Transcript Chapter 12

Chapter 12
Part 1
STNT – 35
Do the Math – page 321, 324
Do the Math – Calculating Electricity Supply
Questions – Science Applied pg. 376-7
Internet activity – Vampire Appliances Cost
Chapter 12
Nonrenewable Energy Resources
All Energy Use Has
Consequences
1. What events of the 1960s led to the first Earth
Day in 1970?
2. What are the causes of oil spills?
3. Give an example for each.
4.
What are the risks associated with coal?
5.
Why is natural gas called the “clean” fossil fuel and
why is it not “clean”?
6.
What are the environmental risks with natural gas
extraction?
Spill Brings “gaps in
knowledge” To Light
 80,000 chemicals in the U.S. cataloged by the
government regulators.
 The health risks of most of these are unknown.
 January 9,2014
 Licorice-smelling chemical leaked from an old storage
tank into the Elk River in West Virginia.
 4-methylcyclohexane methanol.
 Chemicals in U.S. are generally treated as innocent
until proven guilty.
Forms of Energy
• Chemical - Stored in chemical bonds
between atoms
• Electrical - Result of the movement of
electrons
• Electromagnetic - Energy that travels in
waves
• Kinetic - Energy due to motion
• Potential - Energy stored
• Mechanical
• Potential and kinetic energy present in a
mechanical system such as a turbine or
generator
• Nuclear
• Stored energy in nucleus of atom released by
splitting the atom – fission or combining atoms
fusion.
• Thermal
• Energy content related to heating effects
Nonrenewable Energy
• Nonrenewable energy
resources
• Types
• Fossil fuels
• Nuclear fuels.
• What are the “take-home
points of this graph?
2008
Energy Units
• Basic unit is the joule (J)
• GJ – gigajoule
• 1 billion joules
• 1 X 109
• EJ – exajoule
• 1 billion gigajoules
Energy Consumption
• Greatest total energy
consumption?
• Greatest per capita energy
consumption?
• Compare total/per-capita
energy use of the China and
India.
• Types of energy used in
developing vs developed
countries:
Energy Use
 Commercial energy sources
 Those that are bought and sold
 Developed countries
 Subsistence energy sources
 Those gathered by individuals for their own use
such as wood, charcoal and animal waste.
 Developing countries
 Energy demand increases societies change the
type of fuels they use.
Patterns of Energy Use in
U.S.
 Inputs
 Outputs
 “take home”
points from graph
Energy U.S. and Global
• Types
• Comparison
• Explanation
U.S.
U.S.
Global
 The top 15 countries extract 78% of the world's fossil fuels, and
only four of the top 15 are developed countries.
Imports and Exports
• U.S. produces 70% of the energy it uses.
• 30% from other countries – mostly oil
• Energy Use Varies
• Energy users most to least:
Energy Types and Quality
• Certain forms of energy are best suited for particular
purposes.
• Transportation - Gas or diesel – liquid energy
• High energy to mass ratio
• Speed to provide and cut off the energy
• Energy efficiency
• Efficiency in the process to obtain the fuel.
• Efficiency in the process that converts the fuel to work.
• Energy Laws
35% effective
2/3 lost during transformation/ash
Inefficiencies in Coal Extraction and Use
EROEI
 Energy Return On Energy Investment
 How much energy from an energy source for each unit of
energy expended on production
 EROEI = __ energy from fuel____________
energy invested to obtain the fuel
 In order to obtain 100J of coal energy, 5J of energy is
expended. EROEI = ___________
 Coal




Cost to extract the coal
Cost to build the equipment to extract the coal
Building the power plant
Disposing of the waste from the power plant
Science Applied pg. 376-7
1. Why is corn-based ethanol a big business?
2. Does ethanol reduce air pollution?
3. What is the difference between a modern carbon
and a fossil carbon?
4. Compare the EROEI of ethanol to coal.
5. What are the environmental negatives to using
corn for ethanol?
6. What are the alternatives to corn ethanol?
1. Most efficient?
2. Least efficient?
3. What happens to the efficiency when you put 4 people in
the car?
4. What is the most common number of people in a car?
5. Public vs. Private transportation – pros and cons.
Do the Math
 Imagine you have unlimited time and you need to go
from Washington, DC to Cleveland, Ohio – roughly 600
km. Use table 12.1 and calculate the amount of MJ of
energy for each mode.




Air =
Car =
Train =
Bus =
 If a gallon of gas contains 120MJ, how many gallons
does it take to make the trip by car?
Overall Fuel Efficiency of U.S.
Automobiles
 30% of energy used for transportation
 Light trucks – SUVs, minivans, pickups – ½ auto
sales.
 Fuel efficient vehicles??
Café Standards
• Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency.
• Regulations enacted by Congress in 1975, after the Arab Oil
Embargo.
• Intended to improve the average fuel economy of cars and
light trucks.
• Manufacturer must pay a penalty $5.50 per 0.1 mpg less
than standard, multiplied by the manufacturer's total
production for the U.S.
Gas Guzzler Tax
 Applies to the sales of vehicles with estimated gas mileage below
certain specified levels.
 1980, the tax was $200 for a fuel efficiency of 14-15 mpg. 1985
increased to $1800.
 1980, the tax was $550 for fuel efficiencies of 13 mpg and below,
and was changed in 1986 to $3,850 for ratings below 12.5 mpg.
 Only applies to passenger cars. Trucks, sport utility vehicles
(SUV), and minivans are not covered because these vehicle
types were not widely available in 1978 and were rarely used for
non-commercial purposes.
 The tax is collected by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and
normally paid by the manufacturer or importer.
• 1992 Clinton “We won’t push to tighten the efficiency
standards if you will agree – with federal money– to
research super-energy-efficient vehicles.
• More than a decade later, they had produced cars that
could go 80 miles on a single gallon of gas.
• But there was never any legally enforceable requirement to
actually produce these cars. And the automakers didn’t.
• They said using the super-light-weight materials they had
developed would add $7,000 to $10,000 to the cost of a
family sedan.
• President George W. Bush abandoned that
program
• He launched a multi-decade research program
to develop a car propelled by a hydrogenpowered fuel cell.
• With global warming environmental activists
want to tighten CAFE standards.
• Opponents, including automakers, argue that
such a move would make cars too expensive
and, because they would be lighter and smaller,
more dangerous.
 Starting in 2011 the CAFE standards are newly
expressed as mathematical functions depending on
vehicle "footprint", a measure of vehicle size
determined by multiplying the vehicle’s wheelbase
by its average track width.
 2012 Honda Fit with a footprint of 40 sq ft must
achieve fuel economy 36 mpg.
 Ford F-150 with its footprint of 65–75 sq ft must
achieve CAFE fuel economy of 22 mpg.
 CAFE has separate standards for "passenger cars"
and "light trucks", despite the majority of "light
trucks" actually being used as passenger cars.
Electricity
 Coal, oil, natural gas and the sun are primary
sources of energy
 Electricity is a secondary source of energy, an
energy carrier.
 Electricity is clean at point of use but can be
produced by burning fossil fuels and pollutants are
released at location of production.
 U.S. 40% of energy is used to produce electricity but
only 13% is available at the end use.
Electricity Generation
Generator
• Consists of copper wire coils
and magnets.
• As the turbine spins, the
magnets in the generator to
pass over the wire coils.
• This generates a flow of
electrons through the copper
wire producing alternating
current that passes into
electrical transmission lines.
Energy Efficiency
 Most coal burning power plants are about 35%
efficient.
 Capacity- maximum electrical output
 500 MW capacity = 500 MW of electricity
 Multiply by 24 for MWh – convert to kWh
 Capacity factor
 The fraction of the time the plant is
operating.
 Maintenance, refueling, repairs
Do the Math – Calculating
Electricity Supply
1. A typical home in U.S. uses approximately
900 kWh of electricity per month. On an
annual basis this would be ___________
2. How many homes can a 500 MW power
plant with a 0.9 capacity factor support?
Cogeneration
• Cogeneration
• Using fuel to generate electricity and
produce heat.
• Combined heart and power – 90% efficient
• Steam used for industry to heat buildings
can be used to turn turbine for electricity.
Energy Used for Electricity in U. S.
• Primary source for electricity?
• Why?
• Not used for electricity?
• Why not?
Vampire Appliances
 Appliances that consume electricity even when
they are turned off by going into a standby
mode.
 Top 5 energy vampires
 Computers, modems, routers
 Instant-on TVs
 Surround sound systems
 Cable or satellite TV boxes
 Household items with a clock – microwave,
DVD planer
Vampire Appliances
 Identification
 Has an external power supply
 Has a remote control
 Has a continuous display such as a clock
 Charges batteries
 These can be connected to power strips and then
turn off the power strip and they will not consume
electricity.
Internet Activity
• www.savewithsrp.com/advice/appliance/energyv
ampires.aspx
• Scroll to bottom – How much do vampire
appliances cost.
• Enter the number of each device you have –
total cost at bottom
• Determine the annual cost of your vampire
appliances
• National Appliance Energy Act
• Set minimum efficiency standards for
numerous categories of appliances.
Chapter 12
Part 2
STNT - 35
Three separate charts – coal, oil, natural gas
2 columns for each – Advantages, Disadvantages
Complete before coming to class
Coal
Increase in time and pressure = denser, more carbon, more energy per gram
and more expensive
• Coal – a solid fuel formed from plant
remains.
Lignite and Anthracite have lowest sulfur content.
Sub-bituminous and bituminous have the highest.
Producers
• Largest producers
• China, then U.S.
• Largest coal
reserves
• U.S.
• Russia
• China
Advantages and Disadvantages of Coal
Advantages
• Easy to exploit by surface
mining.
• Energy-dense.
• Plentiful.
• Economic costs are low.
• Easy to handle and transport
• Needs little refining.
• Stable, non-explosive, no spill
dangers
• U.S. government subsidies
keep prices low
Disadvantages
• Release impurities into air
when burned - particulates.
• Contains trace metals mercury, lead, and arsenic.
• Combustion increases SO2
and CO2 into atmosphere global climate change.
• More CO2 than oil/natural
gas.
• Ash is left behind. Ash
holding ponds.
• Mining produces runoff.
• Subsurface – more
technology and costs more.
• Transport by trucks.
Scrubbers
• Equipment that takes out
the harmful substances
forming a neutral compound
in the scrubber.
• Eliminated in waste sludge.
Sulfur Dioxide Scrubbers
• Coal chemicals other than carbon,
including sulfur.
• When coal is burned, the sulfur
combines with the oxygen SO2,
which is emitted into the air through
a plant’s stacks.
• In atmosphere:
• SO2 + H2O  H2SO4
• A scrubber works by spraying a wet
slurry of limestone into a large
chamber where the calcium in the
limestone removes the sulfur.
Carbon Sequestration
• Carbon capture and storage.
• Capture of CO2 from power plants or other industrial
processes.
• Transport of the captured and compressed CO2 (usually
in pipelines).
• Underground injection and geologic storage into deep
underground rock formations. These formations are often
a mile or more beneath the surface and consist of porous
rock that holds the CO2. Overlying these formations are
impermeable, non-porous layers of rock that trap the CO2
and prevent it from migrating upward.
• “Confined aquifer for CO2”
Surface Mining Control and
Reclamation Act
 SMCRA - is the primary federal law that
regulates the environmental effects of coal
mining in the United States.
 SMCRA created two programs:
 one for regulating active coal mines
 second for reclaiming abandoned mine
lands.
Petroleum
• A mixture of hydrocarbons,
water, and sulfur that occurs in
underground deposits.
• Formed from the remains of
ocean-dwelling animal
remains esp. phytoplankton.
• Fluid nature for mobile
combustion.
• Countries with the most
petroleum:
Petroleum
Flaring is the burning off
of the natural gas to
prevent explosions.
• Flows out like artesian well.
• Transported by pipeline or tanker.
• Often petroleum is covered by natural gas (methane).
• May also be mined
Petroleum
• Crude oil
• Liquid petroleum
removed from the
ground.
• Refineries
• Convert crude oil into
many compounds by
heating.
• Each product boils at a
different temperature.
OPEC
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
• Members include major oil exporting companies
such as Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Venezuela and
others.
• Price of energy is driven by the principle of supply
and demand – items scarcer are more expensive.
• OPEC regulates the price of oil for its members.
• Now with increase in oil production in U.S. and
Canada, OPEC has lost some of its power to
control oil prices.
Advantages and Disadvantages of
Petroleum
Advantages
Disadvantages
Convenient to
transport and use
Relatively energydense
Releases carbon dioxide –
atmosphere when burned
Possibility of leaks when extracted
and transported
Cleaner-burning than
coal – less CO2 than
coal.
• Releases sulfur, mercury, lead,
and arsenic when burned.
• 85% of oil entering marine
waterways comes from runoff
U.S. Subsidies keep
prices low
Laws
• Energy Policy and Conservation Act
• Result of the 1973-74 oil embargo where oil from OPEC to
the U.S was cut off.
• The United States established policy to establish a reserve
of up to 1 billion barrels of petroleum, Strategic Petroleum
Reserve (SPR).
• Energy Policy Act
• Act provides loan guarantees for entities that develop or
use innovative technologies that avoid the by-production of
greenhouse gases.
• Increases the amount of biofuel that must be mixed with
gasoline sold in the United States.
Keystone Pipeline
• Pipeline system to transport petroleum from Alberta,
Canada , Montana and North Dakota to refineries in
Texas on Gulf Coast.
• Concerns
• Oil spills along the pipeline – polluting air and
water supplies (crosses the Ogallala Aquifer)
• Extraction of tar sands creates more greenhouse
gases.
• Proponents
• Decrease U.S. dependency on foreign oil.
ANWR
Artic National Wildlife Refuge
• Pipeline for oil from
Alaska to tankers to take
oil to continental U.S.
• Concerns
• Might melt permafrost.
• Interfere with species –
mating and habitats.
Oil, Tar, Bituminous Sands
• An unconventional petroleum deposit.
• Naturally occurring mixtures
• 90% of sand, clay, water
• 10% saturated with a dense and
extremely viscous form of petroleum,
bitumen. (Tar)
• Natural bitumen deposits are reported
in many countries but in extremely
large quantities in Canada.
Problems with Oil Sands
• Squeezing oil out of tar sand uses
• 2 to 4 tons of tar sand and
• 2 to 4 barrels of water to produce a
single barrel of oil.
• Enormous shovels carve out open pits in
the tar sands.
• Oil and sand is taken to a processing
facility.
Processing Facility
• Tar sand is combined with water to form a slurry.
• Sand sinks to the bottom of the mixture while the
bitumen floats to the top.
• Bitumen is extracted, the run-off is piped into
large, stagnant tailing ponds of sand, water, and
bitumen impurities.
• Process releases 3X more CO2 than processing
petroleum.
Natural Gas
 Exists as a component of petroleum in the ground
 Lighter than oil, lies above oil in petroleum deposits.
 Also in gaseous deposits separate from petroleum.
 Contains 80 to 95 percent methane and 5 to 20 percent ethane,
propane, and butane.
 Uses:
 Electricity
 Industry
 Manufacture fertilizer
 Cooking, heating
LPG
 Liquefied Petroleum Gas
 Natural gas in a liquid form
 Disadvantages
 Less energy dense
 Advantages
 Accessible everywhere
 Uses
 In place of natural gas
 Barbeque grills
 Portable heaters
Hydraulic Fracturing “Fracking”
• It is a process of
pumping millions of
gallons of water along
with a mix of sand and
chemicals deep into
the Earth to break
apart the rock below
and free the gas locked
inside it.
Natural Gas Field
Fracking
• Drilling with water, sand and “proprietary” chemicals.
• Problems/Solutions with water:
• Natural gas is found in arid areas.
• Process requires millions of gallons of clean water.
• 20% return of water but contaminated with drilling chemicals and
heavy metals.
• Previously contaminated water was injected in deep wells in earth.
• Charge the water separating particles which fall to the bottom as solids
and taken to landfills.
• Some companies frack without water
• Evidences of increase in earthquakes in areas of fracking.
• Many occurring in areas of few to no earthquakes previously.
• Increase in some areas from 20 to 100 a year.
• Thought to be result of injections wells for contaminated water.
Video
• Animation of Hydraulic Fracking (6:37)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY34PQUiwOQ
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrpqrpOuLsE
Natural Gas
Advantages
Disadvantages
• Contains fewer
• When unburned,
impurities and therefore
methane escapes into
emits almost no sulfur
the atmosphere.
dioxide or particulates. • Methane is 25X more
potent than CO2
• Emits only 60% as much • Exploration of natural
carbon dioxide as coal.
gas has the potential of
contaminating
groundwater.
Liquefied Coal
• CTL – coal to liquid
• Advantages
• Because there is so much coal in U.S. this
could eliminate U.S. dependency on oil.
• Can be used for transportation.
• Disadvantages
• Expensive.
• Greenhouse gas emissions more than twice
that of oil.
Chapter 12 - Part 3 – STNT 35
Do the Math
Chart – Advantages and Disadvantages of Nuclear Energy
Read and take notes or Print and highlight
Deadly Meltdown – Chernobyl
Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository
Energy Use and Intensity
• Total energy use:
• Per capita energy
use:
• Energy intensity:
• “Take-home point”:
The Hubbert Curve
• M. King Hubbert
• Point at which world
oil production would
reach a maximum
(peak point) and the
point at which we
would run out of oil.
• Difference between
upper and lower
estimates?
• Where are we on
the graph?
“Take-home
point”?
The Future of Fossil Fuel Use
• If current global use continues, we will run out of
conventional oil in less than 40 years.
• Coal supplies will last for at least 200 years, and
probably much longer.
• Rather than “When will we run out of oil?” We should
ask “How can we transition away from fossil fuels before
their use causes further problems.”
• Concerns
• Cost of fossil fuels.
• Influence of CO2 on global climate change.
Isotopes
• Atoms of the same
element but have
different numbers of
neutrons.
• Additional neutrons
will add:
• The atom will be
affected:
Nuclear Changes
• Changes in matter when the nuclei of certain
isotopes change.
• Radioactive isotopes
• Isotopes that have become unstable due to their
extra neutrons.
• Release protons and neutrons from the nucleus
of the atom – Radioactive decay.
Radioactive Decay
• Spontaneous release of material from the nucleus.
• Changes the radioactive element into a different
element.
• Example
• Uranium-235 decays to form thorium-231
• The decay of Uranium-235 releases a great deal
of energy that can be captured as heat.
• How do nuclear power plants use this heat?
Half-Life
• Way to measure rate of radioactive decay of a
quantity of a radioactive element.
• The time it takes for one-half of the original
radioactive parent atoms to decay.
• Identifiable by counting the number of protons and
neutrons to see what the element has converted
into.
Do The Math
1. The half-life of radon gas is approximately
four days. Four weeks after the introduction
of radon into a sealed room, the fraction of the
original amount remaining is closest to:
A. ½
B. 1/8
C. 1/32
D. 1/64
E. 1/128
Do The Math
2. A sample of radioactive waste has a halflife of 10 years and an activity level of 2
curies. After how many years will the
activity level of this sample be 0.25 curie?
A. 10 years
B. 20 years
C. 30 years
D. 40 years
E. 80 years
Nuclear Changes: Fission
• Nuclear fission:
• Neutron released due
radioactive decay hits
another atom.
• This collision releases
barium, krypton and 3
neutrons.
• Practical application
• Nuclear power plants
• Uranium - half-life of
703.8 million years.
Nuclear Reactors
Production of Electricity
Uranium: 1 g uranium 235 = 2 – 3 times more energy 1g coal
Containment structure – Fuel rods, control rods, steam generator
Process
Control rods - meltdown
Open Pit Mining for Uranium
• Removes near-surface deposits
• Requires the removal of rock/soil to
access the ore. 40 tons of waste for
each ton of ore.
• Mining companies are not required
by law to contain and treat waste
rock.
• Seepage from waste rock may
contain traces of uranium,, heavy
metals, and acids.
• Release of dust and radon gas.
Rainwater runoffs
require the development
of large evaporation
ponds for storage and
expensive treatment
facilities for processing.
• Extract and concentrate the uranium.
• Nuclear power plants require U235
however most ore is U238 which does not
fission as easily.
• U238 must be enriched to increase
concentration.
Production from Mines in
tonnes
Country
2013
Kazakhstan
Canada
Australia
22451
9331
6350
Niger
4518
Namibia
Russia
Uzbekistan
USA
4323
3135
2400
1792
Nuclear Energy in the U.S.
• 20% of electricity generated
in U.S. is from nuclear
energy.
• Construction of new power
plants:
• Expensive
• Public protests, legal
battles
• Uncertainty about
appropriate locations for
radioactive waste
disposal.
Nuclear Energy in Florids
5 nuclear reactors
3 locations
• Progress Energy's
Crystal River plant north
of Tampa
• Florida Power & Light's
St. Lucie southeast of Ft.
Pierce
• FPL's Turkey Point
miles south of Miami
The US is the world's
largest producer of
nuclear power.
• 100 Nuclear Plants in
U.S.
• 3 under
construction
• 437 Nuclear Plants
World Wide
• 71 under
construction
World Wide
Radioactive Waste
• Types of Radioactive Waste
• High-level radioactive waste
• Low-level radioactive waste
• Uranium mine tailings
• Disposal of all waste is regulated by the
government:
• Low Level Radioactive Policy Act
• All states must have facilities to handle low
level radioactive waste.
Nuclear Waste Disposal
 Nuclear fuel fist cools in a waterfilled pool and then transferred to
massive casks that sit on land.
 Must be stored in highly secure
locations because of danger to
living organisms and possible use
by terrorists groups.
 By law the federal government is
responsible for nuclear fuel
disposal.
Advantages and Disadvantages of
Nuclear Energy
Advantages
Disadvantages
No air pollution is
Possibility of accidents
produced
Countries can limit their Disposal of the
need for imported oil
radioactive waste
Pollutants are produced
in the mining and
transport of uranium
Nuclear Accidents
 3 Mile Island Power Station
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Od0aJXyM8k
 Worst nuclear disaster in U.S.
 Operator did not notice that a cooling water valve had been
closed the previous day.
 Lack of cooling water around the reactor core.
 Reactor core overheated and was severely damaged.
 Unknown amount of radiation was released from the plant
to the outside environment.
 No documented increase in adverse health effects.
 Reactor has not been used since.
Chernobyl
• Accident occurred during a test of the plant when,
• in violation of safety regulations, operators deliberately
disconnected emergency cooling systems and removed
control rods.
• The nuclear reactions continued without control, the
plant overheated, explosions and fire damaged the plant
beyond use.
• Wind blew radiation across Europe where it
contaminated crops and milk from cows grazing on
contaminated grass.
Results of Chernobyl
Thousands of cases of thyroid cancer, most nonfatal
caused by absorption of radioactive iodine emitted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuiWFVamQWg
Capping Chernobyl Site
• Manufactured in one area
then moved on tracks over
the building containing the
destroyed reactor.
• Then the reactor will be
dismantled and the
radioactive waste disposed
of.
• Taller than the statue of
Liberty.
Changes in Chernobyl
 Birds with smaller brains.
 Increase in spiders, decrease in butterflies.
 Dead leaves and trees on the forest floor are
not decaying – even after almost 30 years.
 Changes in color patterns on some insects.
Fukushima Nuclear Disaster
• 2011 when plant was
hit by a tsunami.
• 2nd largest nuclear
disaster to Chernobyl.
• No short term
radiation exposure
fatalities.
• Expected future
cancer deaths –
leukemia, thyroid,
breast.
Fukushima
• Nuclear disaster was "manmade" .
• Direct causes were all foreseeable.
• Plant was incapable of withstanding the earthquake
and tsunami.
• Failed to meet the most basic safety requirements,
such as assessing the probability of damage,
preparing for containing collateral damage from
such a disaster, and developing evacuation plans.
Nuclear Waste
• Nuclear Waste Policy Act - 1982
• Establish a site to identify and construct and
•
•
underground repository for spent nuclear reactor fuel
and high-level radioactive waste from federal defense
programs.
Yucca Mountain in Nevada
• Project was defunded by Nevada Senator and
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2010.
Atomic Energy Act
• Provides for the development and regulation of the
uses of nuclear materials and facilities in the U.S.
Yucca Mountain
• Deep storage facility for
spent nuclear fuel and other
radioactive waste near
Nevada test site in Yucca
Mountain ridge.
• Approved in 2002 and
terminated in 2011.
• Terminated for political, not
technical or safety reasons.
Nuclear Waste Train
• Plans for trains to haul radioactive waste from
nuclear power plants to disposal sites.
• 150 ton casks filled with used radioactive
nuclear fuel.
• Expected to be used 8 times a year.
• Requires buffer cars to maintain a safe distance
between crew and radioactive cargo.
• Responsibility of U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
commission and Department of Transportation.
Nuclear Fusion
• Promising, unlimited source of
energy, but the difficulty is
containing the heat produced.
• Same reaction that powers the
sun and other stars.
• Occurs when lighter nuclei are
forced together to produce
heavier nuclei producing a great
amount of heat.
• For electricity
• Two hydrogen isotopes fusing together into
a helium atom.
• Small amount of mass is lost and huge
amount of energy is liberated.
• A reactor for this will need to heat materials
to temperatures 10 times the temperature in
the core of the sun.