NATS 1840 Lecture 17: NATS 1840 - Lecture 17- summary
27 Jul 2016
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Nats 1840 - lecture 17 - nuclear power and design momentum. Nuclear reactors, greenhouse gas emissions, green technology. Dominant mode of power production, large-scale, centralized, distributed. Environmental concerns: nuclear waste and nuclear safety. Lifespan of nuclear waste in thousands of years. France: nuclear waste approximately 1. 2 kg per person per year, 100kg of toxic industrial waste, 15kg of hospital waste, 3000 kg of non-toxic industrial waste, and 700kg of agricultural waste. Mining: waste products in building construction, spent uranium shell casings. Radioactive waste: space, burial, mixing with glass and steel containment. Reprocessing: reactor transmutation of harmful isotopes into shorter lived ones. Krypton & xenon (atmosphere), iodine and tritium (water), radiation emission. Confusion over information, malfunctioning valves led to core overheat and possibly explosive hydrogen bubble formation. Improper changes in testing protocols to override delay in return to full power led to meltdown and explosion.
