Nuclear Wastes Essay Research Paper What is

Nuclear Wastes Essay, Research Paper

What is nuclear power and what does it produce. Nuclear power is energy given off from a splitting atom and it produces heat, wastes, and electricity if used properly. Electricity is the main use for nuclear power, but baking electricity from nuclear power depends on how the reactor works, the storage of its wastes, the different kinds of power plants, and the dangers and accidents in nuclear reactors. There is a good advantage to nuclear power plants and that is; that they have an endless amount of power, however, the down fall is what to do with the left over Uranium.

The electricity produced from nuclear reactors can be said to be simple but it is not all that. There are one-half inches pellets made of Uranium-235, which are put into a tubing (Galperin 30-31). The pellets are sometimes made of Uranium dioxide. The uranium dioxide is a very tough ceramic substance and has a melting point of 2,746.C (5000.F) (Hyde 34). The tubes are about fourteen feet in length and are put into a group of 2000 and bundled up into metal frames to make the fuel assembly. When they are in the reactor and ready the reactor starts and a neutron hits an atom which makes the atom split, and those particles hit other atoms in which they split more atoms and so on. When the atoms split they create heat and water surrounds the tubes and then the water gets heated up and turns to steam which then turns turbines which makes electricity (Galperin 30-31). In order to control the reaction rate there are control rods inserted into the core. The control rods are the reason the reactor doesn.t stop on its own (Galperin 104). Radium and Uranium are the two most common atoms used in nuclear reactors because they split in nature easily. Uranium-235 has ninety-two protons and 143 neutrons, but is less stable than Uranium-238 with ninety-two protons and 146 neutrons. The two isotopes act the same chemically but have a different number of particles in their nuclei and their atoms don.t weigh the same (Hyde 10). Storage is also apart of the procedure as well. When the fresh fuel rods are removed from the reactor, most of them are not highly radioactive. Most of their radiation is from the uranium pellets, and this radiation is so low that it can be stopped by a piece of paper at a short distance. However, some nuclear trash in spent fuel rods is so radioactive that it has to be removed by remote control and stored by remote control (Hyde 37). The spent fuel rods are temporarily stored in concrete basins until permanent storage facilities are found. These basins are filled with forty feet of water. The water circulates the spent fuel rods removing heat and stopping neutrons from reacting (Hyde 38). In the 1980’s and before there was no place to dispose of the wastes from nuclear power plants, but, in the 1990’s there is supposed to be constructed cylinders at the depth of 1,970 feet (600 meters) where the waste can be buried. The cylinders are to be constructed where there are no earthquakes or ground water (Goode 55). If ground water did appear where the cylinders were it would take thousands of years for water to penetrate the rock in which the cylinders are embedded. When the water does reach the cylinders, radioactivity would escape very slowly, and it would then take thousands of years for water to reach the surface. After all this time it would be almost harmless (Goode 55). Before the fuel rods are stored, they must be transported carefully. There had been thoughts of accidents when transporting spent radioactive materials, so there has been some major thinking so that radioactive material doesn.t leak from an accident. First, the spent rods cannot be transported until six months later, this reduces the toxicity of the material. There is only a small amount of radioactive material shipped at one time. So that if an accident were to occur and radioactive material was released it would be only small amounts of radiation (Goode 54). There has been some major planning in designing a canister to carry the radioactive material. The canisters cost more than $2 million apiece. These canisters can resist a 30-mph head on collision. It can with stand gasoline fire for thirty minutes, immerse in water for eight hours and a puncture test (Goode 54). There are several different kinds of nuclear power plants, but their concepts are the same. In a water-cooled reactor water surrounds the fuel rods, carrying any heat. The heated water is carried away from the core to an exchanger where other water is heated, turning to steam that is used to turn turbines and make electricity (Hyde 35). A Pressurized-water reactor is the most common reactor in the U.S. The water is kept under a great amount of pressure so that it will not turn to steam under the high temperatures that are reached in the reactor core (about 315. C, or 600. F). The water is then pumped to the steam generator and the turbine. From the turbine the water is then condensed to it nature liquid state and is then put back into the reactor (Goode 39). Heavy-water reactors contain large amounts of Hydrogen isotope deuterium so that it can absorb a smaller number of neutrons than ordinary water. This reactor uses nonenriched uranium unlike the Boiling-water and Pressurized water reactors that use the enriched uranium which is more costly (Goode 42). In Boiling-water reactors cool water is placed in the reactor core where it is heated