1. Nuclear Power General Notes about the slides
It’s best to use bulleted points rather than complete sentences. 9th graders see all of these sentences on the slides and begin to shut down since it seems like an overwhelming amount of information to them.
I think we can cut a few of the slides because although they are GREAT, it’s probably more detailed information then they need.
We should make a listener guide too so that they don’t feel overwhelmed.

2. nucleus of atom is split into parts, produces free neutrons and energy
What is nuclear energy?
Power plants use heat to produce electricity. Nuclear energy produces electricity from heat through a process called fission. Nuclear power plants use the heat produced by fission of certain atoms.
1. Nuclear fission
nucleus of atom is split into parts, produces free neutrons and energy
Great overview of information.
I think we could cut the “Fission of heavy elements are exothermic reactions (produce heat) which can release large amounts of energy.” We aren’t going to talk about exothermic reactions as a term until later so we can use nuclear reactions as an example at that time.
I worry that adding that term now is unnecessary vocabulary for the students right now.

3. U Nuclear Fuel: Uranium 2. Uranium-235 92
Fission of U-235 splits nucleus in two pieces
releases neutrons for chain reaction
Nuclear fission chain reaction  releases energy in the form of heat
The fuel used in nuclear power plants is an isotope of the radioactive element uranium
Again, great information – can we make it so there are fewer words on the slide?
(We can have more typed information on their handout, if necessary.)

4. Nuclear Reactors
3. Nuclear Reactor  device built to sustain a controlled nuclear fission chain reaction
Main Components of Nuclear Reactor:
reactor vessel
tubes of uranium
control rods
- containment structure
Nice – again, maybe the 2 lower boxes can be reduced in wording.
For example:
Components of Nuclear Reactor: control rods (hold uranium), containment structure
Then, verbally you can give additional information … like the containment structure is 3-6 feet deep. (Again, some of those details could be typed into their handout.
Containment structure contains the reaction in at least 3 feet of concrete!
control rods control radioactivity, absorbs neutrons

5. The Nuclear Power Plant
4. Nuclear power plant consists of all the parts needed to create electricity by using nuclear energy
Fission occurs in the reactor vessel. Heat is produced.
The heat is used to heat water to create steam
The steam is cooled in the condenser to return to the liquid phase.
The steam is used to turn the turbine in the generator to produce electricity

6. Video: How a pressurized water nuclear reactor (pwr) works
Nice ...
I wonder if we can create a “key ideas” question sheet for the video. It’d be nice if it was designed so that students could take just a couple of minutes after the video to synthesize information.
What seems key to me:
Heating of the water to steam for running the generators
Safety factors – the system designed for preventing meltdown
“Definition” of meltdown

7. Key Components of Nuclear Energy 2. Uranium-235 1. nuclear fission
4. nuclear power
plant
3. nuclear reactor
Nuclear Energy

8. Nuclear Power Production in Wisconsin
- U.S. produces about 31% of world’s nuclear power
- consumes about 22%
WI - 2 nuclear power plants, Kewaunee and Point Beach
20% of WI’s energy is from nuclear power
I like the local connection – I was under the impression that WI got a smaller percentage (like 11%) of its energy from nuclear power, but I don’t know what my source was!
Maybe we can verbally mention that both of these plants are on Lake Michigan since nuclear power plants use a lot of water for cooling purposes.
Again – I would reduce the number of words on the slide. Perhaps you can label the plant and location for the pictures and just verbally provide the other information (again – it could be typed into the student notes).
Kewaunee Power Plant
Carlton, WI
Point Beach Nuclear Power Plant
Two Rivers, WI

9. Three Mile Island
Pennsylvania, USA

10. The American Experience’s Meltdown at Three Mile Island
I really like this video clip. Perhaps we can have a couple of concluding questions.