A Look at Nuclear

Science and Technology

Larry Foulke

Radiation and Modern Life

8.1 Course Recap
 Humanity’s Top Ten Problems for the next 50 years*

1.  ENERGY
2.  WATER
3.  FOOD
4.  ENVIRONMENT
5.  POVERTY
6.  TERRORISM & WAR
7.  DISEASE
8.  EDUCATION
9.  DEMOCRACY 2012 7.0 Billion People
10.  POPULATION 2050 8-10 Billion People
• Adapted from a presentation by Richard Smalley At the MIT Enterprise Forum 1/22/03
Image Source: See Note 1
 Where is tomorrow’s energy going to
come from?

Image Source: See Note 2

 Fission

Nuclear Engineering Program Image Source: See Note 3

 Closed Nuclear Fuel Cycle
Front End Back End

Reactor

Interim Storage

Fuel Fabrication

Spent Fuel
Plutonium Reprocessing

Enriching

Uranium

Transmutation

Processing

Milling

Geological
Exploration & Repository
Nuclear Engineering Program Mining Image Source: See Note 3
The Einstein Connection

E=mc2

Image Source: See Note 4

 One truck load per month (2,000 kilograms) versus 25
trainloads of coal per month (260,000,000 kilograms)

Image Source: See note 14

Image Source: See note 13

Nuclear Engineering Program

Image Source: See note 15
 Cross Section Hierarchy
•  Micros on each
level are the sum
of all constituent
micros on lower
σs=σe+σi
levels.

σt=σa+σs

σa=σc+σf
Nuclear Engineering Program
Image Source: See Note 3
 Neutron Interactions
Pre-Collision
Fission

proton
neutrons • Fission fragments (some unstable)
Electrons (beta particles)
γ ray
Nuclear Engineering Program
Image Source: See Note 5 for Ionized nucleus
 Radiation Dose Effects
Equiv Dose Sv (Rem) Symptoms Lethality No detectable
response
0.05-0.2 (5-20) None 0% <0.25 Sv
0.2-0.5 (20-50) No external. Temporary reduction in red blood count. 0%
Mild radiation
0.5-1 (50-100) Mild radiation sickness. 0% sickness
1-2 (100-200) Nausea and vomiting. Immune system depressed. LD 10/30
2-3 (200-300) Nausea and vomiting. Loss of hair, loss of white blood LD 35/30
cells. Human
LD 50/30
3-4 (300-400) Uncontrollable hemorrhaging. LD 50/30
≈4.5 Sv
4-6 (400-600) Widespread internal bleeding. Near shutdown of immune LD 60/30
system.
6-10 (600-1000) Complete destruction of bone marrow. Widespread LD 100/14
damage to organs.
10-50 (1000-5000) Direct damage to central nervous system. Direct burning LD 100/7
damage to skin.
>50 (>5000) Increased severity of symptoms listed above. LD 100/2

LD xx/yy gives the percentage of fatalities (xx%)

Nuclear Engineering Program within yy days, without medical attention.
 100
mSv
3.7 mSv Above 1 Sv

Human Health Effects of Radiation Dose

Image Source: See Note 6
 NEUTRON MULTIPLICATION
k ρ neutron population

Critical = 1 = 0 steady state

Subcritical < 1 < 0 decreasing

Supercritical > 1 > 0 increasing

k = effective multiplication factor = neutron production/
neutron loss
ρ = reactivity = (k -1)/ k
Nuclear Engineering Program
 Response to Positive ρ

Power x10
~ 0.25 sec n(t)
= a1et /T
n(0)

Nuclear Engineering Program

Image Source: See Note 3
 Pressurized Water Reactors!

Nuclear Engineering Program

Image source: See Note 7
Fuel Assembly Features
Rod Cluster Control
Assembly
(not in all assemblies)
shown partially withdrawn
Top Nozzle
Grid Strap

Guide Tubes
Grid Strap
Fuel Rods
Grid Strap

Grid Strap
Bottom Nozzle
Nuclear Engineering Program
Image Source: See Note 8
 Sodium Cooled Fast Reactor
•  Three loops
•  Sodium coolant
•  No moderator
•  Fast Spectrum
•  Breeder

Nuclear Engineering Program

Image Source: See Note 9
 Accident Types - Overcooling
Removing too much energy from
•  Overcoolingworking fluid on secondary side

Nuclear Engineering Program

Image Source: See Note 7
 Multiple Barriers

1st & 2nd Barriers 3rd Barrier 4th Barrier

Pellet & Cladding Primary-System Boundary Reactor
Containment
Nuclear Engineering Program Image Source: See Note 10
 Engineered Safety Features

Nuclear Engineering Program

Image Source: See Note 11
 Nuclear has best safety record
Deaths from Accidents from Generating
Electricity per Billion MWe-hr

Hydro 101
400-page study of 4,290 energy-
Coal 39 related accidents: 15,000
deaths related to oil, 8,000
related to coal, 5,000 related to
Gas 10 gas.

Nuclear 1 Paul Scherrer Institute,

*Includes Chernobyl Switzerland, 2001

Nuclear Engineering Program

Image Source: See Note 12
•  Solar panels fill
needs for inner
solar system
•  Deep-space
research requires
alternate power
source
•  Radioisotope
power sources
have been used
for many missions

Image Source: See Note 16

Image Source Notes
1.  Public domain:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/
9/97/The_Earth_seen_from_Apollo_17.jpg
2.  Public domain:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/
a8/NASA-Apollo8-Dec24-Earthrise.jpg
3.  Reprinted with permission from the American
Nuclear Society. Source: Nuclear Engineering –
Theory and Technology of Commercial Nuclear
Power by Ronald Allen Knief, 2nd Edition, American
Nuclear Society. Copyright 2008 by the American
Nuclear Society, La Grange Park, Illinois. Figures 2-7
(slide 4), 1-2 (slide 5), 2-10, (slide 8), and 5-1 (slide
13).
Image Source Notes
4.  Public domain:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Einstein-
formal_portrait-35.jpg
5.  Public domain:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alpha_Decay.svg
6.  Reprinted with permission from Alan Waltar, World
Nuclear University, Oxford, UK, 7-11-12.
7.  Public domain:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students/
animated-pwr.html
8.  Reprinted with permission from Westinghouse.
Source: The Westinghouse Pressurized Water
Reactor Nuclear Power Plant (The Masche Book)
Image Source Notes
9.  Public domain:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sodium-
Cooled_Fast_Reactor_Schemata.svg
10.  Reprinted with permission from the USNRC.
http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/research/soar/
soarca-accident-progression.html
11.  Reprinted with permission from Nuclear Energy Institute.
http://www.nei.org/corporatesite/media/filefolder/
containment_wall_construction.jpg
12.  Graph based on data from “Comparison Of Severe Accident Risks In
Fossil, Nuclear And Hydro Electricity Generation," S. Hirschberg, et
al., Invited Paper, EAE'2001, International Conference on
Ecological Aspects of Electric Power Generation, 14-16 November
2001, Warsaw, Poland (2001) 13.1-13.21, Paul Scherrer Institute,
Switzerland.
http://manhaz.cyf.gov.pl/portal/cykle-paliwowe/
strona_konferencja_EAE-2001/13 - Paper Hirschberg Polish
Conference November 2001a.pdf
Image Source Notes
13.  Public Domain:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_train#Bulk
14.  Reprinted with permission from the USNRC.
15.  Reprinted with permission from Erik Arroyo –
University of Pittsburgh
16.  Public domain:
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/rps/contact.cfm