|Chapter 1: Introduction to Nuclear Energy

1.1 WHAT IS NUCLEAR ENERGY?

Nuclear Energy is describes exactly what it is – energy from the nucleus of an atom. The

bonds that hold atoms together are extremely powerful.

The use of this power can be two (2) way – Nuclear Fission and Nuclear Fusion.

1.1.1 Nuclear Fission

Nuclear Fission is energy obtain by manipulating one or several nuclei of atoms throughout

two different methods: attaching the cores from different atoms (the nuclear fusion) or splitting

given atom nuclei (the nuclear fission).

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In nuclear energy, nuclear fission is the action through which the nucleus of an atom is

divided. The core forms different fragments with a mass equivalent to half of the original mass

and two or three neutrons.

The total mass of the fragments is smaller than the original mass. The mass that's "missing"

(about 0.1 percent from the original mass) has been converted into energy according to Einstein's

equation (E = mc2). In this equation E is the energy obtained, m the referred mass and c is a

constant, the light's speed: 299,792,458 m/s2.

Nuclear fission occurs when the nucleus of a heavy atom captures a neutron (induced

fission), or it can occur spontaneously due to the instability of the isotope (spontaneous fission).

1.1.2 Nuclear chain reactions

The nuclear chain reaction is the process of releasing neutrons in a first nuclear fission and,

then, produce an additional fission in at least one more core. This nucleus also produces neutrons,

and the process continues.

These chain reactions can be controlled or uncontrolled. Controlled reactions would be

produced in nuclear reactions in nuclear power plants that generate electricity and their objective

is steadily. Uncontrolled nuclear reactions occur in nuclear weapons.

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If two neutrons are released in each fission caused by a neutron, the number of fissions

doubles on each generation. In this case, there are 10 generations in 1,024 fissions and 80

generations in approximately 6 x 10 23 fissions.

1.1.3 Critical mass

The critical mass is the smallest amount of fissile material necessary to maintain a nuclear

chain reaction.

Although each nuclear fission is produced from two to three neutrons, not all the neutrons

are valid to continue the fission reaction, as some of them are lost. If neutrons released by each

nuclear reaction are lost faster than they are formed by the fission rate, the chain reaction will not

be self-sustaining and will stop.

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The amount of critical mass of fissile material depends on several factors: physical

properties and nuclear properties, the geometry and the purity.

A sphere has the smallest surface area for a given mass, so it minimizes the neutron leakage.

If you also bordered the fissile material with a neutron reflector, we lose less neutrons and the

critical mass is reduced.

1.1.4 Controlled Nuclear Fission

To maintain a sustained nuclear reaction, control every 2 or 3 neutrons released, only one

can give another uranium nucleus. If this ratio is under one, then the reaction will die. If it's more

than one, it will grow uncontrollably (an atomic explosion). An absorber of neutrons must be

present to control the amount of free neutrons in the reaction space. Most of reactors are controlled

by control rods made of a strong material that absorbs neutrons (i.e boron or cadmium).

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In addition to the need to capture neutrons, the neutrons often have a high kinetic energy

(moving at high speed). These fast neutrons are reduced through the use of a moderator, such as

heavy water and tap water. Some reactors use graphite as a moderator, but this design presents

some problems. Once the fast neutrons are slowed they are more likely to produce more nuclear

fissions or they can be absorbed by the control bar.

1.1.5 Spontaneous Nuclear Fission

In these reactions the outer neutron absorption is not necessary. In certain isotopes of

uranium and plutonium, they have an unstable atomic structure and they fission spontaneously.

The rate of spontaneous fission is the probability per second for a given atom to fission

spontaneously - that is, without any external intervention. Plutonium 239 has a high spontaneous

fission rate compared to the rate of spontaneous fission of uranium-235.

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1.2 Nuclear Fusion

Nuclear fusion is a nuclear reaction through which two light nuclei of atoms, usually

hydrogen and its isotopes (deuterium and tritium), are combined forming a heavier nucleus. This

binding is usually accompanied by the emission of particles (in case of deuterium nuclei one

neutron is emitted). This nuclear fusion reaction releases or absorbs a lot of energy in the form of

gamma rays and kinetic energy of the emitted particles. This large amount of energy transforms

matters to a plasma state.

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The nuclear fusion reactions can emit or absorb energy. If the cores to merge have a lower

mass than iron, energy is released. Conversely, if the atomic nuclei that fuse are heavier than iron,

the nuclear reaction absorbs energy.

The nuclear fusion and the fusion of reactor core is different, which refers to the melting

of the reactor core of a nuclear power plant due to overheating caused by poor cooling. During the

Fukushima nuclear accident, this term was frequently used.

1.2.1 Nuclear fusion in nature

Besides of the Sun, stars are constantly experimenting nuclear fusion reactions. The light

and heat that we're feeling from the Sun is the result of these nuclear fusion reactions: hydrogen

nuclei collide and fuse resulting in a heavier helium nucleus releasing a tremendous amount of

energy. The released energy reaches Earth in the form of electromagnetic radiation.

The forces of gravity in the universe generate perfect conditions for nuclear fusion.

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A nuclear fusion reactions are also called thermonuclear reactions due to the high

temperatures they experience. The temperature os the sun is close to 15 million degrees Celsius.

1.2.2 Technical requirements for nuclear fusion

To perform nuclear fusion reactions, the following requirements must be present:

 Get a very high temperature to separate the electron from the nucleus, approaching this

another beating electrostatic repulsion forces. The gaseous mass consisting in the electrons

and free atoms is called highly ionized plasma.

 Confinement to keep the plasma at elevated temperature for the minimum time required.

 Sufficient plasma density to which the cores are close to each other and can generate the

nuclear fusion reactions.

1.2.3 Confinement nuclear fusion

Conventional landfills are used in nuclear fission reactors are not possible due to the high

temperatures of the plasma must endure. For this reason, we have developed two important

methods of confinement:

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Nuclear inertial confinement fusion (ICF): it consists in creating such dense medium

particles that do not have chance to escape without hitting each other. A small sphere composed

of deuterium and tritium is hit by a laser beam, causing thus their implosion. Then, it becomes

denser and explodes under the effect of the nuclear fusion reaction.

Nuclear magnetic confinement fusion (MCF): the electrically charged plasma particles are

trapped and confined through the action of a magnetic field space. The most developed device has

a toroidal shape and it's called Tokamak.

1.2.4 Nuclear fusion reactions

The atomic elements normally used in nuclear fusion reactions are Hydrogen and its

isotopes: the deuterium (D) and tritium (T). The major fusion reactions include:

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D + T -> 4He + n + 17.6 MeV Merging a nucleus of deuterium with tritium nucleus of a helium

nucleus consisting of two neutrons and two protons, releasing a 1 neutron and 17.6 MeV of energy.

D + D -> 3He + n + 3.2 MeV Merging Two Deuterium nuclei a Helium nucleus consisting of two

protons and one neutron, releasing a 3.2 MeV neutron and obtaining energy.

D + D -> T + p + 4.03 MeV

Merging Two Deuterium nuclei, a nucleus of tritium, we obtain a proton and 4.03 MeV.

These reactions require kinetic energy of the nuclei necessary for the reactants to approach

cores, overcoming then the forces of electrostatic repulsion. It's necessary to heat the gas to very

high temperatures, as it is supposed tthat it takes place in the center of stars.

The prerequisite of a nuclear fusion reactor is confining this plasma to temperature, high

density and at the right time, in order to enable the occurrence sufficient nuclear fusion reactions,

preventing the particles to escape for a net gain energy. This energy gain depends on the energy

needed to heat and confine the plasma, and it's less than the energy released by nuclear fusion

reactions. Generally, for every milligram of deuterium-tritium we can obtain 335 MJ.

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1.2.5 Fuel used for nuclear fusion reactions

For nuclear fusion reactions we need light nuclei. Basically deuterium and tritium, which

are two isotopes of hydrogen.

Deuterium is an isotope of hydrogen stable consisting of a proton and neutron. They subsist

in the water, one atom per 6500 atoms of hydrogen. It means that in seawater there's a

concentration of 34 grams for every cubic meter of water. The energy content of deuterium is so

high that the energy of deuterium can get a liter of seawater and it's equivalent to the energy you

can get 250 liters of oil.

Therefore, considering that three quarters of the planet is covered by water, nuclear fusion

is considered as an inexhaustible source of energy.

The other element used in nuclear fusion is tritium, the isotope of stable or radioactive atom

of hydrogen. It's composed of a proton and two neutrons by beta emission decays relatively

quickly. While tritium is scarce in nature, it can be generated by neutron capture reactions with the

isotopes of lithium. Lithium is an abundant material in the earth's crust and in seawater.

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1.2.6 Historical evolution and future projects on nuclear fusion

The origins of nuclear fusion are located around 1929 when Houtemans Atkinson showed

the possibility of obtaining energy from fusion reactions. However, the most important concepts

of nuclear fusion and its actual application have been developed since 1942 with the work of H.

Bethe, E. Fermi, E. R. Oppenheimer and Teller, among others. The Sherwood project showed the

first technological advances that helped to develop the concept of magnetic confinement, yielding

the first designs: z-pinch, and stellarator magnetic mirrors.

In 1961, J. Nuckolls (USA) and N. Basov (USSR) developed a technique that could be

obtained by high compression in nuclear fusion reactions caused by the transfer of energy. Secret

programs are well developed in the U.S. and Russia. Later, France followed this secret

development. Other countries such as Germany, Japan, Italy and the U.S. (Rochester) developed

open programs.

In 1965, Artsimovich presented the results of their research during the "2nd Conference on

Controlled Fusion and Plasma" about the TOKAMAK (Toroidal Kamera magnetik) concept.

In Tokamak concept, the need to confine the plasma magnetic field is the result of the

combination of a toroidal field, a poloidal field created by two toroidal coils, and a vertical field

(created by a transformer). The plasma acts as the secondary part of a transformer through which

current is induced heating it. Through the transformer primary circulates a variable current

intensity.

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In 1968, the Nobel N. Basov, Award reported obtaining ignition temperatures and the

production of neutrons in nuclear fusion reactions using lasers. Thereafter, it could have a lot of

equipment in construction and operation under the tokamak concept as: TFR (France), T-4 and T-

11 (USSR), and Alcator Ormak (USA). Something similar to the T-10 (USSR), PLT (USA), ETA

(GB), ASEDX (RFA) and Frascati (EURATOM-Italy) started to be built.

In the 70s he began the first series of publications on FCI (Nuclear Fusion by Inertial

Confinement). In the U.S., the principal investigators were Brueckner, Nuckolls, and Clark Kidder.

In Russia, Basov and his team showed the most advanced experiment, reaching nearly 3 million

neutron implosion areas of CD2.

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Based on this concept, there have been a lot of facilities that have enabled laser edge

research on nuclear fusion. From them we can highlight: NOVA (40 kJ, EUUU), OMEGA (30 kJ),

GEKKO-XII (10 kJ, Japan), Phebus (3 kJ, France), VOLCANO (UK), ISKRA-5 (Russia).

After these laser facilities have been developed, two major projects showed high profits:

National Ignition Facility (NIF) in the U.S. and Laser megajoule (LMJ) in France.

But the laser is not the only device capable of producing implosions. The thatelectrons and

beams of light and heavy ions are important candidates for inertial confinement nuclear fusion.

The following projects are born with light ions: ANGARA and PROTO (Russia), PBFA PBFA-I

and-II (USA).

Heavy ions in the absence of experiments have been unable to achieve accurate results,

although they have made certain predictions by theoretical simulations such as those in the HIDIF

Project (Heavy Ion Design of Ignition Facility) sponsored by several European laboratories and

institutes and the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory American.

In the 90s, TOKAMAK facilities as JET (EURATOM), TFTR (USA) and JT-60 (Japan)

yielded some power. The first was the JET, with a mixture of D (90%) and T (10%) achieved in

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1991, a power of 1.7 MW. Subsequently, in 1993, with a mixture of TFTR DT 50% came to 6

MW, reaching temperatures of 30 keV. The 29 MW heating was spent. Nowadays, the TFTR is

closed. Since now, they have come to produce up to 12 MW in nuclear fusion reactions controlled

for more than a second (JET, 1997) and surely the current technological advances will reach the

commercial range of hundreds of MW.

The experimental research in FCM (Nuclear Magnetic Confinement Fusion) in Spain is

concentrated in the CIEMAT (Centre for Energy, Environment and Technology), from 1983,

operating the first nuclear fusion machine, the TJ-I Tokamak.

From this moment, research has progressed steadily. In 1994 the first device in nuclear

fusion built entirely in Spain was presented: the Stellerator TJ-I upgrade, that was ceded in 1999

to the University of Kiel in enter the TJ-II operation.

The TJ-II was a major scientific leap from previous experiments, considered one of the

three most advanced stellerators in the world with German Wendelstein 7-AS the Max Planck

Institute in Munich and the Japanese LHD Nagoya University.

1.2.7 The draft nuclear magnetic confinement fusion: the ITER

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The most advanced nuclear Magnetic Confinement Fusion project ITER is the International

Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor prototype based on the Tokamak concept, and it's expected

to reach ignition. After the good results obtained in JET, in 1990 they continued the program with

a higher melting facility with the reactor, and they proved their auxiliary’s facilities with no

generation of electricity. In this project the European Union, Canada, USA, Japan and Russia were

active participants.

The goal is to determine the technical and economic feasibility of nuclear magnetic fusion to

generate electricity, as well as found the precondition for building a commercial demonstration

plant phase.

ITER is a technology project with a construction estimated in 10 years and at least 20 IP.

Among the technologies used for its construction and subsequent operation and maintenance, it

includes robotics, superconductivity, microwave, accelerators and control systems.

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The ITER machine will not produce electricity, and some solutions to the problems need

to be solved to make viable future fusion reactors. This ambitious research project will be finished

in 2050.

The investments for construction are estimated in 5,000 million euros approxinately.

Running costs will reach 5,300 million euros and decommissioning will reach 430 million euros.

The country of location (France) should bear the costs of site preparation and construction of the

building.

1.3 Nuclear Energy in Electricity

Electricity can be generated in different ways. For example, it can be made using solar

panels, by burning coal, or by capturing the heat from atoms that split apart. When the electricity

is made from atoms splitting apart, it's called nuclear energy.

“Thermal” power plants convert heat into electricity using steam. At nuclear power plants, the

heat to make the steam is created when atoms split apart — called fission. When atoms split apart,

they release heat. When the process is repeated over and over, it is called a chain reaction. In a

nuclear power plant, uranium is the material used in the fission process.

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The heat from fission boils water and creates steam to turn a turbine. As the turbine spins,

the generator turns and its magnetic field produces electricity. The electricity can then be carried

to your home, so you can work on the computer, watch television or make toast! About 20 percent

of the electricity in the U.S. comes from nuclear energy. That means one out of every five homes

in this country can turn on their lights due to the atom!

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, also called the NRC, regulates nuclear power

plants. We make sure they are safe for people who work there and live nearby, and for the

environment.

1.4 Nuclear Reactors

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Nuclear power plants are very complex. There are many different buildings at the site and

many different systems. Some of the systems work directly to make electricity. Some of the

systems work to keep the plant working correctly and safely. All nuclear power plants have a

"containment structure" that holds the reactor. And all plants have deep pools where the nuclear

fuel when it is no longer being used can be cooled and stored.

All nuclear power plants make electricity from the steam created by the heat of splitting

atoms. But there are two different ways that steam is used.

First one is Pressurized Water Reactors are known as "PWRs." They keep water under

pressure so that it heats but does not boil. Water from the reactor and the water that is turned into

steam are in separate pipes and never mix.

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The second is Boiling Water Reactors are known as "BWRs." In BWRs, the water heated

by fission actually boils and turns into steam to turn the generator. In both types of plants, the

steam is turned back into water and can be used again in the process.

In all nuclear power plants, the process of making electricity causes radioactivity. The

radioactivity comes from the splitting of the atoms. It must be carefully managed because it can

be dangerous if not handled properly. It can damage human cells or cause cancer over time. So all

nuclear power plants have many safety systems that protect workers, the public and the

environment.

1.5 Advantage of Nuclear Power

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The generation of electricity through nuclear energy reduces the amount of energy

generated from fossil fuels (coal and oil). Less use of fossil fuels means lowering greenhouse gas

emissions (CO2and others).

Currently, fossil fuels are consumed faster than they are produced, so in the next future

these resources may be reduced or the price may increase becoming inaccessible for most of the

population.

Another advantage is the required amount of fuel: less fuel offers more energy. It represents

a significant save on raw materials but also in transport, handling and extraction of nuclear fuel.

The cost of nuclear fuel (overall uranium) is 20% of the cost of energy generated.

The production of electric energy is continuous. A nuclear power plant is generating

electricity for almost 90% of annual time. It reduces the price volatility of other fuels such as

petrol.

This continuity benefits the electrical planning. Nuclear power does not depend on natural

aspects. It's a solution for the main disadvantage of renewable energy, like solar energy or wind

energy, because the hours of sun or wind does not always coincide with the hours with more energy

demand.

It's an alternative to fossil fuels, so the consumption of fuels such as coal or oil is reduced.

This reduction of coal and oil consumption benefits the situation of global warming and global

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climate change. By reducing the consumption of fossil fuels we also improve the quality of the air

affecting the disease and quality of life.

1.6 Disadvantages of Nuclear Energy

We've previously discussed the advantage of using nuclear energy to reduce fossil fuel

consumption. Organizations often use this argument in favor of nuclear energy but it's a partial

truth. Much of the consumption of fossil fuels is due to road transport, used in heat engines (cars,

trucks, etc.). Savings in fossil fuel for power generation is fairly low.

Despite the high level of sophistication of the safety systems of nuclear power plants the

human aspect has always an impact. Facing an unexpected event or managing a nuclear accident

we don't have any guarantee that decisions we took are always the best. Two good examples are

Chernobyl and Fukushima.

The Chernobyl nuclear accident is, by far, the worst nuclear accident in the history.

Different wrong decisions during the management of the nuclear plant caused a big nuclear

explosion.

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Referring to the Fukushima nuclear accident, the operations done by the staff were highly

questionable. Fukushima nuclear accident is the second worst accident in the history.

One of the main disadvantages is the difficulty in the management of nuclear waste. It takes

many years to eliminate its radioactivity and risks.

The constructed nuclear reactors have an expiration date. Then, they've to be dismantled,

so that main countries producing nuclear energy could maintain a regular number of operating

reactors. They've to built about 80 new nuclear reactors during the next ten years.

Nuclear plants have a limited life. The investment for the construction of a nuclear plant is

very high and must be recovered as soon as possible, so it raises the cost of electricity generated.

In other words, the energy generated is cheap compared to the cost of fuel, but the recovery of its

construction is much more expensive.

Nuclear power plants are objectives of terrorist organizations.

Nuclear power plants generate external dependence. Not many countries have uranium

mines and not all the countries have nuclear technology, so they have to hire both things overseas.

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Current nuclear reactors work by fission nuclear reactions. These chain reactions are

generated in case control systems fail, generating continuous reactions causing a radioactive

explosion that would be virtually impossible to contain.

Probably the most alarming disadvantage is the use of the nuclear power in the military

industry. The first use of nuclear power was the creation of two nuclear bombs dropped on Japan

during World War II. This was the first and the last time that nuclear power was used in a military

attack. Later, several countries signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but the risk that

nuclear weapons could be used in the future will always exist.

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