Chapter 14

Nuclear Power: Fission

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A. Introduction
 History of nuclear E
 The role of nuclear weapons have played in shaping
the history and attitude of the world after World War II
(WWII).
 Nuclear E for peaceful purpose
 After the war, many people thought that the use of nuclear E
for peaceful purposes could provide a cornerstone for an E-
dependent economy.
 1951: the 1st electricity was generated from a nuclear reactor
near Detroit, USA.
 1957: the 1st commercial reactor to generate electricity was
completed in Pennsylvania, USA.

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 The 1960s were colored by strong optimism on the part of the
nuclear industry, and nuclear powered was envisioned as
providing very cheap electricity compared to that obtainable
from coal and oil. The nuclear power was envisaged as too
cheap to meter in 1970s. The industry had substantial growth
(Fig. 14.1).
 In the 1970s, concern grew over the safety of nuclear power.
Although many of the fears were ungrounded, numerous
protests surrounded the construction of nuclear plants.
 Nuclear power in the world
 In 2010, the US had in operation 104 nuclear power plants,
with a total output of 100,000 MWe (Fig. 14.2), which is about
20% of the total electricity generated.
 Worldwide, the US has more operating reactors then any
other country. However, some countries supply more
percentage of their electricity from fission: France (75%),
Korea (35%), Germany (30%), Japan (30% before March
2011). (Fig. 14.3).
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Fig. 14.1 Three operating unclear power plants on the shore of Lake Ontario, New York

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Fig. 14.2 Operable nuclear plants in the US, 2010.

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 Today the nuclear power in the US is stagnant. No new
reactors have been ordered since the TMI incident in 1979,
and many plants that were on order were canceled.
 Very large cost overruns (some by 10 times), long delays,
problems in quality control, and operating mishaps
undermined public and investor confidence.
 Economics has been the main reason for the decline in
nuclear power. The past 20 reactors built in US cost US$3-6
billion, or US$3,000-6,000/kW. A gas-fired plant costs almost
10 times less, and can be built much faster. Wind turbines can
be installed for US$1,000/kW.
 The role of nuclear power in US is currently expected to
remain constant for the near future. Although many power
plants are nearing the end of their 40-year licenses, renewal
of upto another 20 years is now possible.
 Although no new reactors are expected to come on line in the
near future, work is proceeding on a new generation of
reactors.
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 Safer designs for power plant now exist. Confidence in the
operation of existing power plants and concern about global
warming have been factors in government encouragement of
expansion.
 Global fallout from the nuclear tragedy in Japan will be
present for years to come. Worldwide, economics and public
acceptance of nuclear power will affect new construction of
nuclear power plant in the same way as it has in US.
 In the next 20 years, the largest increases in nuclear power
will probably occur in China, India, Russia. China expects to
see a fourfold increase in nuclear capacity by 2020. 2 large
nuclear power plants per year are now being added.
 Although, Western Europe relies heavily upon nuclear power,
the trend is away from nuclear; most countries have frozen all
new construction.

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Fig. 14.3 Percentage of electricity generated worldwide by nuclear power, 2009.

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B. Chain Reactions
 Fission process of 235U
 The isotope 235U
 Only a few naturally occurring isotopes will fission with the
absorption of a neutron of low E. The most common of these
isotopes is 235U, which constitutes only 0.7% of natural
uranium.
 235U capture of a slow-moving neutron to form 236U provides

enough extra internal E to cause the nucleus to split apart into

2 isotopes of unequal mass (Fig. 14.5).
 Only the isotope 235U can be realistically considered a
fissionable fuel. A nuclear power plant uses only 35 tons of
UO2 fuel (which contains about 1 ton of fissile 235U) to provide
an output of 1,000 MWe of electrical power for a year.

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Fig. 14.5 The fission process. From neutron capture to fission takes about 10-5 seconds.

Isotopes are variants of a particular chemical element which differ in neutron

no., although all isotopes of a given element have the same no. of protons in
each atom (same atomic no.). The no. of nucleons (both protons and neutrons)
in the nucleus is the atom's mass no., and an each isotope of a given element
has a different mass no.
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 A nuclear power plant requires only one shipment of fuel per
year, compared to one trainload of coal per day for an
equivalent coal-burning plant (Fig. 14.6).
 Chain reaction
 A special feature of fission is the possibility that the process
ca be self-sustaining. A typical fission reaction (one of many
possibilities) is
92 U  56 Ba+ 36 Kr+3n
1
n+ 235 142 91

 If the reactor is properly designed, the 3 neutrons that are

emitted in this example can cause other uranium nuclei to
fission, which will emit other neutrons, and so on, producing a
chain reaction (Fig. 14.7).
 A fission reaction will be self-sustaining if at least one of the 2
to 3 neutrons given off per fission is captured by another 235U
nucleus and causes fission.
 To ensure that the reaction will be self-sustaining, the fuel
used in conventional reactors must be “enriched” to 3-4% 235U.
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Fig. 14.6 Equivalent fuel requirements for the same electrical output.

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Fig. 14.7 Schematic of a chain reactor such as would occur in a bomb. The number of
fissions increases exponentially as more neurons become available. Not all the fission
fragments (ff) associated with each fission event are shown. In a nuclear reactor, the no. of
fission per second is held constant.
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 If more than one neutron per fission is captured by 235U nuclei,
the chain reaction will grow rapidly with an ever increasing
power output. This is what happens in a nuclear bomb.
 In a nuclear reactor, the density of fissionable material (3%
235U) is much smaller than that used for weapons (>90%) and

so it is impossible for a reactor to explode, even in the event

of a meltdown.
 Control of level of power production in a reactor
 In a reactor one can use the control rod to regulate the level of
power output. Certain materials (e.g. cadmium, boron) have a
very high cross-section for the capture of neutrons.
 By inserting rods made of these materials at variable distance
into the core, the no. of free neutrons, and thus the no. of
fission events, can be controlled so that the desired amount of
E is released.
 These control rods vessel are inserted from the top or bottom
of the reactor vessel and are pulled out when a higher power
output is desired.
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C. Assembling a Nuclear Reactor
 The design of commercial nuclear power plant
 The operation of a boiling water reactor (BWR)
 Fig. 14.8 shows the schematic of the general layout of one
such reactor, called a boiling water reactor.
 The central part of the plant is the reactor core, in which the
uranium fuel is assembled for the generation of steam for the
turbine-generator.
 The fuel is in the form of pellets of uranium dioxide (UO2),
fabricated from uranium ore that has been enriched to about
3% 235U. These pellets are placed in long fuel rods made of a
zirconium alloy. The fuel rods are assembled into more than
500 bundles, or assemblies, each bundle containing 50-70
rods.

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Fig. 14-8 Block diagram of a boiling water reactor (BWR).

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 In a typical BWR, there are about 35,000 fuel rods containing
about 120 tons of uranium fuel. The bundles of rods are
placed in containment within the core (Fig. 14.9) and covered
with water. Between these bundles are from 130 to 180
control rods.
 The core and water are contained in a reactor vessel. A
primary containment structure, made of steel and surrounded
by reinforced concrete, encloses this vessel and much of the
primary water cooling loop (Fig. 14.11).
 This primary containment is located within a large airtight
building known as the secondary containment. This structure
is composed of several feet of steel-reinforced concrete and is
built to absorb an impact as great as that of 747 jetliner crash.
 The water that surrounds the fuel rods in the reactor serves 2
purposes: (1) to carry away the heat E produced in the fission
process, (2) to moderate (slow down) the neutrons produced
in the fission reaction.

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Fig. 14.9 Inspecting fuel bundles in preparation for loading the reactor core.

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Fig. 14.11 Construction of the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant, Oswego NY,
showing primary containment. The secondary containment is the circular structure.
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 The E liberated in fission heats the fuel rods and the
surrounding water, turning it to steam at about 280oC. The
neutrons produced in fission are captured by 235U nuclei in the
same fuel rod.
 The 2nd purpose of water in the core is to act as a moderator.
The neutrons in the core have a better chance of being
captured by 235U and inducing fission if their KE is small.

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D. Types of Light Water Reactors
 Boiling water reactor (BWR) and pressurized
water reactor (PWR)
 BWR and PWR are the most dominant technology for
nuclear reactor technology
 99% of the nuclear power in US and 80% of that in world is
produced by these 2 types of reactors.
 In US, 66% of the reactors are PWRs, including the one that
failed at TMI.
 The schematic for PWR is shown in Fig. 14.13. There are 2
fluid loops: primary and secondary one. The water in the
reactor core is heated to roughly 315oC, but it is not turned
into steam because the high pressure in the primary loop.

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Fig. 14.13 Block diagram of a pressurized water reactor (PWR).
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 In PWR, a heat exchanger or steam generator is located
between the primary loop and a secondary loop to transfer
heat into water in the secondary loop, causing it to turn into
steam.
 The secondary loop in the PWR acts like the main loop in a
BWR; the steam turns the turbine, passes through a
condenser, and then is pumped back to the heat exchanger.
 The radioactivity that is present in the primary loop of the
PWR is better contained than in a BWR, because the primary
loop never comes into contact with the turbine or the
condenser.
 Because of the increased pressure in the primary loop in the
PWR, a sturdier reactor vessel is required for a PWR. Fuel
data for both types of the reactors are given in Table 14.2.
 The Fukushima reactors were all BWR. 23 of the BWRs in US
are of a similar design but have greater reinforced secondary
containment buildings and reactor vessels.

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E. The Nuclear Fuel Cycle
 From raw mines to fuel bundles
 The nuclear fuel cycle from mining to waste disposal
 The nuclear fuel cycle involves the physical/chemical
processes to produce the fuel used in nuclear reactors and to
dispose of waste products and unused fuel (the spent fuel).
 The last step of the fuel cycle, those processes that occur
after the spent fuel has been extracted from the reactor, are
particularly important today and can include reprocessing of
the spent fuel to extract the unused U and Pu, and/or the
storage of high-level radioactive wastes.
 The steps in this cycle are sketched in Fig. 14.14.

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Fig. 14.14 The number fuel cycle from mining to waste disposal.

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 Mining
 The 1st step in producing fuel rods is the mining of U-bearing
ores from the earth by methods similar to those used for other
metal ores, e.g., open pit and underground mining.
 U mills extract the uranium from the ore by chemical methods
and convert it to an oxide form called yellowcake. These
oxides are then shipped to a plant where enrichment of the
235U takes place.

 Fuel enrichment
 Enrichment is a major undertaking in the nuclear fuel cycle.
Both chemical and physical methods are used.
 The major enrichment method is gaseous diffusion.
 In this method, the uranium oxide (UO) is treated with hydrogen
fluoride to convert it to uranium hexafluoride (UF6) in a gas form.
The UF6 gas is forced through a series of thin, porous barriers.
The 235U molecule will diffuse through the porous barriers.
 This enrichment process is quite E intensive, requiring an
electrical E input about 10% of the net output of the nuclear
power plant.
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 Second enrichment method is with a centrifuge.
 As particles move in a circle, the more massive ones will move
toward larger radii. Starting with UO, 235U can be separate out
from the UO. It has a better U separation factor and is less E-
consuming than the diffusion method, but it requires more
precise engineering.
 The laser enrichment is the recent developing method.
 This method has an advantageous over gaseous diffusion in
that very high levels of enrichment (60%) can be achieved in a
single step, and the overall processing cost is much less.
 Unfortunately, a disadvantage of this method is that membership
in the world’s nuclear club might increase because of this
simpler and cheaper method to produce fissionable fuel.

 Fuel reprocessing
 Additional fuel can be recovered yet it create
additional concerns (radioactivity, potential of weapon-
grade element)

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 After about 3 years of use in a reactor, the fuel elements must
be removed, even though they still contain some unused
fissile material. Fuel changes in a reactor are made annually,
with about 1/3 (30 tons) of the core being removed each time.
 These spent fuel elements are stored under water in storage
pools at the reactor site to let the short-lived radioactive
isotopes decay.
 Today all the spent fuel that has ever been generated by that
reactor is stored on site. Storage pools at some reactors are
running out of space, which might cause some reactors to
shut down when all their space is filled unless alternate
storage facilities are provided.
 These spent fuel rods continue to be thermally hot due to
radioactive decay, so cooling is required to prevent them from
melting.
 Many commercial nuclear power plants today are moving
toward storing spent nuclear fuel in a dry-cask storage
containers made of steel and/or concrete.
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 These casks are either placed upright above ground on
concrete pads (Fig. 14.16) or stored horizontally in concrete
bunkers. These structures are considered only for temporary
storage, until a facility for receiving high-level unclear waste is
completed.
 The reprocessing of reactor fuel to extract unused U and Pu
has long been thought to be an integral part of the fuel cycle
program.
 However, fears of nuclear proliferation has posed questions
about whether reprocessing is worth the risk. The US now has
a federal law prohibiting reprocessing for commercial purpose.
 In Europe, France and England have reprocessing plants and
have exported some of this technology to developing
countries, which is a matter of great controversy.
 Other European nations, and Japan, use France’s
reprocessing capabilities to extract Pu. This is mixed with UF6
to serve as fuel for their reactors. One of the Fukushima
reactors ran with this mixture.
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Fig. 14.16 Above-ground, dry-cask storage containers for temporary isolation of spent
nuclear fuel.

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 The benefits of reactors fuel reprocessing are
 The increase (about 30%) in E available from U by the recovery
of unused U and Pu.
 A reduction in the cost of nuclear power.
 The development of a technology important for the breeder
reactor, in which reprocessing is necessary to recover the Pu
that is produced.
 Lessening the problem of radioactive waste disposal by a
reduction in the amount of long-lived radio-isotopes.
 Debate centers on whether these benefits are small
compared to the long-term risks of introducing into the civilian
sector a technology from which one product is weapon-grade
plutonium.
 Would this step undercut efforts to limit unclear proliferation,
or can we safely guard the reprocessed fuel with the same
security we have developed for other military operations?


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F. Radioactive Wastes
 The challenging task of isolating radioactive
wastes
 Various sources of radioactive wastes
 One of the most crucial issues facing the nuclear power
industry is whether we can develop an acceptable and safe
method of isolating radioactive wastes from the environment
for thousands of years.
 The spent fuel taken from the reactor after refueling are called
high-level radioactive wastes. The spent fuel removed from all
US nuclear power plants is 2000 tons/year.
 These high-level of wastes are highly radioactive and contain
many nuclides with half-lives of hundreds or thousands of
years.

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 Their health hazards come from both their radiation and their
chemical toxicity. Almost all the high-level radioactive wastes
generated by US civilian nuclear plants since their initial
operation are now stored on site. More than 40,000 tons are
now stored.
 Many of the radioisotopes have long half-lives; these
concentrated wastes will remain thermally hot for a long-time
(1000 year or more) because of the radioactive decay heat.
 The long-term storage of high-level wastes presents a difficult
problem. A principal hazard is that a leak will develop in the
containment structure and that radioactive products will
escape into the groundwater and eventually into food and
drinking water.
 A disposal site must provide multiple barriers to water or
waste movement. The movement of any waste material away
from the containment structure must be inhibited by the
surrounding material from reaching the surface for thousands
of years.
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 Not all radioactive wastes are high-level waste. Low-level
radioactive wastes are generated at educational facilities,
hospitals, industries, and at nuclear power plants; they include
radiochemicals, gloves, papers, contaminated machine parts,
and similar items
 2 categories of high-level radioactive wastes.
 The 1st includes fission products. The most important of these
are 90Sr and 137Cs; these nuclei are gamma and/or beta emitters
with half-lives of 30 years.
 The 2nd category of wastes includes those formed not by fission
but by neutron absorption in the original U fuel. These elements
are called actinides and are chemically very toxic. 239Pu is the
best example of an actinide, with a half-life of 24,000 years.
 Table 14.4 lists the most important radioisotopes found in
radioactive wastes.
 The level of radiation from nuclear wastes decreases with
time (Fig. 14.17). A reasonable time for the isolation of high-
level waste would be at least 1000 years.

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Fig. 14.17 The total radioactivity of high-level nuclear wastes over time.

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 Radioactive wastes come from operation of both commercial
and military reactors. The volume of the solid high-level waste
generated by a single 1000-MWe plant during one year’s
operation is about 2 m3.
 The largest amount of radioactive wastes in US today comes
from the military defense program. These waste (80 million
gallons) are stored in large underground tanks. Some storage
tanks developed leaks in earlier years, with about 500,000
gallons discharged into the ground over a period of years,
although with no known human casualties.
 Methods are being developed now to concentrate the liquid
radioactive wastes from military reprocessing facilities into
solid form, which will reduce their volume and make them
easier and safer to store.

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 Selection of a nuclear waste repository
 The selection of a nuclear waste repository is a very sensitive
political issue. Although many experts agree that we now
have the technical know-how to isolate such wastes for
thousands of years, a “not-in-my-backyard” (NIMBY)
sentiment is embraced by many people.
 In December 1987, the Yucca Mountain, Nevada, location
was selected as the candidate repository (Fig. 14.18).
 In 2009, this facility was abruptly removed from the list of
possible nuclear waste repositories. However, we’ll continue
use it as an example of procedures of assessing future site.
 The procedures of assessing the site of nuclear waste
repository is lengthy and costly. The investigation was to have
lasted several more years at a cost of US$6 billion, and was
focusing on earthquakes, volcanoes, water movement
through the rock, and performance over time of the canisters
containing the waste.

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 Work had also been started on a 23-km-long tunnel in the
side of Yucca Mountain to investigate water movement in the
rock and carry out seismological studies.
 If at any time during its studies the government had found this
candidate site was not suitable for a high-level waste
repository, site characterization would have stopped, and the
site would have been returned to its natural state.

Fig. 14.18 Yucca Mountain, Nevada: An artist’s concept of the handling complex at the
proposed site for the 1st geologic repository for high-level radioactive waste in the US.
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 If this site had been approved, construction would have begun
in 2010, and the facility could have begun accepting spent
fuel several years later.
 The rock formations at the Yucca Mountain site consist of tuff,
which is a dense form of volcanic ash, produced more than 13
million years ago.
 For most permanent isolation disposal schemes, a multiple
barrier approach for containment will be used (Fig. 14.19).
The solidified high-level defense wastes will be 1st
encapsulated in ceramic or glass container.
 These wastes will be placed inside stainless steel canisters
for placement underground in a large cave. The repository
rooms will be surrounded by backfill materials to retard the
penetration of water.
 These storage rooms are located in stable geological
formations, the third component of the multiple-barrier
systems.

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Fig. 14.9 Possible container for storing radioactive wastes.

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 Summary of radioactive waste disposal options
 Additional options proposed for the final management of high-
level radioactive wastes are (a) isolation in other geologically
stable regions, and (b) total elimination.
 Fig. 14.20 summarizes these options. Representative of the
first alternative is disposal in other geologic formations such
as salt mines, seabeds, or the polar ice caps.
 Every country pursuing its own path in nuclear waste
management (Fig. 14.21). Most countries with nuclear
reactors have interim storage facilities but only ongoing
research for permanent disposal, although most involve some
form of underground burial.
 Germany has the only operating geological disposal facility in
Western Europe. Germany’s radioactive wastes after
reprocessing are stored as liquids for a limited period of time,
then solidified, and finally chemically bonded into gas.

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Fig. 14.20 Summary of radioactive waste disposal options. Possible management and
disposal technologies for high-level wastes are diagrammed. The total elimination schemes
are not likely to be pursued. Granite or salt formation can be developed for either retrievable
or non-retrievable disposal.
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 France uses a similar encapsulation process and stores the
glass blocks in a surface facility. France is considering
disposal in granite rock.
 In Britain, liquid high-level wastes are stored in tanks, and
final burial sites are still being researched.
 Canada, with its large resources of uranium, will probably not
reprocess; granite formations are being examined as a
repository.
 China, although relatively new to the nuclear power market,
will do reprocessing and has earmarked spent fuel storage
tanks inland.
 Whatever the repository selected, the waste material from the
spent fuel pools at each power plant site will be transported to
the repository in solid form in armored casks.
 The casks have been designed and tested to withstand
abnormal accidents without a release of radioactive material.

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Fig. 14.21 International nuclear
waste disposal programs.

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 Still, critics fear accidents can spread long-lived radiation over
a large area and that many communities are ill-prepared to
handle such a catastrophe.
 The costs of geologic disposal methods are expected to be
relatively small, adding about 1% to the cost of nuclear power.
A fee of 1/10 of US$1￠/kWh is now collected by the US
government from all utilities operating nuclear plants for
financing the repository.

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G. Decommissioning
 The final stage of nuclear power plant
 Last stage yet very costly and time-consuming
 The power plant will reach the end of its useful life. An
operating license usually is for 35 to 40 years, with renewable
for 20 years possible. The closing down of a power plant for
good is known as “decommissioning.”
 The plant will contain both activated material (those were
made radioactive from neutron bombardment during fission)
and contaminated material (radioactive material deposited on
a nonradioactive surface).
 Radioactive contamination can be removed from surface by
washing, whereas activated products must be allowed to
decay.

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 3 decommissioning options: immediate dismantling,
mothballing, and entombment.
 By mothballing a plant, radioactive levels are allowed to
decline to acceptable levels so that dismantling can proceed.
 Entombment encases the plant in concrete with appropriate
surveillance afterwards until radioactivity decays to
background levels.
 The radioactive debris will include reactor cores, concrete
supports, and metal piping and valves, averaging some
18,000 m3. The high-level wastes such as the spent fuel await
a permanent disposal site.
 Decommissioning a nuclear plant can cost US$1 billion and
time consuming (decades).
 The cost is between 10% to 25% of the cost of constructing a
nuclear reactor today. Projects can run over budget if the
plant is more contaminated than previously thought.

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H. Radioactive Releases
 Different levels of accident
 Radioactive releases from normal conditions to
catastrophic accidents
 One of the prime concerns of the public, the government, and
industry since the beginning of peaceful uses of nuclear E in
the 1950s has been the release of radioactivity associated
with the operation of a nuclear power plant.
 Many of the statements made are purely subjective from a
social, moral, or economic viewpoint without an understanding
of the physical principles.
 Certainly all these issues must be weighed because
technology does not operate in a vacuum.
 Eventually, a comprehensive view of the entire E situation will
have to be made to form opinions on the merits of nuclear E.

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 There are about 10 billion curies (unit of radioactivity) of
radioactive material within an operating reactor, so reactor
safety is a crucial issue. Many precautions are taken to
prevent accidents, including the design, inspection, testing,
and maintenance of reactors.
 The current safety record is excellent: in more than 2000
reactor-years of US operation, there have been no direct
radiation-related death. Internationally, this safety record
jump to 11,000 reactor-years of civilian operation in 30
countries (excluding the former Soviet Union and Japan).
 However, controversy still exists about the long-term effects
of low-level radiation on human health in the normal
operation of a reactor (and from radioactive waste disposal).
 Radiation from the reactor building: normal operation
 As shown in Fig. 14.8, the steam in a BWR leaves the core
and enters the turbine and then the condenser before
returning to the reactor vessel.
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 Small quantities of radioactive fission products can enter the
primary coolant through tiny leaks in the fuel rod cladding.
The radioactive fission product gases are primarily krypton
(Kr), xenon (Xe), and vaporized iodine (I).
 When the gases leak from the fuel rods, they enter the steam
cycle and pass through the turbine to the condenser. The
radioisotopes (85Kr, 131I, and 133Xe) are gases and they are
vented into the atmosphere.
 The gases are passed through filters and activated charcoal
absorbers, where they held up for several half-lives before
they are released through tall stacks into the environment;
there they are subject to normal atmospheric dispersion.
 Some of the greatest environmental contamination in Japan
was due to 131I, released from the damaged fuel/containment
structure.
 The problem of radioactive emissions is less difficult for a
PWR because the primary coolant never comes into contact
with the turbine and condenser.
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 A coolant water purification unit removes the low-level
radioactive material from the primary loop and converts it into
solids for shipment to a low-level waste disposal facility.
 The radioactive gases are held up for many half-lives in a
large tank and then released to the atmosphere. There are
fewer of these gaseous wastes in a PWR, so they can be held
up longer, resulting in lower radioactive emissions than from a
BWR.
 Liquid waste emissions from a power plant come from leaks in
the coolant piping system of the water purification system.
These are collected, chemically treated, temporarily stored, or
held up, and then released.
 The amount of such leakage is usually small, but its presence
is one of the reasons for installing the reactor vessel in a
special building or containment capable of holding the
radioactive material in case of a leak (Fig. 14.12).

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 Standard for the max. allowable radiation exposure for the
general public are set by the government. They are based on
studies of genetic effects of radiation, although at much higher
exposure levels than we would normally encounter.
 In US, the current limit for the general public is 170 mrem/y
(mrem is another unit used to measure radiation dose) above
the background level, which itself averages about 100
mrem/y. More detail will be discussed in Chapter 15.
 In response to controversy about whether these limits were
too high, the Atomic Energy Commission in US proposed in
the early 1970s that exposure no greater than 5 mrem/y for
any individual living as close as the power plant boundary.
 Catastrophic accidents
 Possibility of the reactor exploding like a bomb
 In the activation of a fission bomb, 2 subcritical masses of
very pure 235U or 239Pu are forced together by conventional
explosive, and fission is initiated by the addition of neutrons.
Introduction to Energy Technology 55
 Because there is such a high concentration of fissionable
material, the chain reaction proceeds very rapidly with a
multiplication of the number of fissions, and a large amount of
E is generated in a very short time. Vast heat E is produced
and shock wave is formed, causing a blast that can damage
buildings many miles away.
 In a nuclear reactor, the fuel is much less rich in fissionable
material than in a bomb, and the chain reaction proceeds only
in a slow, controlled manner.
 Any increase in the temperature of the core will decrease the
density of the moderator, increase the percentage of fast
neutrons, and thus slow down the chain reaction.
 Even in the unlikely event that the core itself melts, the
density of fissionable material will be much less than the fuel
rods. Thus a nuclear explosion of the reactor is impossible.

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 Loss of coolant accident
 The possibility of a meltdown of the reactor core as a result of
a loss of coolant accident (LOCA) and the release of
radioactive material into the environment.
 This occurred to some extent at TMI in 1979. The water that
surrounds the fuel elements in the core not only moderates
the E of the neutrons but also carries away the heat produced
in the fission process.
 If there is a rupture in the incoming or outgoing water line, the
core will start to increase in temperature because of the decay
heat of the fission products, even if the reactor is scrammed
by the complete insertion of the control rods.
 With the removal of water in a LOCA, the cladding of fuel
pellets starts to melt at about 1200oC, in the absence of any
cooling. At higher temperature, the cladding will react with the
steam to form H2, providing even more heat and explosive
gas. This was the source of the hydrogen bubble at TMI.

Introduction to Energy Technology 57

 If the fuel rods completely melted because of a LOCA, they
would from a heap at the bottom of the reactor vessel. Over a
period (from few minutes to few hours), the heap might melt
through the steel plate of the vessel and fall to the concrete
bottom of the containment.
 A more serious accident is that the reactor vessel cracked
open as a result of increased gas pressure within. If the
concrete containment buildings were breached also, the
radioactive debris would be released to the atmosphere.
 This is what occurred at Chernobyl and, to a small extent,
Japan. Appropriate wind conditions could carry the materials
into densely populated areas, resulting in more fatalities.
 Because of the small possibility of a break in the cooling lines,
engineering safety systems have been installed in all reactors
to provide emergency cooling of the event of an accident. It
consists of tanks of water under high pressure that are ready
to spray water into the core when triggered by an increase in
core T.
Introduction to Energy Technology 58
 Nuclear reactor accidents
 Many incidents of unclear reactors have occurred in
the past 40 years at US and other countries.
 Three miles island (TMI)
 On March 28, 1979, the worst accident at US nuclear power
plant occurred at the TMI PWR in Pennsylvania. The incident
was caused by a feedwater pump stopped working.
 The direct cause of the accident was determined to be
operator error. As an outgrowth of the TMI accident, many
changes were made in operating procedures and training in
the nuclear industry.
 Chernobyl
 On April 26, 1986, the worst accident in the history of nuclear
power occurred at the Chernobyl Unit 4 reactor in the
southwestern Soviet Union (now Ukraine).

Introduction to Energy Technology 59

 The accident resulted in 31 immediate fatalities, the
hospitalization of hundreds of people, and contamination of
crops and water across Western Europe. A 2005 UN study
estimated that 4,000 people will die from cancer linked to the
release of radioactive material.
 One of the largest consequences of Chernobyl has been its
effect on the public perception of nuclear power and related
safety issue. The Chernobyl accident demonstrates vividly
that nuclear safety is truly a global issue.
 The Chernobyl Unit 4 used an RBMK reactor design, which is
quite different from reactors in any other part of the world. The
RBMK’s fuel rods are located in separate pressure tubes
placed in holes within a graphite moderator block (Fig. 14.24).
 At low power levels, the RBMK reactor design become
extremely unstable. Suddenly, the reactor’s power increased
to 100 times max. The control rods could only be inserted
slowly, and, with safety systems off, T rapidly.

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 The fuel rods melted and generated a vast amount of steam,
which blew off the top of the reactor (Fig. 14.25).
 The radioactive cloud from Chernobyl (containing 137Cs and
131I) produced fallout in erratic patterns throughout western

Europe (Fig. 14.26).

Fig. 14.24 Schematic of the RBMK

reactor at Chernobyl. The core
contains bundles of fuel rods
placed in a graphite moderator
block. Water rising through the
tubes in the block is converted into
steam. The containment over the
top of the core was weak.
Introduction to Energy Technology 61
 Today, the reactor is entombed in 300,000 tons of concrete.
However, this 10-story tall sarcophagus is unstable, decaying,
and not well sealed to keep out rainwater. The inside remain
thermally hot due to the radioactive decay heat.
 Work started in 2010 to build a better containment structure
for Unit 4. The 100-m steel arch will cover the present
sarcophagus and allow the reactor to be dismantled.

Fig. 14.25 Aerial view of Chernobyl’s damaged Reactor

# 4. The roof was blown off the plant, unleashing a
cloud of radioactive material from the reactor core.

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 The risk of a disaster will decrease because of safety
improvements that are going to be adopted as a result of
Chernobyl. After every major accident, modifications are
made.

Fig. 14.26 Radiation fallout pattern in Europe from the Chernobyl accident.

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 International experts reviewed the Soviet report on Chernobyl
said that an opportunity now exists for the world’s safety
experts to learn from this event to greatly improve our
understanding of nuclear safety. Whether that will occur
remains to be seen.
 Ukraine has 50% of its electricity comes from nuclear power.
 Fukushima Daiichi
 The March 11, 2011, Japan’s earthquake and tsunami
brought disaster to both people and structures. Fukushima
Daiichi has 6 reactors, but only 3 were operating on March 11.
 Damage to the reactor core and to the secondary containment
building occurred due to the earthquake and the flooding of
the backup system.
 Lack of sufficient cooling water (as there was no power for
pumps) caused the reactor core and spent fuel storage pool
to have partial meltdowns and be exposed to air.

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 Higher T in these places brought about a chemical reaction
between the steam and zironium metal making up the fuel
rods.
 This produced H2 gas. Explosions of this gas occurred in
several reactors, damaging the containment structures and
releasing radioactive material into the environments, about
10% that released at Chernobyl.
 Seawater was pumped into the reactors to cool them, and
water was dropped from helicopters. The concern was that
the salt would block some of the cooling channels.
 Radiation fields existing around the 3 damaged reactors were
extraordinarily high. At the plant, levels 20 times the amount
allowed annually to a radiation worker were observed.
 People within a 20-km radius of the reactor complex were
evacuated, and people beyond this distance were advised to
stay inside, prevent any air from outside entering the house,
and take potassium iodide tablets to reduce the uptake of
radioactive iodine by the thyroid.
Introduction to Energy Technology 65
 Cleanup at the reactor sites will be long and costly. The
reactor core with its partially melted fuel rods, the spent fuel
pools, and the contaminated containment buildings and
surrounding soil will have to be cleaned up and relocated. It
will not be an easy job.

Introduction to Energy Technology 66

It is a series of equipment failures and releases of radioactive materials at
the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, following the Tohoku earthquake
(magnitude 9) and tsunami (14 m height flooded the plant) on 11 March
2011. The plant comprises 6 separate boiling water reactors.

Satellite image on 16 March of the four damaged

reactor buildings

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Area photo of Fukushima nuke
power plant before explosion

Damage of photo #4 reactor of

Fukushima nuke power plant

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Comparison between Fukushima and Chernobyl accident

Fukushima nuclear accident Chernobyl disaster

Date 11 March 2011 – ongoing 26 April 1986
Location Fukushima, Japan Chernobyl, Ukraine
Outcome INES Level 7 INES Level 7
Reported
4,000 (by WHI), more than 200,000
injuries or 2 dead, 37 with physical injuries
(by Greenpeace)
dead
170,000–200,000 people were
evacuated on March 13, 2011. On
Evacuated April 13, 2011, a 20-km zone 160,000 people were evacuated and
people around Daiichi as a "no-go" zone resettled
was declared, about 80,000
residents were affected.

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I. Probabilistic Risk Assessment and
Nuclear Safety
 Risk and safety of nuclear power
 How to assess risks
 An assessment of any technology should take into account
the benefits and risks involved. Risks are always involved in
any activity.
 In considering the risks for various types of accidents, note
that risk is the probability of occurrence (e.g. the chance per
mile traveled or per reactor-year of operation) of that accident
multiplied by the consequence per accident (e.g. the number
of fatalities or injuries).
 One intensive examination of the risks involved in the use of
nuclear power was made in 1975 US government-sponsored
study on reactor safety, the so-called Rasmussen Report.

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 The report attempted to establish the probabilities that
accident of various severities would occur.
 But, this reported was withdrew several years after the
publication because of questions about the methods used in
the analysis and the large uncertainties in some of the
numbers.
 Even though the report cannot prove that reactors are safe or
dangerous, it is still helpful to present the conclusions of that
report.
 Probability of nuclear accident
 The report calculated that probability of a core meltdown is 1
in 20,000/reactor/year. Not every core meltdown would lead to
a release of radioactivity (about 1 in 10 LOCA would lead o
breach of containment), and those that did might affect only a
small number of people.
 The accident at TMI did not breach containment; its
radioactive emissions were released by an operator in the
process of controlling rising pressure within the reactor.
Introduction to Energy Technology 71
 The probability of a major reactor accident with a release of
radioactivity and about 1000 fatalities-direct (form cancer) and
indirect (from genetic effects)-as a result of LOCA was
estimated in this study to be 1 in 100 million reactor-years.
 From the viewpoint of a person living near a reactor, the
likelihood of being killed in any one year by a reactor accident
is 1 in 5 billion. Compare this with a chance in 2 million of
death by lightning.
 Nonnuclear catastrophes were found to be about 10,000
times more likely than nuclear plant accidents to produce
equal numbers of fatalities. A summary of these conclusions
is given in Table 14.5 and Fig. 14.27.
 The technique of predicting the likelihood and consequences
of accidents is called probabilistic risk assessment. It is used
to provide insight into which factors are significant in reactor
safety and which are not.

Introduction to Energy Technology 72

Introduction to Energy Technology 73
Fig. 14.27 Probability of an accident
producing a certain number of
fatalities. (Source: WASH-1250, US
Department of Energy)

Introduction to Energy Technology 74

 We can calculate the probability of such a simultaneous
failure of many components by estimating the probability of
failure of one component, multiplying it by that of another
components, and so on.
 The calculations and philosophy leading to the probabilities
stated in the Rasmussen Report are not accepted by some
critics because they are based on computer models of
possible accidents and not on actual experience.
 We can check on these estimates by noting that in 3,000
reactor-year of US commercial and naval LWR operations,
there has never been a core meltdown.
 It appears that the report’s estimates might be accurate to
within a factor of 10. Note that these calculations are for the
LWR, as are all US reactors; the RMBK reactor at Chernobyl
does not fall within this study.

Introduction to Energy Technology 75

 Consequence of nuclear accident
 In addition to calculating the probability of an accident with a
major release of radioactivity, we also have to ask about the
consequence of such an accident.
 To find these numbers, we need to know the effects of
radiation on humans (see Chapter 15) and the number of
cancer deaths or genetic effects caused per person per unit of
radiation dose.
 We do have data for such occurrences from laboratory animal
experiments and from the aftermath of the atomic bomb
explosions in Japan in 1945.
 As listed in Table 14.5, one accident scenario－a core
meltdown plus above-ground breach of the containment
vessel, with a chance of occurring once in a million reactor-
year-has been estimated to cause about 5,000 cancer
fatalities over a 30-year period and nearly 4,000 genetic
changes for all subsequent generations.

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 An extremely serious but less likely reactor accident－
occurring once in a billion reactor-years－ is an explosion of
the containment building as a result of a high internal steam
pressure, with direct release of radiation into the atmosphere,
coupled with adverse weather conditions.
 There could be many fatalities (3,000) in this case because of
excessive radiation exposure (over 100 mrem) in the first few
weeks after the accident, although deaths upto one year are
included in the table.
 The most serious health effect would be fatalities (1,500/year)
from latent cancer that would occur over a 30-year period in
the exposed population.
 Most cancer fatalities would occur from increased background
radiation from the ground. Ground doses would come mainly
from Cs and its gamma ray.
 These consequences could be reduced if the population were
evacuated and the land decontaminated.

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 The nuclear reactor safety system consists of a series of
precautionary measures and devices to prevent a
malfunction. If one safety system fails, another exists to back
it up. This defense in depth approach makes it unlikely that an
accident will occur.
 Continual monitoring and checks of the safety systems are
required by the NRC, with stiff fines to the utilities for even
small compliance failure.
 As a result of the TMI accident, many improvements in
instrumentation and operator training were made in nuclear
plants across US.
 The nuclear industry established committees to study safety
problems and conduct evaluations of operating practices at
the plant. Major improvements also have been made with
respect to emergency preparedness in case of an accident.

Introduction to Energy Technology 78

J. Alternate Reactor Designs
 To build a safer, cost less reactor
 Goal of future reactor
 Future reactor design aim at increasing safety, reducing
costs, and speeding up approval and construction times by a
more generic design.
 If nuclear power is to be a viable option, then new plants must
have simpler and more standardized designs. Over the years,
LWRs have become very complicated.
 A typical 1000-MWe nuclear plant contains between 30,000-
40,000 valves (10 times more than a similar-sized fossil-fuel
plant).
 Almost half of these could be eliminated by taking advantage of
changes in technology and requirements from the system were
designed originally.
Introduction to Energy Technology 79
 Increased redundancy and implementation of additional safety
features have caused the cost of power plants to rise sharply.
 The next generation of nuclear plants will probably by smaller
LWR (400-600 MWe), which will take less capital to build and
require shorter lead times.
 Larger power plants have been cheaper to build on a pre-kW
basis. However, smaller power plants will provide a closer
match between growth in electrical demand and generating
capacity. Also, smaller plants lend themselves more rapidly to
the use of safer and more reliable safety systems.
 Passive safety design
 Several new, standardized LWRs are currently under
development in US. They should be cost-competitive with
other types of electrical generating plants. They will employ
passive safety systems that will ensure there will be no
release material in the event of an abnormal event.

Introduction to Energy Technology 80

 Today, LWRs depend on the active intervention of electro-
mechanical devices and the action of operations to ensure the
safety of the plant and to protect the public from radioactive
releases.
 To reduce the likelihood of an accident, more and more safety
features have been added over the years, many of which are
backup or redundant systems.
 However, critics claim that not all possibilities or avenues
leading to an accident with the release of radioactivity can be
foreseen.
 Thus, another approach to a safe unclear of the reactor is the
use of passive safety systems, which rely on the inherent
characteristics of the reactor itself and the laws of physics.
 Such reactors depend on gravity feed from a water storage
pool to replace the coolant lost from the vessel in the event of
a LOCA or depend on natural heat transfer by conduction and
convention to dissipate the decay heat from the core to the
environment after a shutdown.
Introduction to Energy Technology 81
 Fig. 14.28 is the schematic of an advanced LWR that
achieves safety improvements by the use of passive features.
 These features include the use of gravity feed to provide long-
term cooling in the event of a LOCA.
 Increased water in the core to provide smaller power densities.
 High- gas-cooled reactor
 Another new type of reactor is the modular high- gas-cooled
reactor (HTGR). It also known as the pebble bed modular
reactor, is small (150-200 MWe) and is designed to be
immune to meltdown in the event of a LOCA.
 One of its key features is the use of tennis-ball sized ceramic
pebbles made of millions of grams of uranium that are
individually sheathed in graphite.
 These pebbles cannot melt at the temperatures that would be
achieved within the core. The HTGR uses He as the coolant;
it is run in the turbine-generator cycle at higher than steam,
so it has higher efficiency (40-45%) than conventional LWRs.

Introduction to Energy Technology 82

Fig. 14.28 The passive safety systems for a small BWR are based on an elevated pool
of water that encircles the reactor. If the normal heat-removal systems become unavailable,
decay heat is removed from the core by circulating coolant from the reactor vessel through an
isolation condenser submerged in the pool.

Introduction to Energy Technology 83

 The reactor output is controlled by changing the He flowrate,
not withdrawing control rods as in a LWR.
 Another passive safety feature is the low fuel density. As the
core becomes hotter, the fuel spreads apart, and the reaction
rate decreases. Several small modular units could strung
together to provide the equivalent output of a larger
commercial plant.
 Heavy water reactor
 In Canada, the preferred reactor uses heavy water (in which
the more massive isotope deuterium replaces H2) as the
coolant moderator.
 The advantage of using heavy water is that deuterium has a
neutron capture cross section only 1/600 as large as that of
H2. Thus, unenriched uranium can be used as the fuel
because the chain reaction generates enough neutrons to be
self-sustaining.

Introduction to Energy Technology 84

 This Canadian reactor, called CANDU, has a schematic
similar to that of the PWR. The fluid in the secondary loop is
regular water. The overall efficiency of the CANDU is29%.
 On-line refueling is possible. Although the cost of heavy water
is high, the Canadian experience to date is that the cost of
electricity produced is substantially less then that from a LWR.
 Breeder reactor
 This reactor breeds or produces more fuel than it consumes. It
can produce enough fuel for its own operation and generate
additional fissionable fuel for other reactors.
 This is done by the conversion of the nonfissionable 238U into
fissionable Pu, thus making much greater use of the E
potential in natural U. Current nuclear reactors burn only 235U,
which constitutes just 0.7% of natural U.
 The successful development of the breeder would ensure a
country with access to U of an almost unlimited supply of E.

Introduction to Energy Technology 85

 Breeders use high-E or fast neutrons to accomplish this task.
Fast neutrons have a relatively better chance of being
captured by 238U than by 235U.
 When fission occurs with fast neutrons, the number of
neutrons produced on average is greater than in slow-neutron
fission, so the breeding efficiency is increased.
 The object is to produce enough neutrons to sustain the chain
reaction and breed an amount of Pu that will at least replace
the 235U or 239Pu nuclei that are used up.
 To just maintain the chain reaction and replace the fissioned
nuclei, 2 neutrons per fission must be captured. The surplus
of neutrons above 2 could then go into the production of
additional fissionable fuel.
 The significance of this process is that we are also converting
238U into a useful fuel, 239Pu, rather than just using the 235U.

 The breeder promises to use 60% of the E content of natural

U instead of the present 1-2% of the LWR, thus amplifying the
reserves of uranium 50 times.
Introduction to Energy Technology 86
 Because one purpose of the water in the LWR is to slow the
fission neutrons so that their chance of capture by 235U is
higher, a different coolant must be used in breeder reactors.
 The coolant most often used today is liquid sodium, a metal.
The sodium nucleus has a larger mass than that of H2 or O2
nuclei of water, so it will not slow the fission neutrons as
much. Sodium as a coolant has excellent heat-transfer
properties.
 A disadvantage of sodium is that it reacts quite violently with
water and burns spontaneously in air. Thus, extra efforts have
to be made to prevent leaks in the cooling system. This type
of reactor is called the liquid metal fast breeder reactor
(LMFBR).

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L. Environmental and Economic
Summary of Nuclear Power
 Comparison of electricity with nuclear power and
coal
 Nuclear power vs. coal-fired power
 Any final assessment of the role of nuclear power in the years
ahead must consider the total E supply and demand as well
as the total environmental impact of E use.
 To aid in a comparison of E supply alternatives, it is helpful to
compare the environmental and economic consequences of
nuclear E and coal in the electricity production.
 The environment impact of each electrical system include:
 The land use in extraction, processing, and conversion (to
electricity) of the fuel.

Introduction to Energy Technology 88

 The air pollution associated with the conversion.
 The emission of radiation during normal operation or in the
event of an accident.
 The occupational health factors associated with the extraction,
processing, and conversion of the fuel.
 The storage of solid or stored waste.
 Table 14.6 summarizes the environmental impacts for a
1000-MWe power plant using either coal or uranium as the
fuel.
 If strip mining is used to provide the low-sulfur coal needed
by the power plant, then 17,000 acres/year per 1000-MWe
plant will have to be mined.
 Both nuclear and coal-fired plants have water discharge.
The nuclear plants emits 40% more waste heat than an
equivalent-size coal plant because of its lower efficiency.
 Coal-fired plants also emit radiation, as a result of the
presence of radioactive U and thorium in the coal. The
number of curies emitted depends on the type of coal.
Introduction to Energy Technology 89
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 The occupational health hazards of coal mining, especially
underground, have been reduced because of government
safety standards in US. However, in other countries, coal-
mining still cause significant occupational health problems.
 The health hazard to the general public as a result of the
emission of air pollutants is not known very well. In contrast
to nuclear power, little assessment has been made of the
hazards associated with fossil-fuel-based power systems.
 A coal-burning plant emits several hundred thousand tons
per year of SO2, NOx, and particulates. It is very difficult to
determine the public health effects of these emissions,
especially at very low levels.
 For an individual plant (1000 MWe coal-fired) that is meeting
new source standards with appropriate control devices, the
number of premature deaths for the entire operation is
estimated at 2-100/year for the workers and the public.

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 For air pollution, we probably also must consider nonfatal
illnesses and discomfort caused by respiratory diseases.
 The effects of radiation emission are taken from studies of
radiation effects on animals and from the Hiroshima and
Nagasaki bombings. Much more is known about the effects
of radiation than about chemicals at low levels.
 The number of deaths from radiation from the combined
operation of all nuclear plants and reprocessing facilities in
US is estimated at 10/year, or 0.01-02 premature deaths per
1000-MWe plant per year. For an individual 1000-MWe plant,
0.1-1 fatality/year from occupational accidents is estimated.
 Conclusion
 The health and environmental effects of operating a coal-
fired power plant are apparently greater than those of the
nuclear power option.
 Although the uncertainties of catastrophic accident, high-
level radioactive waste disposal, and nuclear proliferation
may discolor these conclusions in many people.
Introduction to Energy Technology 92
 These environmental impacts do not include other risks that
exist things that affects us globally and regionally and might
be the most important factors.
 Economics of nuclear power today
 With competition in the power generation, cost is the prime
concern, and nuclear plants are much more expensive to
build than gas and coal-fired plants.
 The operating cost of a power plant is made up of plant-
investment cost, O&M cost, and fuel cost. Capital cost
accounts for 70% of the cost of electricity produced by a
LWR but between 35-40% for a coal-fired plant.
 Fuel prices play a much smaller role in the operating cost of
a nuclear plant, accounting for 5-10% of the power cost for
nuclear compared to 50-60% for coal plants.
 In the mid-1970s, construction costs were US$ 600/kW for a
coal plant and US$ 730/kW for a nuclear plant. In the mid-
1980s, costs for a nuclear plant were as high as US$
4,000/kW.
Introduction to Energy Technology 93
 For unclear plant, the costs had escalated rapidly due to
increased labor and material costs, high interest and inflation
rates, construction delays caused by environmental and legal
constraints, and added complexity in the plant because of
safety concerns.
 Estimates of construction costs for proposed new nuclear
plants in 2008 to be US$ 5,000-6,000/kW; this included the
site, cooling towers, and transmission lines. Cost is one of the
main reasons why no nuclear reactors have been ordered in
US since 1979.
 There are hidden costs in the construction of nuclear plants
that are not included in these figures; e.g., the research that
has been done by the federal government over the years on
nuclear safety and waste management.
 There is a break in the special liability insurance required by
the companies that own the nuclear plants, which is limited by
law to a certain max.

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 Nuclear plants have been selling to large corporations. In new
hands, with inexpensive fuel costs, good operating records,
and high-capacity factors, nuclear has become very
competitive with fossil fuels.
 Table 14.7 examines estimated cost (in 2015) for electricity
generated by coal, gas, wind, and nuclear E. Nuclear power is
the most expensive per kWh, but only by about 10-15%.
 Experience by utilities in the 1970s in US using both coal and
nuclear units found that coal-fired electricity costs were
slightly greater per kWh than nuclear. This number turned
around in the 1980s for the reasons just listed.
 Some countries, with no natural E resources, continue to build
nuclear power plants. Concern also for the environmental
including global warming has prompted some countries to
continue to build nuclear plants. But whether this is viable
option is a controversial issue.

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 Future of nuclear power is uncertain now. Industrialized
countries will review their policy of nuclear power due to the
Fukushima nuclear accident. But few countries (China, India
and Korea) still continue expand the share of electricity from
nuclear power.

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