Lecture 8 Nuclear EnergyPowerPoint PresentationSlide 3Slide 4Figure 16.4 Renewable Energy ConsumptionSlide 6Nuclear EnergySlide 8Slide 9Slide 10Generally, low cost of production, after start-up costs of plant…Slide 12Slide 13Slide 14Slide 15Safe disposal & storage of spent fuel is a concernCreate geologic nuclear repository?Slide 18Slide 19Chernobyl, Ukraine, Soviet UnionSlide 21Slide 22Human coststhyroid cancerSlide 25Slide 26Fukushima, Japan, 2011Slide 28Seawater contamination (caesium 137) along Japan coastSlide 30Lecture 8Nuclear Energy•ECOL 1000: Ecological Basis of Environmental Issues•University of Georgia•Spring 2015The United States uses in 1 year the energy it took ~1 million years to create geologically, through the formation of fossil fuelsClearly, this is not a sustainable plan…By burning fossil fuel,humans add 6 billiontons of CO2 / yr By burning fossil fuel,humans add 6 billiontons of CO2 / yr1 ton / person / yr1 ton / person / yrOilOilCoalCoalNaturalGasNaturalGasNuc-learNuc-learHydroElectricHydroElectricNonRenewableNonRenewable95%Figure 16.4 Renewable Energy ConsumptionGlobal Renewable Energy Consumption•Nuclear Power into videoNuclear Energy•Decay of Uranium isotope (235U)•Split nucleus of U, releasing neutrons ---> Chain reaction•Controlled vs. Uncontrolled reactions?Nuclear Energy•Decay of Uranium isotope (235U)•Split nucleus of U, releasing neutrons ---> Chain reaction•Controlled vs. Uncontrolled reactions?About 5 million metric tons of uranium oxide are economically accessible•~ 16% of global energy production•443 reactors in 31 countries•USA: 104 reactors w/ ~18% energy•France 59 reactors w/ 80%Generally, low cost of production, after start-up costs of plant…ABC: Georgia Building Nuclear Reactors video ABC: Georgia Building Nuclear Reactors videoNRC approved a request to build two new reactors at Plant Vogtle.The commission approved a license on a 4-1 vote over the objections of environmentalists and the NRC's own chairman, Gregory Jaczko. It's the first approval since 1978, the year before the Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania.The company expects to begin operating the new units in 2016 and 2017. They will cost more than $14 billion.Environmental costs associated with Uranium mining•Disturbed landscape•Acidified run-off•Heat alteration of streams & lakesSafe disposal & storage of spent fuel is a concern•235U rods become depleted, but still radioactive•Recycle fuels ? Plutonium increasesCreate geologic nuclear repository?Is a solution to bury 300 m deep steel casks in Yucca Mountain, Nevada?Nuclear waste disposal videoAnd there is always the potential for unexpected nuclear accidents…Chernobyl, Ukraine, Soviet Union•April 26, 1986•Explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive contamination into atmosphere•Worst nuclear accident in history•During a systems test at reactor #4 of the Chernobyl plant, there was a sudden power output surge, and an emergency shutdown was attempted.•A more extreme spike in power then occurred, leading to a reactor vessel rupture and a series of explosions. •These explosions exposed the graphite moderator of the reactor to air, igniting it. The fire sent a plume of highly radioactive smoke fallout into the atmosphere and over an extensive geographical area.•The plume drifted over large parts of the western Soviet Union and Europe; from 1986 to 2000, 350,400 people were evacuated and resettled from the most severely contaminated areas.Human costs•31 – 64 deaths are directly attributed to the accident, all among the reactor staff and emergency workers (as of 2008). •The Chernobyl Forum estimates that the eventual death toll could reach 4,000 among those exposed to the highest levels of radiation (workers, evacuees and nearby residents); this includes some 50 emergency workers who died of acute radiation syndrome, 9 children who died of thyroid cancer and an estimated total of 3940 deaths from radiation-induced cancer and leukemia.•The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that there will be 50,000 excess cancer cases resulting in 25,000 excess cancer deaths for people of this areathyroid cancer•Flora and faunaAfter the disaster, four square kilometers of pine forest directly downwind of the reactor turned reddish-brown and died, earning the name of the "Red Forest".Animals in the worst-hit areas also died or stopped reproducing. Of the 440,350 wild boar killed in the 2010 hunting season in Germany, over 1,000 were found to be contaminated with levels of radiation above the permitted limit due to residual radioactivity from Chernobyl.The after-effects of Chernobyl are expected to be seen for 100 years, although the severity of the effects would decline over that period. In Britain and Norway, as of 2011, "slaughter restrictions remain for sheep raised on pasture contaminated by radiation fallout".•Rivers, lakes and reservoirsRadioactive contamination into the Pripyat River, which feeds one of the largest surface water systems in Europe. Bio-accumulation of radioactivity in fish resulted in concentrations (both in western Europe and in the former Soviet Union) that in many cases were significantly above guideline maximum levels for consumption.•GroundwaterSignificant transfers of radionuclides to groundwater have occurred from waste disposal sites in the 19 mi exclusion zone around Chernobyl.Fukushima, Japan, 2011The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster is a series of equipment failures, nuclear meltdowns, and releases of radioactive materials at the Nuclear Power following the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.Largest nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl disaster of 1986.Fukushima videoSeawater contamination (caesium 137) along Japan coast•According to a 2012 survey, 573 deaths have been certified as "disaster-related" by 13 municipalities affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster. •On December 16, 2011 Japanese authorities declared the plant to be stable; it will take decades to decontaminate the surrounding areas and to decommission the