The History of Nuclear Power and its Prospects for the Future
By Carolyn Wang
The long scientific road to nuclear power began in the late 1700s. Although most research in the area was initially focused on the development of the atomic bomb, eventually when nuclear was first introduced to the US electricity market, there was a lot of excitement!
But first, how does nuclear power work? The chemical reaction at the core of nuclear power generation is fission. Fission is release of energy associated with the breakup of unstable nuclei. The best isotope for fission is Uranium-235. To increase the likelihood that a neutron is absorbed by Uranium-235 (which actually makes only 0.72% of uranium isotopes), uranium is enriched in Uranium-235 to 3%. The energy of the neutrons involved is also decreased to thermal range favoring absorption by Uranium-235 through the use of moderators like light water, heavy water, and graphite. This enriched uranium is then supplied to reactors in the form of cylindrical pellets of uranium oxide (fuel rods). Fission then results in the production of a variety of nuclides, many of which are radioactive. These nuclides are stored on site or reprocessed for further use. The second option reduces the amount of waste material, but doesn’t eliminate the need for management of the radioactive waste.
From the late 1950s to 1974, 55 reactors were built across the US with a combined capacity of 32 GWe. Public support for nuclear power dissipated in the US after the Three mile island incident in 1979 and suffered further after Chernobyl. There was also a lot of fear because of a popular movie at the time, called The China Syndrome, which depicted a nuclear reactor melting to the center of the earth. Most recently, there was Fukushima. Floodwaters from a tsunami resulted in self-reinforcing problems that led to a big release of radioactivity into the environment.
All these events together clouded prospects for the future of nuclear flower globally. Germany closed its nuclear facilities, leading to an increased dependence on coal, and a lot of other countries scaled back their nuclear ambitions. Public confidence was undermined, but actually only in one case did people actually die from exposure to radiation, and even then it was a modest toll in contrast to the number of people who die or experience serious illnesses due to air pollution from coal fired sources of energy.
The concern when it comes to nuclear energy is not only with regards to public confidence, but also with regards to expense. Nuclear power plants take a lot of money to build! Although the cost to run them is relatively cheap, the initial cost to build one coupled with the potential public outcry if something goes wrong makes the construction of new nuclear power plants an unlikely prospect for energy companies. Growth is only really possible in China, where their priority is to ensure a diversity of sources to meet demand for electric power, minimize air pollution problems, and curtail future growth in CO2 emissions.
Although nuclear power provides an essential source of power for the US (19% of power generation nationwide), our nuclear power plants are coming up on their lifespans. We need new ones or an alternative, cost-competitive source of energy.