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Nuclear Transmutation

Nuclear Transmutation. The Panacea to America’s Nuclear Energy Crisis. Section 1: Who Am I?. The Basics 1. Andrew Silver, the nerdy homeschooler from “Wife Swap.” 2. Dark brown hair, brown eyes, slim as a newborn seal, 6 inches… 3. Dual Enrollment in 11 th Grade (Started 10 th ).

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Nuclear Transmutation

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  1. Nuclear Transmutation The Panacea to America’s Nuclear Energy Crisis

  2. Section 1: Who Am I? The Basics • 1. Andrew Silver, the nerdy homeschooler from “Wife Swap.” • 2. Dark brown hair, brown eyes, slim as a newborn seal, 6 inches… • 3. Dual Enrollment in 11th Grade (Started 10th). • 3. Currently enrolled in DE US History, DE Humanities I, DE Human Growth & Development, DE Sociology, FLVS Pre-Calculus, FLVS Latin I Science Background Always thought about possibilities, even if some of them (“What’s the point of life?”) gave me headaches. Didn’t know the difference between a proton and electron till ninth grade. Got worried about the environment during one of those once-in-a-lifetime Physical Science lectures (ninth grade) on radiation and Yucca Mountain. Plan to study math and physics while hopefully avoiding student loans.

  3. Atomic cloud after the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan (WWII). Section 2: The Beginning The universe, stars, planets, and life itself were created through a series of nuclear reactions. Marie Curie “discovered” Radium. In 1914, sci-fi writer H.G. Wells published “The World Set Free:” predicting a world of nuclear warfare. Nuclear energy was harnessed in medicine (X-Rays), warfare (the atom bomb), and eventually energy production (nuclear fission reactors).

  4. Section 2:The Problem(s) Problem 1. Global warming and the dwindling supply of fossil fuels/Uranium force the U.S. to pursue renewable energy sources. Problem 2. Since President Obama canceled the Yucca Mountain Project, waste has been continued to be stored in caskets that last fifty years. The waste lasts thousands. Problem 3. Japan’s nuclear crisis has propelled nuclear program evaluation back into the spotlight.

  5. Section 3: Transmutation & Sustainable Development HYPOTHESIS: Accelerator-Driven Nuclear Transmutation Reactors can meet America’s growing energy demands while: -Continuing Worldwide Economic Growth -Producing minimal waste by reducing, reusing, and recycling nuclear waste -Ending environmental damage -Promoting sustained practice that’s economically practicable

  6. Section 4: Transmutation History 1995. NRC Report – labels the technology impractical. 1999. Congress orders DOE to evaluate ATW; the DOE comes up with a six year road map and ask for $281 million. 2000-2002. The DOE sponsors the AAA program to investigate “closed” fuel cycles. 2003. AAA becomes the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative, DOE funding ends. 2004 – Current. Europe, Japan, South Korea, India, China and Russia are leading the way.

  7. Section 4: Case Study: MYRRHA Transmutation – isotopes with long half-lives bump into neutrons and change into an isotope with a shorter half-life. In 2010, the Belgium Government approved a nuclear research reactor (MYRRHA) as part of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures. Belgium initially contributed 40% towards 960 million Euros (about $1.3 billion US Dollars) for construction. Full power by 2023.

  8. Section 5: It’s All About the Money A scientist’s 2001 research endeavor analyzed the Unit Costs for an ADS System in Sweden. The paper concluded, “Electricity from the ‘LWR UOX + ADS’ scenario is 52% more expensive than is ‘once through’ electricity, ‘ADS + LWR MOX’ is 36% more expensive. Assuming an 85% ADS load factor and 20% TRU burn-up would lower the relative costs to 136% and 125% respectively for the advanced fuel cycle scenarios.”

  9. Section 6: Cost-Benefit The startup cost for an ADS Transmutation system is greater than that of a normal fission reactor, but the money saved from avoiding another natural disaster like in Japan, or a nuclear leakage into the environment, should make ADS technology a necessary step. No new reactors have been built in the United States for years: the technology is outdated and potentially dangerous: yet nuclear power still accounts for 19% of Florida’s energy production. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Nuclear Engineers make an average of 61,610 a year (5th highest), with an expected employment growth of 11 percent over the next decade.

  10. Section 7: It’s the Only Way • The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 made the U.S. Government responsible for taking care of nuclear waste. • The waste cannot be stored forever, uranium will eventually run out, and the reactors could run into safety difficulties. • Even Yucca Mountain wouldn’t have worked. It was predicted to last 10,000 years, but the EPA noted that the minimum safe age for radioactive waste was 1 million years. • We can’t get rid of nuclear energy, it accounts for too much. • Newer safety technologies could be implemented to alleviate public concern over safety. • Nuclear radiation medicine successful on rats, furthermore, is being funded by the military for human use by as early as 2012. • The costs are steep, but there is an abundant supply of nuclear waste to use as fuel: 60,000 metric tons with about 2,000 tons added each year. • There are other transmutation technologies, but ADS systems shut down when not in use.

  11. Section 8: Conclusion Nuclear disasters have shaken the public opinion of nuclear energy, but there is no other existing mechanism for getting rid of nuclear waste. Public outcry over Japan should influence private donations to the research towards an ADS system.

  12. Section 9: Research p1 There were two stages of research (p1 and p2) are research from I paper I wrote last year, p3 contains the “new” sources used for this project. Unfortunately, there have not been a lot of recent developments since 2010. Abderrahim, H. Aït, Galambos, J., Gohar, Y., Henderson, S., Lawrence, G., McManamy, T., Mueller, A.C., Nagaitsev, S., Nolen, J., Pitcher, E., Rimmer. R., Sheffield, R., Todosow, M. “http://www.science.energy.gov/hepfiles/pdfs/ACCELERATOR-DRIVEN SYSTEMWhitePaperFinal.pdf.” Science.energy.gov. U.S. Department of Energy, 17 September 2010. Web. 30 September 2010. Deming, David, et al. What Energy Sources Should be Pursued? Farmington Hills: Thomson Gale, 2005. Print. Florida Power & Light Company. FPL | Nuclear Power Serves You. Florida Power & Light Company. N.d. Web. 16 Nov 2010. Freidberg, Jeffrey, Bolton, Colt, Hill, Robert, Machiels, Albert, Morley, Neil, Sadowski, Walter, Sheffield, John, Weitzner, Harold. “http://www.science.doe.gov/ofes/Hybrid%20Report%20Final%20v4.pdf” Science.energy.gov. U.S. Department of Energy, 2 Oct. 2009. Web. 18 Nov 2010. Mahaffey, James. Atomic Awakening: A New Look at the History and Future of Nuclear Power. New York City: Pegasus Books LLC, 2009. Print.

  13. Section 9: Research p2 Office of Communications and Public Liaison and the Radiation Safety Branch of the Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health. NIH – What We Know About Radiation. Nih.gov. National Institute of Health. April 2000. Web. 16 Nov 2010. Steenhuysen, Julie. “U.S. invests in drug to protect against radiation.” Yahoo! News. Reuters, 17 Sep. 2010. Web. 16 Nov. 2010. White, Gary. “President BarackObama’s Yucca Mountain decision is a blow to US nuclear power – Telegraph.” Telegraph.co.uk. The Telegraph, 20 Sep 2010. Web. 16 Nov, 2010.

  14. Section 9: Research (New p3) M. Cappiello, “The Potential Role of Accelerator Driven Systems in the U.S.,” presented at ICRS- 10/RPS-2004, Madeira, 2004, http://www.itn.pt/ICRS-RPS/oralpdf/Thursday13/Session28_1/imel05.pdf http://0.tqn.com/d/chemistry/1/7/4/m/atomiccloudhiroshima.jpg http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN-Myrrha_announced_as_European_research_infrastructure-0112104.html http://www.euronuclear.org/e-news/e-news-21/myrrha.htm http://myrrha.sckcen.be/en http://www.energypolicyblog.com/2011/04/11/can-nuclear-power-be-part-of-the-solution/ http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm

  15. Special Thanks (Sect 9 Cont.) Special thanks to High School Teacher Linda Arndt for making me realize there was something more out there than words: the universe had a language beyond English, and to Dr. Malhotra, for fleshing out (everything I had been arguing for years, of course) on a sociological basis (the model of Sustainable Development is a token of one of her lectures).

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