1. Alternative Source of Energy - NUCLEAR ENERGY Ashley Choi Contemporary World Issues

2. General overview: Nuclear plants vs. older plants Nuclear energy Depend on the heat that occurs during nuclear fission to heat water. Therefore, does not emit air pollution Involves Uranium and the science of nuclear fission Older plants Burn fossil fuels to heat water Major source of air pollution

3. The Science of Uranium Uranium-235 is a special atom that suits for the production of nuclear energy. U-235 decays spontaneously through alpha radiation, where it throws off an alpha particle (2 neutrons + 2 protons). What makes it special, though, is that U-235 can undergo “induced” nuclear fission as well. The process is quite straightforward as shown below. If a free neutron runs into a U-235 nucleus, the nucleus will absorb the neutron, become unstable and split immediately.

4. Visual of Nuclear Fission When the nucleus (the big pouch in the video) captures the neutron (little bullet- looking particle), the nucleus splits into two lighter atoms and throws off two or three new neutrons. The process of capturing the neutron and splitting happens very quickly. Think of it as a domino effect. One splits, then the other, and so on.

5. Science + Math of Uranium During nuclear fission, the splitting process of an atom releases an enormous amount of heat and gamma radiation, or radiation made of high-energy photons. The two atoms that result from the fission later release beta radiation (super fast electrons) and gamma radiation of their own as well. The equation to find out the amount of energy of this scientific process is E = mc2, where m is the mass of the atoms involved in the nuclear fission.

6. Effective Production The decay of a single U-235 atom releases approximately 200 MeV (million electron volts). That may not seem like much, but there are a lot of uranium atoms in a pound (0.45 kg) of uranium. In fact, a pound of highly enriched uranium as used to power a nuclear submarine is equal to about a million gallons of gasoline.

7. Nuclear Energy in South Korea Currently,needs to import 97% of its energy requirements Hence, nuclear energy is predicted to cut down on the % of import 20 reactors in Korea provide 40% of electricity Member of International Atomic Energy Agency (1957) First nuclear reactor developed in 1962 Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (MEST) initiated nuclear energy development project for 2007-2011 to become a leader in nuclear energy. (They projected 60% of electricity to come from nuclear by 2035) 2005: the capacity factor for South Korean power reactors was 96.5%, one of the highest in the world. This means that Korea has a potential to become a world leader in the years to come As of November 2005, Gyeonju was designated as the major repository site to facilitate radioactive waste management Atomy Energy Commission is the highest decision-making body for nuclear energy policy in Korea; MEST comes second as responsible for nuclear safety and developments

8. Nuclear Energy in North Korea North Korea wants to produce electricity with nuclear power but they spent years developing nuclear weapons instead of generating electricity with the new form of energy. DPRK’s civil nuclear programs were hindered by the government’s digression. However, in 2007 at the Six Party Talks in Beijing, DPRK agreed to shut down its nuclear weapon production. Should focus on the use of nuclear power and radiation in “medical, industrial, and agricultural applications.”

9. France: A world-leader in nuclear energy development Despite its substantial development in the field, France had a disastrous accident. nearly 100 workers were contaminated with radioactive cobalt after an old pipe leaked. It happened on 23 July 2008 at a major nuclear complex at Tricastin, near Avignon in the south of France. has 58 nuclear reactors producing about 80% of the country’s electricity, the highest proportion in the world. “nuclear electricity makes up only 18% of all the energy used by French consumers, with the rest for transport and heating coming from oil, gas and coal, some of which is imported. The uranium used to fuel nuclear reactors is also all imported.”

10. Diagrams

11. Advantage vs. Disadvantage of nuclear energy not expensive. (cost about the same as coal) Does not produce smoke or carbon dioxide, so it does not contribute to the greenhouse effect or the general air pollution. Produces huge amounts of energy from small amounts of fuel. Produces small amounts of waste. Nuclear power is reliable Containing the waste: Although not much waste, there are risks: must be sealed up and buried for many thousands of years to allow the radioactivity to die away, must be kept safe from earthquakes, flooding, terrorists and everything else. A lot of money spent on safety - if it does go wrong, a nuclear accident = a major disaster. Hence, people are concerned - in the 1990's it was the fastest-growing source of power; in 2005, the second slowest-growing.

12. Statistics: Countries currently with nuclear energy http://www.nea.fr/html/general/facts.html France currently holds 59 nuclear units and the nuclear percentage of total electricity supply is 76.8%; Japan holds 55units with 25.6%; Korea 20 units with 35.2% US is the leading nation; holds 104 units with 19.4% of energy generated from nuclear power plants

13. Citation Countries w/nuclear power: http://www.nea.fr/html/general/facts.html http://www.nea.fr/html/general/facts.html Advantage/disadvantage: http://www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg/nuclear.htm http://www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg/nuclear.htm Nuclear energy: http://www.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-power.htmhttp://www.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-power.htm Nuclear fission: http://science.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-power1.htmhttp://science.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-power1.htm All about nuclear energy: http://library.thinkquest.org/3471/nuclear_energy_body.html http://library.thinkquest.org/3471/nuclear_energy_body.html Diagram: http://www.freeinfosociety.com/images/science/nuclearenergy1.jpg http://www.freeinfosociety.com/images/science/nuclearenergy1.jpg North Korea: http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:o-0N- nNvBUUJ:www.isis- online.org/publications/dprk/CivilNuclearNK.pdf+DPRK+and+nuclear+ energy&hl=ko&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=kr&client=firefox-ahttp://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:o-0N- nNvBUUJ:www.isis- online.org/publications/dprk/CivilNuclearNK.pdf+DPRK+and+nuclear+ energy&hl=ko&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=kr&client=firefox-a South Korea: http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf81.htmlhttp://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf81.html France: http://www.robedwards.com/2008/11/french-nuclear-power- falters.htmlhttp://www.robedwards.com/2008/11/french-nuclear-power- falters.html