Nuclear Planet

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Nuclear energy, in vogue again

08.3.06 | 09:58 By Joel Bainerman

After years in the doldrums, nuclear energy is back, and in a big way.

Uranium is named after the planet Uranus. It is found in the same quantities as tin, zinc and molybdenum. It exists in most rocks, but granite is relatively rich in the element, with an average of 4 parts per million.

Uranium, the heaviest naturally occurring element known to man, occurs in slightly differing forms. These different forms are called isotopes. They differ from one another in the number of neutrons in their nuclei.

Of all the isotopes of uranium, U-235 is the most important: it can readily be split in a process called "nuclear fission". As the atom splits, it emits large amounts of energy.

Uranium is used mainly to power nuclear power plants. A study by Dustin Garrow of the consulting firm, International Nuclear, found that today, there are 439 such reactors in 31 countries generating about 364.7 gigawatts of power - a gigawatt equals 1 billion watts. That is 17% of the world' power supply.
Another twenty-six new nuclear plants are currently under construction in 11 countries.

Clean, lean and thrifty on space

Since 1984, reactor requirements have exceeded mine production. Western world uranium fuel consumption has increased from 56 million pounds per year in 1980, to about 145 million pounds in 2000. This is set to rise to 156 million pounds by 2010 and 200 million pounds by 2020.

Because nuclear power plants do not burn fuel, they do not emit combustion by-products. By substituting for other fuels in electricity production, nuclear energy has significantly reduced U.S. and global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the chief greenhouse gas.

Worldwide, nuclear power plants reduced the world?s emissions of CO2 by about 500 million metric tons of carbon during 2000, the latest year for which data is available. In many countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, nuclear energy helped reduce - that is, mitigate - the increase of carbon emissions per capita.

Considering the current pressure on world hydrocarbon supplies, many voices in the energy industry are touting nuclear energy as the best alternative energy source. It can create the enormous amounts of energy that the world wants in a relatively clean manner, at a very cost-effective price, they argue.

The advantages of nuclear energy lie in its efficiency: the average electricity production cost in 2003 for nuclear energy was 1.72 cents per kilowatt-hour, for coal-fired plants 1.80 cents, for oil 5.53 cents, and for gas 5.77 cents. The energy in one uranium fuel pellet - the size of the tip of your little finger - is the equivalent of 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas, 1,780 pounds of coal, or 149 gallons of oil.

Also, because nuclear power plants produce a large amount of electricity in a relatively small space, they require significantly less land for siting and operation than all other energy sources.

Used fuel as a resource

For instance, solar and wind farms must occupy substantially more land, and must be sited in geographically unpopulated areas far from energy demand. To build the equivalent of a 1,000-megawatt nuclear plant, a solar park would have to be larger than 35,000 acres, and a wind farm would have to be 150,000 acres or larger.

Also, uranium is a concentrated, low-volume fuel source requiring few incursions into the land for extraction or transport.

While the removal of nuclear waste is still an issue in which further research will help nuclear plants better deal with the issue, the fact is, the nuclear energy industry is the only industry established since the industrial revolution that has managed and accounted for all of its waste, preventing adverse impacts to the environment.

However even nuclear waste may prove to be a strong asset of the nuclear industry as used nuclear fuel is a resource, which will retain 90% of its energy after decades.

Despite the media coverage that the "threat of nuclear energy" has received in the past, the number of people killed or seriously injured as the result of nuclear power plant operations in the past 50 years is minimal and that the plants' environmental impact is negligible.

It should be noted that hundreds are killed, injured, and subjected to serious health hazards every year in the course of mineral fuel mining and transport, not to speak of the detrimental environmental impact of fossil fuel combustion. Used nuclear fuel cannot explode and does not burn.

Even when new, nuclear fuel is too weak to explode. Uranium mined from the ground is less than 1 percent fissionable and must be enriched to 4 percent in order to be used in a nuclear reactor.

Joel Bainerman is the publisher of The Other Side, a multi-lingual, alternative newsmagazine: www.theotherside.org.uk

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