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Nuclear power plant → electricity |
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Spent fuel → reprocessing OR final storage |
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Mining: Release of radioactive elements into the surrounding |
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Enrichment: Proliferation of nuclear weapons |
Difference between fuel & weapons:
U-238: 99.3%, U-235: 0.7%
Powerplant: U-235 conc 3%
Weapons: U235 > 50% (expensive) |
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Nuclear power plant: Continuous emissions and accidents during operation. (Emissions neglectible) |
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Leakage of spent fuel and final deposition. |
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Proliferation, accidents and leakage most important |
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Proliferation to be taken seriously. |
- 440 reactors in the world, rather constant for many years.
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- Today there are 56 reactors under construction.
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Steps for the fuel from mine to waste |
Uranium ore
→ refined uranium (yellowcake)
→ Unranium hexaflouride (gas)
→ enrichment
→ uranium dioxide (ceramic powder, delivered to manufacturer of uranium rods)
→ pellets (sv: klutsar)
→ fuel rods
→ fuel assembles
→ use
→ waste (spent fuel) |
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Fuel rods to the reactor: |
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3.7% stable fission products |
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0.4% radioactive fission products |
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Measured uranium resources |
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Total available amount: ~16 million tons |
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Annual consumption in the world: |
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65 000-70 000 tons. Enough for 50-60 years. |
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About 100 tons of uranium fuel in a reactor |
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To Sweden: about 150 tons/year |
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~230 tons spent fuel from the Swedish reactors annually. |
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1kg uranium <=> 22 000 kg coal |
- Nuclear fuels: Dominating
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It is important to evaluate these resources in a fair way. |
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Nuclear Energy and Radioactivity 1
EnvSc
Lecture 3
Ecosystem 1
Exam & Assignments