Atoms to electricity

67 Pages·1983·7.093 MB·English

by  United States. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy. Office of Support Programs

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This document IS
P~JBLICLYR ELEASABLE
DOE/NE-0053
NOVEMBER 1983
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ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR NUCLEAR ENERGY
OFFICE OF SUPPORT PROGRAMS
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20585
DISCLAIMER

This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an
agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States
Government nor any agency Thereof, nor any of their employees,
makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal
liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or
usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process
disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately
owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product,
process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or
otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement,
recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any
agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein
do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States
Government or any agency thereof.
DISCLAIMER

Portions of this document may be illegible in
electronic image products. Images are produced
from the best available original document.
Contents
Introduction ................................................. 1
The Role of Nuclear Power .................................. 2
The Beginnings ............................................ 2
The Growth. of Nuclear Power ................................ 2
Nuclear Power Today and Tomorrow ........................... 3
The Role of Electricity ....................................... 7
Electricity and the Economy .................................. 7
.Electricity and the Consumer ................................. 8
Fueling the Powerplants ..................................... 9
Generating Electricity With the Atom ......................... 10
The Fission Process ......................................... 10
Uranium Isotopes ........................................... 12
Nuclear Reactors ........................................... 12
The Nuclear Electric Plant ................................... 15
. . .N uclear Powerplant Safety ................................... 16
.. Licensing, Building and Operating a Nuclear Powerplant ..........2 0
Nuclear Power and Radiation ................................. 24
Types of Nuclear Reactors ................................... 25
Boiling-Water Reactors (BWR) ................................ 25
Pressurized-Water Reactors (PWR) ............................. 26
.
Highr.Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors (HTGR) .................2 7
Breeder Reactors ............................................ 30
?
Nuclear Fuel: Mining to Reactor ...................... ........3 4
Mining and Milling ............................... .t ..........3 4
Enrichment an'd Fuel Fabrication ................................ 37
Nuclear Fuel: Reactor to Waste Disposal i .................... 40
Handling Spent Fuel ........................................ 40
Reprocessed Wastes ........................................ 41
Handling .and Disposing of High-Level Wastes ... .......... ........4 2
I
Handling and. Disposing of Low-Level Wastes ..................... 44
Changes in Low-Level Waste Policy ...... .................... 45
. .
Transporting Radioactive Materials ................ 1 ..........4 7
Spent Fuel Shipments ....................................... 48
Transporting High- and Low-Level Wastes ...................... 51
Shipping Procedures and Regulatory Responsibilities .............5 1
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The Economics of Nuclear Power ............................ 53
Nuclear Electricity in Other Countries ........................ 56
Conclusion .................................................. 59
Selected References and Resources ............................. 60
List of Illustrations
1. Experimental Breeder Reactor-1 (EBR-1) ...................... 3
2 . Shippingport Atomic Power Station ........................... 4
3 . Commercial Nuclear Powerplants in the United States ........... 5
4 . Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Station ......................... 6
5. Electricity: From Its Source to You ........................... 7
6 . H.B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant .......................... 8
7 . The Components of an Atom ................................ 10
8 . The Fission Process ....................................... 11
9 . Elements of a Nuclear Water-Cooled Reactor ................... 13
10. Duane Arnold Energy Center ................................ 14
11. Steam Generator Transport ................................. 15
12. Safety Barriers in a Nuclear Powerplant ....................... 17
13. Shearon Harris Reactor Vessel .............................. 18
14. Containment Construction at Shearon Harris ................... 19
15. Zion Nuclear Power Station ................................. 21
16. Environmental Monitoring System at Crystal River Nuclear Plant ... 22
17. Big Rock Point Nuclear Powerplant ........................... 25
18. Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) ................................ 26
19. Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) ............................ 27
20 . Point Beach Nuclear Plant .................................. 28
21 . High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR) .................. 28
22 . Fort St.Vrain ............................................. 29
23 . The Breeding Process ..................................... 30
24 . Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor (LMFBR) ................... 31
25 . Experimental Breeder Reactor4 ............................. 32
26 . Fast Flux Test Facility ...................................... 33
27 . Clinch River Breeder Reactor Plant ........................... 33
28 . The Schwartzwalder Mine ................................... 34
29 . U.S. Department of Energy’s Gaseous Diffusion
Enrichment Plant ........................................ 36
30 . Nuclear Fuel Pellets ....................................... 37
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31 . Fuel Loading at the’McGuire Nuclear Station ................... 38
32 . Underwater Inspection of Spent Nuclear Fuel .................. 40
33 . The Nuclear Fuel Cycle .................................... 41
.
a 34 The Climax Spent Fuel Storage Test .......................... 42
35 . High-Level Waste Solidification .............................. 43
36 . Low-Level Waste Shipment ................................. 45
37. Spent Fuel Rail Cask ...................................... 49
C5 38 . Durability Testing of Spent Fuel Container at Sandia Laboratories . . 50
39 . Tihange-1 Nuclear Powerplant ............................... 58
40 . Joy0 Breeder Reactor in Japan .............................. 58
List of Tables
.
1 Typical Sources of Radiation Exposure in the United States ...... 24
2 . Comparative Fuel Requirements for Electric Powerplants ......... 35
3 . Annual Shipments of Nuclear Materials in the United States ...... 47
.
4 Five-Year Total of Hazardous Materials Incident Reports in the United
States by Classification ..................................... 48
5. Nuclear Powerplants Outside the United States ................. 57
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Introduction
By the mid 1970s the United for new electricity generating sta-
States and much of the rest of the tions. This means that the nation
world found itself in a serious, long- must rely almost totally on two
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" term energy crisis. Fuel costs had energy sources-coal and nuclear
become much more expensive than energy-for new needs for electric-
they had ever been, largely ity over the next few decades.
5 because the most easily recovered This booklet explains the basic
oil and gas had already been technology of nuclear fission power
depleted. Moreover, a major portion reactors, the nuclear fuel cycle and
of the energy use in the United the role of nuclear energy as one of
States was based on a potentially the domestic energy resources
unreliable fuel source: imported oil. being developed to help meet our
The security of the nation's national energy demand. Nuclear
economy now depended on deci- power accounted for some 12 per-
sions about energy prices and cent of the U.S. electric energy
energy supplies made in other supply in 1982. In the 199O's, it is
countries thousands of miles away. expected to become second only to
Cutting back on U.S. coal as a source of our electric
dependence on imported oil, most power, almost doubling its present
experts agreed, required two contribution to our national electric-
actions: first, conserving energy, ity supply.
especially the use of oil, and
second, relying more heavily on
energy resources available in the
United States. These changes have
brought a new level of importance
to the role of electricity in our
L national economy.
As Americans cut back on their
direct use of oil, they turned to elec-
tric power to fill much of the gap.
;
Electricity, which accounted for 25
percent of our national energy use
in 1970, increased its share to over
30 percent by 1980. Many energy
projections expect it to account for
nearly 50 percent by the turn of the
century.
As electric power has grown in
importance, the number of potential
fuel sources to produce it have
declined. Large sites for hydroelec-
tric plants have essentially been
exhausted, and oil and gas have
become too expensive to consider
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The Role of Nuclear Power
The Beginnings The first few nuclear powerplants
were essentially demonstrations of
On December 20, 1951, at a the technology, co-sponsored by
government laboratory in Idaho, utilities and the US. Atomic Energy
man’s ability to use an energy hid- Commission (Figure 2).
den in nature entered a new era. In 1960, however, the first
An experimental plant called the nuclear powerplant financed entirely
Experimental Breeder Reactor by a utility, the Dresden 1 plant of
(EBR-I) generated enough electricity Commonwealth Edison Company,
to light four 200-watt light bulbs began operating near Chicago. In
(Figure 1). With that success, man the next six years 28 other utilities
had harnessed a new energy followed suit with a total of 38 new
source that was neither mechanical, nuclear units. They were turning to
like the power of wind or falling nuclear for two reasons: to take
water, or chemical, like the burning advantage of the cost savings made
of coal, oil or gas. This electricity possible by nuclear energy and, in
was created by nuclear energy. some cases, to conserve fossil
The importance of this fuels. By the early 1970s utilities
breakthrough was evident to scien- were announcing plans for new
tists and energy experts around the nuclear plants as frequently as for
world. Nuclear fission energy-the coal-fueled stations.
heat released when the nucleus of In the mid 1970s the rapid-
an atom “fissions”, or splits into growth era for new nuclear
two small pieces-expanded human powerplants came to an end. The
potential beyond the limits of such United States responded to the
fuels as coal, oil, gas, and the Mideast oil embargo and other
renewable energy of hydropower. It shocks to its economy by using less
offered the promise of abundant energy than had previously been
electricity at relatively low costs and projected. The economic slowdown
of providing power without the of the late 1970s and early 1980s
environmental effects that accom- further reduced energy demand.
pany the burning of fossil fuels. The 7 percent a year increase in
Government officials, scientists, electric power demand, which had
journalists, and industry leaders remained essentially constant for
alike saw this development as the over two decades, dropped to near
beginning of a new age-the zero in 1974. With minor fluctua-
“atomic age”. tions, the average annual growth
since then has been about 3.5 per-
The Growth of Nuclear Power cent, or half the rate of earlier
years. Many utilities were hard-
During the 1950s there was no pressed to embark on large con-
shortage of inexpensive fossil fuels struction projects because of high
for electric generating plants, so inflation rates and even higher
there was little obvious need to increases in fuel costs. Facing a
develop an alternative fuel source. slowdown in the growth of electricity
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Figure 1. On December 20, 1951, four electric light bulbs at the Atomic Energy Commission’s
(AEC) National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho were powered by this generator (right) which
operated on heat from Experimental Breeder Reactor (EBR-I). (Credit: Argonne National
Laboratory)
c
demand, utilities began cutting back tricity accounts for some 34 percent
on their plans for additional of the energy use in the country,
generating units, both coal and nuclear power was the source of
nuclear. 4.3 pecent of the.energy produced
overall for the nation. The capacity
Nuclear Power Today and of today’s nuclear plants-about 65
Tomorrow million kilowatts-is‘equal to the
size of the entire US. electric
Today more than 80 commer- capability in the mid-1940’s.
cial nuclear powerplmts are The role of nuclear power is
licensed to operate in the United particularly important in many
States (Figure 3). In 1982 nuclear regions of the country with high
power provided over 12 percent of fossil fuel costs. In New England,
the nation’s electricity. Since elec- where the principal alternative to
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Figure 2. The 60,000-kw Shippingport Atomic Power Station, Shippingport, Pennsylvania, was
the first large-scale central-station nuclear powerplant in the United States and the first plant of
such size in the world operated solely to produce electric power. The plant, a joint project of the
US. Atomic Energy Commission and Duquesne Light Company, began operating in 1957.
(Credit: Department of Energy)
nuclear power is imported oil, 1990’s, nuclear power will provide
nuclear energy provided nearly 35 enough electricity to meet the elec-
percent of the total electricity trical needs of about 20 percent of
generated in 1982 (Figure 4). In the U.S. population.
Virginia, nuclear power accounted Beyond the approximately 140
for 46 percent; in New Jersey, 45 plants operating or under construc-
percent; in Nebraska, 48 percent; in tion, the outlook for nuclear power
Minnesota, 36 percent. in the United States remains uncer-
tain. The number of additional U.S.
About 60 other nuclear units
nuclear powerplants built in the next
are under construction or being
few decades will depend upon
planned by the nation’s investor-
several factors:
owned, government-owned and
consumer-owned utilities. Assuming the,overall need for new
that they are completed in the electric generating stations
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