.02 x 1023.
6.02 x 1023 is the number of atoms in 1
gram of 1H1 hydrogen, or 235 grams of
92U235 uranium.
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What is the potential energy of 235 grams of
Uranium235?

• 166 MeV x 6.02 x 1023 Avogadros number

84
What is the potential energy of 235 grams of
Uranium235?

• 166 MeV x 6.02 x 1023

85
What is the potential energy of 235 grams of
Uranium235?

• 166 MeV x 6.02 x 1023

86
What is the potential energy of 235 grams of
Uranium235?

• 166 MeV x 6.02 x 1023

87
What is the potential energy of 235 grams of
Uranium235?

• 166 MeV x 6.02 x 1023

88
What is the potential energy of 235 grams of
Uranium235?

• 166 MeV x 6.02 x 1023

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What is the potential energy of 235 grams of
Uranium235?

• 166 MeV x 6.02 x 1023

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The potential energy of 235 grams of Uranium-235
is 4.4 gigawatt hours.

• The potential energy of 235 grams of U235 is 166
  MeV times 6.02 x 1023 Avogadro number

• This could run a big 1GW electric power plant for
  4.4 hours! excepting efficiencies

91
Uranium fuel is typically enriched from 0.7 U235
to 3.5 U235.
Uranium Ore 0.7
Fuel pellet (3.5)
http//www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/teachers/0
1.pdf
92
Fuel is enriched to 3.5 U-235.
UF6, uranium hexafluoride gas, is a vehicle for
both U-235 and U-238. Evacuated tubes contain
rotors1-2 m long and 15-20 cm wide. Spinning at
60,000 rpm creates centrifugal force of one
million Gs. The slightly heavier U-238 increases
in concentration near the outside. The lighter
U-235 concentrates inside. Slightly U-235
enriched UF6 is passed to the next stage
centrifuge.
F6U-238 F6U-235
(An older, more costly UF6 diffusion cascade
process is being phased out.)
http//www.world-nuclear.org/how/enrichment.html
93
A pressurized water nuclear reactor has three
water circuits.
http//www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students/a
nimated-pwr.html
94
A boiling water nuclear reactor like Vermont
Yankee has two water circuits.
http//www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students/a
nimated-pwr.html
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Rethinking Nuclear Power1. Introduction

• End

Bob Hargraves, Hanover NH