Fission, Fusion and the Energy Crisis PDF
Preview Fission, Fusion and the Energy Crisis
Other Pergamon Titles of Interest ASHLEY et al. Energy and the Environment—A Risk-Benefit Approach CEC Pulsed Fusion Reactors HOWE Advanced Converters and Near Breeders KALLFELZ and KARAM Advanced Reactors: Physics, Design and Economics KARAM and MORGAN Energy and the Environment—Cost-Benefit Analysis Environmental Impact of Nuclear Power Plants LEWINS Nuclear Reactor Kinetics and Control MCVEIGH Sun Power: An Introduction to the Applications of Solar Energy MASSIMO The Physics of High-Temperature Reactors MURRAY Nuclear Energy RUST and WEAVER Nuclear Power Safety SILVENNOINEN Reactor Core Fuel Management SIMON Energy Resources WILLIAMS Random Processes in Nuclear Reactors Reactor Noise—SMORN II ZALESKI Nuclear Energy Maturity—12-volume set Pergamon Related Journals Annals of Nuclear Energy Progress in Nuclear Energy Fission, Fusion and the Energy Crisis S. E. HUNT Ph.D., F.Inst.P., F.I.Nuc.E. Member of the Electricity Supply Research Council Professor of Physics at the University of Aston in Birmingham, England SECOND EDITION P E R G A M ON P R E SS Oxford - New York • Toronto - Sydney · Paris - Frankfurt UK Pergamon Press Ltd., Headington Hill Hall, Oxford OX3 0BW, England USA Pergamon Press Inc., Maxwell House, Fairview Park, Elmsford, New York 10523, USA CANADA Pergamon of Canada, Suite 104, 150 Consumers Road, Willowdale, Ontario M2J 1P9, Canada AUSTRALIA Pergamon Press (Aust.) Pty. Ltd., P.O. Box 544, Potts Point, NSW 2011, Australia FRANCE Pergamon Press SARL, 24 rue des Ecoles, 75240 Paris, Cedex 05, France FEDERAL REPUBLIC Pergamon Press GmbH, 6242 Kronberg-Taunus, OF GERMANY Pferdstrasse 1, Federal Republic of Germany Copyright © 1980 S. E. Hunt All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without permission in writing from the publishers First edition 1973 Second edition 1980 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Hunt, Stanley Ernest Fission, fusion and the energy crisis. - 2nd ed. 1. Atomic power I. Title 621.48 TK9145 79-40529 ISBN 0-08-024734-2 (Hardcover) ISBN 0-08-024733-4 (Flexicover) Printed and bound in Great Britain by William Clowes (Beccles) Limited Beccles and London Preface to the Second Edition SINCE the appearance of the first edition in 1974 the importance of the breeder reactor to the efficient use of the nuclear fuel reserves has become much more widely recognised, and with it the debate on the possible danger of the 'plutonium economy', briefly anticipated in the first edition, has become widespread. The second edition has been enlarged to examine these issues in more detail. Despite the growing realisation that fissile fuel reserves are extremely limited in the absence of a substantial breeder-reactor pro- gramme, many countries are putting forward ambitious programmes based mainly on slightly enriched 'burner' reactors. The chapter on national programmes has been up-dated to include this, and the possible consequences of the policy, previously discussed in an appendix in later printings of the first edition, are now examined in the main text of the book. Since 1974 some progress has been made in the development of renewable energy sources, notably solar energy and wave power, and these are discussed in more detail than previously, as are recent developments in the nuclear fusion research leading to the decision to site the JET project in the United Kingdom fusion laboratories at Culham. In this context reports from Princeton on a similar ap- paratus, P.L.T., are encouraging. Whilst the potential value of these new energy sources should not be under-estimated, the global choice for the twenty-first century appears to remain between the development of the fast-breeder reactor, a more speedy exploitation of fossil fuel reserves or a 'levelling down' of per capita fuel consumption and with it general living standards. In the author's view the latter possibility is not realistic in our present highly competitive society, and the second, if feasible, would vii viii Preface to the Second Edition represent a greater environmental and social hazard than would the development of the fast breeder. The recent American ban on fuel reprocessing and their rejection of the fast breeder is, therefore, particularly disturbing. Preface to the First Edition IT IS now some twenty years since nuclear power was hailed as the panacea of most, if not all, of the material problems besetting mankind. Present lay opinion is that this early promise has not been fulfilled, and it would be pointless to argue that the development of nuclear power has not experienced its fair share of difficulty and disappointment. There have, however, also been solid achievements and on occasions spectacular advances in this field over the past twenty years, and it seems appropriate to review the situation at this stage, when nuclear power is finally becoming competitive on a strictly economic basis and the availability of other fuels in the long term is rightly becoming a cause for concern. Recent politically motivated restrictions in the supply of these fuels merely introduce in the mid-seventies a situation which was inevitable by the mid-eighties. Almost all the developed and some of the developing countries are now planning very significant expansions in their nuclear-power programmes, and the relevant question is no longer whether to build nuclear-power stations, but which type to choose from the many competitive designs available. There is a clear conflict between the short-term exploitation and long-term development of nuclear power which should influence the choice of fission-reactor type, and an estimate of the probable out- come of the fusion-research programme is a very significant factor in this context. This book is intended, to a large extent, for the undergraduate student and seeks to emphasise the inter-relationships of the scientific, technological, economic and ecological aspects of nuclear power. In the opinion of the author, so strong are these relationships that it is misleading, if not impossible, to study one of these factors without appreciable reference to the others. ix χ Preface to the First Edition The approach is descriptive, and by including the relevant basic atomic and nuclear physics as introductory material it is hoped that this book will also serve as an understandable survey of the present nuclear-power situation for the non-scientist. It is one of the author's more optimistic aims that it should be instrumental in persuading the arts graduate to take an increasing interest in this field, which has pro- found social as well as scientific importance. One must agree that the social consequences of technological development must be the subject of careful examination, but this cannot be done without some appreciation of the basic principles of the technology itself. With the lay reader in mind, the use of technical jargon has been reduced to a minimum, but where it is necessary to introduce technical terms this is done with suitable explanation, and a Glossary of Terms is provided. In the interests of clarity and brevity, the temptation to quote references in support of established scientific fact has been resisted. The factual material is widely accepted by reactor scientists. The interpretation and forward projections may be slightly more con- troversial, but the author feels them to be strongly supported by the evidence at present available. Some ideas have been stolen from other people and in these cases sources are quoted wherever possible. Acknowledgements to the Second Edition THE author would like to express his renewed thanks to Mrs. I. Neal (née Templeton) for typing the extensive modifications incorporated in the second edition and to Mr. G. Smith for numerous modifications to the figures. Thanks are also due to Dr. P. N. Cooper for his permission to use several illustrations. xi Acknowledgements to the First Edition THE author is indebted to Mrs. R. Finch for her care and occasional inspiration in converting his manuscript into a legible form, to Miss I. Templeton for her invaluable secretarial assistance and also to Miss F. A. Schofield and Mr. G. Smith for their work in producing the figures. He would also like to thank colleagues at Aston and elsewhere for many useful discussions and in particular Professor J. Fremlin, Dr. P. N. Cooper, Dr. A. J. Cox and Mr. G. Williams for helpful comments on the manuscript. Finally he would like to thank his wife and daughters for their assistance and tolerance throughout the rather prolonged gestation period of this book. xii THE ACCIDENT RECORD THAT PROVES NUCLEAR POWER IS SAFER' Letter published in The Guardian, 11th April, 1979 Sir, Harrisburg The Pressurised Water Reactor (P.W.R.) is generally regarded as presenting a greater hazard than other reactor types because of its higher heat output per unit volume. Some seven per cent of this heat is due to the activity of the fission products and cannot be 'switched off by shutting the reactor down. Consequently the danger of core melting when the coolant is lost due to mechanical fault or human error, or a combination of the two which appears to have been the case at Harrisburg, is greater for P.W.R.'s. than other thermal reactors. It is largely for this reason that the United Kingdom has so far opted in favour of its own gas cooled systems Magnox followed by A.G.R., and rightly so in my view. Yet it must be appreciated that over 50,000 megawatts of P.W.R. and related B.W.R. stations are at present operating in the United States, and that these reactor types have types have been widely adopted throughout the world. So far there has not been a single fatality due to reactor malfunction, a safety record which is far superior to that of other methods of electricity generation. The reason lies in the extreme care in design and duplication of safety mechanisms which is a feature of all acceptable reactor design and strangely lacking elsewhere. At Harrisburg, for example, major mistakes appear to have been made and main components proved to be faulty yet these did not, in the event, result in a major release of activity. In contrast three weeks ago, in the U.K., ten miners were killed reportedly due to a faulty air circulation system, and the annual casualties due to underground mining accidents amount to some sixty per year in this country alone. Disablement due to pneumoconiosis far exceeds this and if one is looking for an unquantified but major hazard, death of the general population due to 'bronchitis' accentuated by sulphur dioxide and other fumes from conventional coal and oil power stations far exceeds any which are likely to occcur from the by product of nuclear stations, including the long term disposal of radioactive waste by present and planned processes. Sympathetic as one may be to the conservationist view, it is clear that the maintenance of our present living standards and the legitimate aspirations of developing nations for improved ones, depends critically on the availability of energy sources, with nuclear power and coal as the only proven long term alternatives. All objective assessments of the comparative hazards involved, when the full fuel cycle is considered in each case, are markedly in favour of nuclear power. Yours faithfully, PROFESSOR S. E. HUNT Head of Department of Physics, The University of Aston in Birmingham xi'ri
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