History Of Nuclear Energy Essay
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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 byŠ
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...
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