Conversation with Merlin [email protected] · Thu Nov 16 2023

To complete this section of the task, follow these steps:

Use the "Fuel Comparison Template" below. Add other energy sources and metrics as you see fit (use your engineering judgment to decide what is essential!). Use consistent units (SI or Imperial) for all of the metrics, and state your unit assumption when presenting the data. Take notes on various implications of the energy sources, such as infrastructure requirements, relative difficulty to manufacture, etc. Once you have compiled all the data for the various fuel/energy sources, decide which energy source you think should be selected for the next-generation propulsion system. Submit your spreadsheet below to move on to the next step. We'll show you an example answer, but give it a go first!

Certainly! To compare the different energy sources, I'll consider nuclear, hydrogen, and geothermal energy along with relevant metrics such as cost per unit of energy (kWh), carbon emissions per unit of energy (kg CO2e/kWh), and infrastructure requirements.

I'll organize the data in a spreadsheet and consider the various implications of these energy sources to determine the most suitable choice for the next-generation propulsion system.

I will now create the Fuel Comparison Template and include the additional energy sources and metrics.

The Leibstadt Nuclear Power Plant in Switzerland Growth of worldwide nuclear power generation Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by nuclear fission of uranium and plutonium in nuclear power plants. Nuclear decay processes are used in niche applications such as radioisotope thermoelectric generators in some space probes such as Voyager 2. Generating electricity from fusion power remains the focus of international research. Most nuclear power plants use thermal reactors with enriched uranium in a once-through fuel cycle. Fuel is removed when the percentage of neutron absorbing atoms becomes so large that a chain reaction can no longer be sustained, typically three years. It is then cooled for several years in on-site spent fuel pools before being transferred to long term storage. The spent fuel, though low in volume, is high-level radioactive waste. While its radioactivity decreases exponentially it must be isolated from the biosphere for hundreds of thousands of years, though newer technologies (like fast reactors) have the potential to reduce this significantly. Because the spent fuel is still mostly fissionable material, some countries (e.g. France and Russia) reprocess their spent fuel by extracting fissile and fertile elements for fabrication in new fuel, although this process is more expensive than producing new fuel from mined uranium. All reactors breed some plutonium-239, which is found in the spent fuel, and because Pu-239 is the preferred material for nuclear weapons, reprocessing is seen as a weapon proliferation risk. The first nuclear power plant was built in the 1950s. The global installed nuclear capacity grew to 100GW in the late 1970s, and then expanded rapidly during the 1980s, reaching 300GW by 1990. The 1979 Three Mile Island accident in the United States and the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the Soviet Union resulted in increased regulation and public opposition to nuclear plants. These factors, along with high cost of construction, resulted in the global installed capacity only increasing to 390GW by 2022. These plants supplied 2,586 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity in 2019, equivalent to about 10% of global electricity generation, and were the second-largest low-carbon power source after hydroelectricity. As of August2023, there are 410 civilian fission reactors in the world, with overall capacity of 369GW,[1] 57 under construction and 102 planned, with a combined capacity of 59GW and 96GW, respectively. The United States has the largest fleet of nuclear reactors, generating almost 800TWh of low-carbon electricity per year with an average capacity factor of 92%. Average global capacity factor is 89%.[1] Most new reactors under construction are generation III reactors in Asia. Proponents contend that nuclear power is a safe, sustainable energy source that reduces carbon emissions. This is because nuclear power generation causes one of the lowest levels of fatalities per unit of energy generated compared to other energy sources. Coal, petroleum, natural gas and hydroelectricity each have caused more fatalities per unit of energy due to air pollution and accidents. Nuclear power plants also emit no greenhouse gases and result in less life-cycle carbon emissions than common "renewables". The novel radiological hazards associated with nuclear power are the primary motivations of the anti-nuclear movement, which contends that nuclear power poses many threats to people and the environment, citing the potential for accidents like the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011, and is too expensive/slow to deploy when compared to alternative sustainable energy sources. History Origins The first light bulbs ever lit by electricity generated by nuclear power at EBR-1 at Argonne National Laboratory-West, December

en.wikipedia.org

Nuclear EnergyExplore global data on nuclear energy production, and the safety of nuclear technologies.As the world attempts to transition its energy systems away from fossil fuels towards low-carbon sources of energy, we have a range of energy options: renewable energy technologies such as hydropower, wind and solar, but also nuclear power. Nuclear energy and renewable technologies typically emit very little CO2 per unit of energy production, and are also much better than fossil fuels in limiting levels of local air pollution.But whilst some countries are investing heavily in increasing their nuclear energy supply, others are taking their plants offline. The role that nuclear energy plays in the energy system is therefore very specific to the given country.How much of our energy comes from nuclear power? How is its role changing over time? In this article we look at levels and changes in nuclear energy generation across the world, and its safety record in comparison to other sources of energy.Nuclear energy generationGlobal generation of nuclear energyNuclear energy alongside hydropower is one of our oldest low-carbon energy technologies.Nuclear power generation has been around since the 1960s, but saw massive growth globally in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. In the interactive chart shown we see how global nuclear generation has changed over the past half-century.Following fast growth during the 1970s to 1990s, global generation has slowed significantly. In fact, we see a sharp dip in nuclear output following the Fukushima tsunami in Japan in 2011 [we look at the impacts of this disaster later in this article], as countries took plants offline due to safety concerns.But we also see that in recent years, production has once again increased.Nuclear energy generation by countryThe global trend in nuclear energy generation masks the large differences in what role it plays at the country level.Some countries get no energy at all from nuclear or are aiming to eliminate it completely whilst others get the majority of their power from it.This interactive chart shows the amount of nuclear energy generated by country. We see that France, the USA, China, Russia and Canada all produce relatively large amounts of nuclear power.Nuclear in the energy and electricity mixWe previously looked nuclear output in terms of energy units how much each country produces in terawatt-hours. But to understand how large of a role nuclear plays in the energy system we need to put this in perspective of total energy consumption.This interactive chart shows the share of primary energy that comes from nuclear sources.Note that this data is based on primary energy calculated by the 'substitution method' which attempts to correct for the inefficiencies in fossil fuel production. It does this by converting non-fossil fuel sources to their 'input equivalents': the amount of primary energy that would be required to produce the same amount of energy if it came from fossil fuels. Here we describe this adjustment in more detail.In 2019, just over 4% of global primary energy came from nuclear power.Note that this is based on nuclear energy's share in the energy mix. Energy consumption represents the sum of electricity, transport and heating. We look at the electricity mix below.In the sections above we looked at the role of nuclear in the total energy mix. This includes not only electricity, but also transport and heating. Electricity forms only one component of energy consumption.Since transport and heating tend to be harder to decarbonize they are more reliant on oil and gas nuclear and renewables tend to have a higher share in the electricity mix versus the total energy mix.This interactive chart shows the share of electricity that comes from nuclear sources.Globally, around 10% of our electricity comes from nuclear. But some countries rely on it heavily: it provides more than 70% of electricity in France, and more than 40% in Sweden.Safety of nuclear energyEnergy

ourworldindata.org

Nuclear energy is the energy in the nucleus, or core, of an atom. Atoms are tiny units that make up all matter in the universe, and energy is what holds the nucleus together. There is a huge amount of energy in an atom's dense nucleus. In fact, the power that holds the nucleus together is officially called the "strong force."Nuclear energy can be used to create electricity, but it must first be released from the atom. In the process ofnuclear fission, atoms are split to release that energy.A nuclear reactor, or power plant, is a series of machines that can control nuclear fission to produce electricity. The fuel that nuclear reactors use to produce nuclear fission is pellets of the element uranium. In a nuclear reactor, atoms of uranium are forced to break apart. As they split, the atoms release tiny particles called fission products. Fission products cause other uranium atoms to split, starting a chain reaction. The energy released from this chain reaction creates heat.The heat created by nuclear fission warms the reactor's cooling agent. A cooling agent is usually water, but some nuclear reactors use liquid metal or molten salt. The cooling agent, heated by nuclear fission, produces steam. The steam turns turbines, or wheels turned by a flowing current. The turbines drive generators, or engines that create electricity.Rods of material called nuclear poison can adjust how much electricity is produced. Nuclear poisons are materials, such as a type of the element xenon, that absorb some of the fission products created by nuclear fission. The more rods of nuclear poison that are present during the chain reaction, the slower and more controlled the reaction will be. Removing the rods will allow a stronger chain reaction and create more electricity.As of 2011, about 15 percent of the world's electricity is generated by nuclear power plants. The United States has more than 100 reactors, although it creates most of its electricity from fossil fuels and hydroelectric energy. Nations such as Lithuania, France, and Slovakia create almost all of their electricity from nuclear power plants.Nuclear Food: UraniumUranium is the fuel most widely used to produce nuclear energy. That's because uranium atoms split apart relatively easily. Uranium is also a very common element, found in rocks all over the world. However, the specific type of uranium used to produce nuclear energy, called U-235, is rare. U-235 makes up less than one percent of the uranium in the world.Although some of the uranium the United States uses is mined in this country, most is imported. The U.S. gets uranium from Australia, Canada, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Uzbekistan. Once uranium is mined, it must be extracted from other minerals. It must also be processed before it can be used.Because nuclear fuel can be used to create nuclear weapons as well as nuclear reactors, only nations that are part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) are allowed to import uranium or plutonium, another nuclear fuel. The treaty promotes the peaceful use of nuclear fuel, as well as limiting the spread of nuclear weapons.A typical nuclear reactor uses about 200 tons of uranium every year. Complex processes allow some uranium and plutonium to be re-enriched or recycled. This reduces the amount of mining, extracting, and processing that needs to be done.Nuclear Energy and PeopleNuclear energy produces electricity that can be used to power homes, schools, businesses, and hospitals. The first nuclear reactor to produce electricity was located near Arco, Idaho. The Experimental Breeder Reactor began powering itself in 1951. The first nuclear power plant designed to provide energy to a community was established in Obninsk, Russia, in 1954.Building nuclear reactors requires a high level of technology, and only the countries that have signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty can get the uranium or plutonium that is required. For these reasons, most nuclear power plants are located in the develo

nationalgeographic.org