Nuclear Energy

Nuclear energy

  • Nuclear energy used for electricity
  • Very similar to fossil fuel plants

Electricity Flow

Nuclear energy is mainly used for electricity.

More data can be found at the EIA

Fusion vs Fission

  • Fusion joins atomic nuclei
  • Sun is a fusion reaction
  • Fission splits atomic nuclei
  • Nuclear energy is a fission reaction

Fission

Chemical vs Nuclear Energy Levels

  • Chemical energy comes from the rearrangement of electrons surrounding atoms
  • Nuclear energy is from rearrangement of the nuclei of atoms

Chemical vs Nuclear Energy Levels

  • The very high binding energy in the nucleus allows for small amounts of fuel to release large amounts of energy
  • 3 million times more electricity per kg than coal

Nuclear Decay

  • Elements become other elements (the goal of alchemists)
  • Iron most stable

Nuclear Fuel

Uranium Metal

Uranium Mine

Uranium Ore

Uranium Yellowcake

Nuclear Fuel Rods

Nuclear Reactor Core

Nuclear Reactor Diagram

Nuclear Waste Disposal

Half Life

  • Definition
  • Relation to carbon dating
  • Relevance to end of life
  • Plutonium 239 half life of 24,000 years

Half Life

Water Fuel Storage

Above Ground Fuel Storage

Electricity Death Rates

\textrm{Death Rate} = \frac {\textrm{Number of Deaths}} {\textrm{Electrical Energy Delivered}}

Electricity Death Rates

Source Deaths per TWh
Coal 161
Solar 0.44
Nuclear 0.04

Source: nextbigfuture.com based on WHO data

Nuclear energy

  • Over 430 nuclear reactors
  • 370 GW of capacity
  • 70 reactors under construction
  • About 10% of world electricity production

Nuclear Electricity Production

Nuclear Installed Capacity

Capacity vs Delivered Electricity

  • US Nuclear Capacity
  • US Nuclear Energy Production

Lifetime cost of nuclear electricity

  • Cost is seen as a key weakness for nuclear electricity
  • Plant construction
  • Fixed operation and maintenance
  • Variable operation and maintenance
  • Decommissioning cost
  • Waste disposal

Lifetime cost of nuclear electricity

  • cost of construction 83.4 USD/MWh
  • fixed operation and maintenance 11.6 USD/MWh
  • variable operation and maintenance (fuel) 12.3 USD/MWh
  • total 108.4 USD/MWh
  • compare to coal (65.7, 4.1, 29.2, 100.1)
  • compare to natural gas (17.4, 2.0, 45.0, 67.1)