What is nuclear energy. Nuclear energy in the modern world

Belov Maxim, Kaniseva INNA

The use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes. The work was prepared by 1st year students of secondary vocational education.................................................... ........................................................ ........................................................ ........................................................ ........................................................ ........................................................ ........................................................ ........................................................ ........................................................ .........

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State budgetary educational institution of secondary vocational education "Samara Trade and Economic College"

REPORT

Application of atomic energy

Prepared; Belov Maxim, Kaniseva Inna - students of the Samara Trade and Economic College.

Head: Urakova Ahslu Rashidovna, teacher of physics and mathematics.

SAMARA 2012

Atomic Energy

Already at the end of the 20th century, the problem of finding alternative energy sources became very urgent. Despite the fact that our planet is truly rich in natural resources, such as oil, coal, timber, etc., all these resources, unfortunately, are finite. In addition, the needs of mankind are growing every day and we have to look for newer and more advanced sources of energy.
For a long time, humanity has found one or another solution to the issue of alternative energy sources, but the real breakthrough in the history of energy was the emergence of nuclear energy. Nuclear theory has come a long way before people learned to use it for their own purposes. It all started back in 1896, when A. Becquerel registered invisible rays that were emitted by uranium ore, and which had great penetrating power. This phenomenon was later called radioactivity. The history of the development of nuclear energy contains several dozen outstanding names, including Soviet physicists. The final stage of development can be called 1939 - when Yu.B. Khariton and Ya.B. Zeldovich theoretically showed the possibility of carrying out a chain reaction of fission of uranium-235 nuclei. Further, the development of nuclear energy proceeded by leaps and bounds. According to the most rough estimates, the energy that is released when 1 kilogram of uranium is split can be compared with the energy that is obtained by burning 2,500,000 kg of coal.

But due to the outbreak of the war, all research was redirected to the military field. The first example of nuclear energy that man was able to demonstrate to the whole world was the atomic bomb... Then the hydrogen bomb... Only years later did the scientific community turn its attention to more peaceful areas where the use of nuclear energy could become truly useful.
Thus began the dawn of the youngest field of energy. Nuclear power plants (NPPs) began to appear, and the world's first nuclear power plant was built in the city of Obninsk, Kaluga Region. Today there are several hundred nuclear power plants around the world. The development of nuclear energy was incredibly rapid. In less than 100 years, it was able to achieve an ultra-high level of technological development. The amount of energy released during the fission of uranium or plutonium nuclei is incomparably large - this made it possible to create large industrial-type nuclear power plants.
So how do you get this energy? It's all about the chain reaction of fission of the nuclei of some radioactive elements. Usually uranium-235 or plutonium is used. Nuclear fission begins when a neutron hits it - an elementary particle that has no charge, but has a relatively large mass (0.14% more than the mass of a proton). As a result, fission fragments and new neutrons are formed, which have high kinetic energy, which in turn is actively converted into heat.
This type of energy is produced not only in nuclear power plants. It is also used on nuclear submarines and nuclear icebreakers.
For nuclear power plants to function normally, they still need fuel. As a rule, this is uranium. This element is widespread in nature, but is difficult to obtain. There are no uranium deposits in nature (like oil, for example); it is, as it were, “smeared” throughout the earth’s crust. The richest uranium ores, which are very rare, contain up to 10% pure uranium. Uranium is usually found in uranium-containing minerals as an isomorphic replacement element. But despite all this, the total amount of uranium on the planet is enormously large. Perhaps in the near future, the latest technologies will increase the percentage of uranium production.
But such a powerful source of energy, and therefore strength, cannot but cause concern. There is constant debate about its reliability and safety. It is difficult to assess the damage nuclear energy causes to the environment. Is it so effective and profitable as to neglect such losses? How safe is it? Moreover, unlike any other energy sector, we are talking not only about environmental safety. Everyone remembers very well the terrible consequences of the events in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When humanity has such power, the question arises: is it worthy of such power? Will we be able to adequately manage what we have and not destroy it?
If tomorrow our planet ran out of all reserves of traditional energy sources, then nuclear energy would, perhaps, become the only area that could actually replace it. Its benefits cannot be denied, but we should not forget about the possible consequences.

Application of atomic energy

Nuclear fission energyuranium or plutonium used in nuclearand thermonuclear weapons (as a thermonuclear reaction starter). There were experimental nuclear rocket engines, but they were tested only on Earth and under controlled conditions, due to the danger of radioactive contamination in the event of an accident.

On nuclear power plantsNuclear energy is used to generate heat used to generate electricity and heating. Nuclear power plants solved the problem of ships with an unlimited navigation area (nuclear icebreakers, nuclear submarines, nuclear aircraft carriers). In conditions of shortage of energy resourcesnuclear energy

The energy released during radioactive decay is used in long-lived heat sources and beta-galvanic cells. Automatic interplanetary stations"Pioneer" And Voyager use radioisotope thermoelectric generators. The isotope heat source used by the SovietLunokhod-1.

Fusion energy is used inhydrogen bomb.

Nuclear energy is used in medicine:

  1. Functional diagnostics:scintigraphy And positron emission tomography
  2. Diagnostics: radioimmunology
  3. Treatment of thyroid cancer with isotope 131 I
  4. Proton surgery

Today, nuclear medicine makes it possible to study almost all human organ systems and is used in

Chernobyl disaster

Almost 25 years have passed since the terrible event that shocked the whole world. The echoes of this catastrophe of the century will stir the souls of people for a long time, and its consequences will affect people more than once.

Chernobyl disaster and its consequences

The consequences of the Chernobyl disaster made themselves felt in the very first months after the explosion. People living in the areas adjacent to the site of the tragedy died from hemorrhages and apoplexy.
The liquidators of the consequences of the accident suffered: out of a total number of liquidators of 600,000, about 100,000 people are no longer alive - they died from malignant tumors and destruction of the hematopoietic system. The existence of other liquidators cannot be called cloudless - they suffer from numerous diseases, including cancer, disorders of the nervous and endocrine systems.

But nevertheless, in conditions of shortage of energy resourcesnuclear energyconsidered the most promising in the coming decades.

Bibliography

1. Ignatenko. E.I. Chernobyl: events and lessons. M., 1989

2. Nuclear energy. History and modernity. M., Science. 1991

The use of nuclear energy in the modern world turns out to be so important that if we woke up tomorrow and the energy from the nuclear reaction had disappeared, the world as we know it would probably cease to exist. Peace forms the basis of industrial production and life in countries such as France and Japan, Germany and Great Britain, the USA and Russia. And if the last two countries are still able to replace nuclear energy sources with thermal stations, then for France or Japan this is simply impossible.

The use of nuclear energy creates many problems. Basically, all these problems are related to the fact that using the binding energy of the atomic nucleus (which we call nuclear energy) for one’s benefit, a person receives a significant evil in the form of highly radioactive waste that cannot simply be thrown away. Waste from nuclear energy sources must be processed, transported, buried, and stored for a long time in safe conditions.

Pros and cons, benefits and harms of using nuclear energy

Let's consider the pros and cons of using atomic-nuclear energy, their benefits, harm and significance in the life of Mankind. It is obvious that nuclear energy today is needed only by industrialized countries. That is, peaceful nuclear energy is mainly used in facilities such as factories, processing plants, etc. It is energy-intensive industries that are remote from sources of cheap electricity (such as hydroelectric power plants) that use nuclear power plants to ensure and develop their internal processes.

Agrarian regions and cities do not have much need for nuclear energy. It is quite possible to replace it with thermal and other stations. It turns out that the mastery, acquisition, development, production and use of nuclear energy is for the most part aimed at meeting our needs for industrial products. Let's see what kind of industries they are: automotive industry, military production, metallurgy, chemical industry, oil and gas complex, etc.

Does a modern person want to drive a new car? Want to dress in fashionable synthetics, eat synthetics and pack everything in synthetics? Want colorful products in different shapes and sizes? Wants all new phones, TVs, computers? Do you want to buy a lot and often change the equipment around you? Do you want to eat delicious chemical food from colored packages? Do you want to live in peace? Want to hear sweet speeches from the TV screen? Does he want there to be a lot of tanks, as well as missiles and cruisers, as well as shells and guns?

And he gets it all. It does not matter that in the end the discrepancy between word and deed leads to war. It doesn't matter that recycling it also requires energy. For now the man is calm. He eats, drinks, goes to work, sells and buys.

And all this requires energy. And this also requires a lot of oil, gas, metal, etc. And all these industrial processes require nuclear energy. Therefore, no matter what anyone says, until the first industrial thermonuclear fusion reactor is put into production, nuclear energy will only develop.

We can safely list everything that we are used to as the advantages of nuclear energy. The downside is the sad prospect of imminent death due to the collapse of resource depletion, problems of nuclear waste, population growth and degradation of arable land. In other words, nuclear energy allowed man to begin to take control of nature even more, raping it beyond measure to such an extent that in a few decades he overcame the threshold of reproduction of basic resources, launching the process of collapse of consumption between 2000 and 2010. This process objectively no longer depends on the person.

Everyone will have to eat less, live less and enjoy the natural environment less. Here lies another plus or minus of nuclear energy, which is that countries that have mastered the atom will be able to more effectively redistribute the scarce resources of those who have not mastered the atom. Moreover, only the development of the thermonuclear fusion program will allow humanity to simply survive. Now let’s explain in detail what kind of “beast” this is - atomic (nuclear) energy and what it is eaten with.

Mass, matter and atomic (nuclear) energy

We often hear the statement that “mass and energy are the same thing,” or such judgments that the expression E = mc2 explains the explosion of an atomic (nuclear) bomb. Now that you have a first understanding of nuclear energy and its applications, it would be truly unwise to confuse you with statements such as “mass equals energy.” In any case, this way of interpreting the great discovery is not the best. Apparently, this is just the wit of young reformists, “Galileans of the new time.” In fact, the prediction of the theory, which has been verified by many experiments, only says that energy has mass.

We will now explain the modern point of view and give a short overview of the history of its development.
When the energy of any material body increases, its mass increases, and we attribute this additional mass to the increase in energy. For example, when radiation is absorbed, the absorber becomes hotter and its mass increases. However, the increase is so small that it remains beyond the accuracy of measurements in ordinary experiments. On the contrary, if a substance emits radiation, then it loses a drop of its mass, which is carried away by the radiation. A broader question arises: is not the entire mass of matter determined by energy, i.e., is there not a huge reserve of energy contained in all matter? Many years ago, radioactive transformations responded positively to this. When a radioactive atom decays, a huge amount of energy is released (mostly in the form of kinetic energy), and a small part of the atom's mass disappears. The measurements clearly show this. Thus, energy carries away mass with it, thereby reducing the mass of matter.

Consequently, part of the mass of matter is interchangeable with the mass of radiation, kinetic energy, etc. That is why we say: “energy and matter are partially capable of mutual transformations.” Moreover, we can now create particles of matter that have mass and are capable of being completely converted into radiation, which also has mass. The energy of this radiation can transform into other forms, transferring its mass to them. Conversely, radiation can turn into particles of matter. So instead of “energy has mass,” we can say “particles of matter and radiation are interconvertible, and therefore capable of interconversion with other forms of energy.” This is the creation and destruction of matter. Such destructive events cannot occur in the realm of ordinary physics, chemistry and technology, they must be sought either in the microscopic but active processes studied by nuclear physics, or in the high-temperature crucible of atomic bombs, in the Sun and stars. However, it would be unreasonable to say that "energy is mass." We say: “energy, like matter, has mass.”

Mass of ordinary matter

We say that the mass of ordinary matter contains within itself a huge supply of internal energy, equal to the product of mass by (the speed of light)2. But this energy is contained in the mass and cannot be released without the disappearance of at least part of it. How did such an amazing idea come about and why was it not discovered earlier? It had been proposed before - experiment and theory in different forms - but until the twentieth century the change in energy was not observed, because in ordinary experiments it corresponds to an incredibly small change in mass. However, we are now confident that a flying bullet, due to its kinetic energy, has additional mass. Even at a speed of 5000 m/sec, a bullet that weighed exactly 1 g at rest will have a total mass of 1.00000000001 g. White-hot platinum weighing 1 kg will only add 0.000000000004 kg and practically no weighing will be able to register these changes. It is only when enormous reserves of energy are released from the atomic nucleus, or when atomic "projectiles" are accelerated to speeds close to the speed of light, that the mass of energy becomes noticeable.

On the other hand, even a subtle difference in mass marks the possibility of releasing a huge amount of energy. Thus, hydrogen and helium atoms have relative masses of 1.008 and 4.004. If four hydrogen nuclei could combine into one helium nucleus, the mass of 4.032 would change to 4.004. The difference is small, only 0.028, or 0.7%. But it would mean a gigantic release of energy (mainly in the form of radiation). 4.032 kg of hydrogen would produce 0.028 kg of radiation, which would have an energy of about 600000000000 Cal.

Compare this to the 140,000 Cals released when the same amount of hydrogen combines with oxygen in a chemical explosion.
Ordinary kinetic energy makes a significant contribution to the mass of very fast protons produced in cyclotrons, and this creates difficulties when working with such machines.

Why do we still believe that E=mc2

Now we perceive this as a direct consequence of the theory of relativity, but the first suspicions arose towards the end of the 19th century, in connection with the properties of radiation. It seemed likely then that the radiation had mass. And since radiation carries, as if on wings, at a speed with energy, or rather, it itself is energy, an example of mass has appeared that belongs to something “immaterial”. The experimental laws of electromagnetism predicted that electromagnetic waves should have "mass." But before the creation of the theory of relativity, only unbridled imagination could extend the ratio m=E/c2 to other forms of energy.

All types of electromagnetic radiation (radio waves, infrared, visible and ultraviolet light, etc.) share some common features: they all propagate in vacuum at the same speed and all transfer energy and momentum. We imagine light and other radiation in the form of waves propagating at a high but certain speed c = 3*108 m/sec. When light strikes an absorbing surface, heat is generated, indicating that the stream of light carries energy. This energy must propagate along with the flow at the same speed of light. In fact, the speed of light is measured exactly this way: by the time it takes a portion of light energy to travel a long distance.

When light hits the surface of some metals, it knocks out electrons that fly out just as if they had been hit by a compact ball. , apparently, is distributed in concentrated portions, which we call “quanta”. This is the quantum nature of the radiation, despite the fact that these portions are apparently created by waves. Each piece of light with the same wavelength has the same energy, a certain “quantum” of energy. Such portions rush at the speed of light (in fact, they are light), transferring energy and momentum (momentum). All this makes it possible to attribute a certain mass to the radiation - a certain mass is assigned to each portion.

When light is reflected from a mirror, no heat is released, because the reflected beam carries away all the energy, but the mirror is subject to pressure similar to the pressure of elastic balls or molecules. If, instead of a mirror, the light hits a black absorbing surface, the pressure becomes half as much. This indicates that the beam carries the amount of motion rotated by the mirror. Therefore, light behaves as if it had mass. But is there any other way to know that something has mass? Does mass exist in its own right, such as length, green color, or water? Or is it an artificial concept defined by behavior like Modesty? Mass, in fact, is known to us in three manifestations:

  • A. A vague statement characterizing the amount of “substance” (Mass from this point of view is inherent in matter - an entity that we can see, touch, push).
  • B. Certain statements linking it with other physical quantities.
  • B. Mass is conserved.

It remains to determine the mass in terms of momentum and energy. Then any moving thing with momentum and energy must have "mass". Its mass should be (momentum)/(velocity).

Theory of relativity

The desire to link together a series of experimental paradoxes concerning absolute space and time gave rise to the theory of relativity. Two kinds of experiments with light gave conflicting results, and experiments with electricity further aggravated this conflict. Then Einstein proposed changing the simple geometric rules for adding vectors. This change is the essence of his “special theory of relativity.”

For low speeds (from the slowest snail to the fastest of rockets), the new theory agrees with the old one.
At high speeds, comparable to the speed of light, our measurement of lengths or time is modified by the movement of the body relative to the observer, in particular, the mass of the body becomes greater the faster it moves.

Then the theory of relativity declared that this increase in mass was completely general. At normal speeds there is no change, and only at a speed of 100,000,000 km/h does the mass increase by 1%. However, for electrons and protons emitted from radioactive atoms or modern accelerators, it reaches 10, 100, 1000%…. Experiments with such high-energy particles provide excellent confirmation of the relationship between mass and velocity.

At the other edge there is radiation that has no rest mass. It is not a substance and cannot be kept at rest; it simply has mass and moves with speed c, so its energy is equal to mc2. We talk about quanta as photons when we want to note the behavior of light as a stream of particles. Each photon has a certain mass m, a certain energy E=mс2 and momentum (momentum).

Nuclear transformations

In some experiments with nuclei, the masses of atoms after violent explosions do not add up to the same total mass. The released energy carries with it some part of the mass; the missing piece of atomic material appears to have disappeared. However, if we assign the mass E/c2 to the measured energy, we find that the mass is conserved.

Annihilation of matter

We are accustomed to thinking of mass as an inevitable property of matter, so the transition of mass from matter to radiation - from a lamp to an escaping ray of light - looks almost like the destruction of matter. One more step - and we will be surprised to discover what is actually happening: positive and negative electrons, particles of matter, joining together, are completely converted into radiation. The mass of their matter turns into an equal mass of radiation. This is a case of disappearance of matter in the most literal sense. As if in focus, in a flash of light.

Measurements show that (energy, radiation during annihilation)/ c2 is equal to the total mass of both electrons - positive and negative. An antiproton combines with a proton and annihilates, usually releasing lighter particles with high kinetic energy.

Creation of matter

Now that we have learned to manage high-energy radiation (ultra-short-wave X-rays), we can prepare particles of matter from the radiation. If a target is bombarded with such rays, they sometimes produce a pair of particles, for example positive and negative electrons. And if we again use the formula m=E/c2 for both radiation and kinetic energy, then the mass will be conserved.

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Today we will talk about nuclear energy, its productivity in comparison with gas, oil, thermal power plants, hydroelectric power stations, and also about the fact that nuclear energy is the great potential of the Earth, about its dangers and benefits, because in the world today, especially after a number of global disasters , related to nuclear power plants and war, there is debate about the need for nuclear reactors.

So, first, what is nuclear energy?

“Nuclear energy (Nuclear energy) is a branch of energy engaged in the production of electrical and thermal energy by converting nuclear energy.

Typically, a nuclear fission chain reaction of plutonium-239 or uranium-235 is used to produce nuclear energy. Nuclei fission when a neutron hits them, producing new neutrons and fission fragments. Fission neutrons and fission fragments have high kinetic energy. As a result of collisions of fragments with other atoms, this kinetic energy is quickly converted into heat.

Although in any field of energy the primary source is nuclear energy (for example, the energy of solar nuclear reactions in hydroelectric and fossil fuel power plants, the energy of radioactive decay in geothermal power plants), nuclear energy refers only to the use of controlled reactions in nuclear reactors.

Nuclear power plants - nuclear power plants produce electrical or thermal energy using a nuclear reactor. Officially, the share of currently produced electricity using nuclear power plants has decreased over the last decade from 17-18 percent to just over 10. According to other sources, the future belongs to nuclear energy, and now the share of nuclear power plant energy is increasing, and new nuclear power plants are potentially being built, including in Russia . While nuclear power plants for the most part are not designed to satisfy the heat demands of the population (only in a few countries), nuclear energy is used for nuclear submarines, icebreakers, and the United States has a project to create a nuclear engine for a spaceship and a nuclear tank. Countries that actively use nuclear energy to meet the needs of the population are the USA, France, Japan, while nuclear plants in France cover more than 70% of the country's electricity needs.

Nuclear energy has the advantage that with low resource consumption, nuclear power plants produce enormous energy potential.

No matter how much it may seem to us, mere mortals, that nuclear energy is far away and untrue, in fact, today it is one of the most pressing issues discussed in the world at the level of global technologies, since the sphere of providing the planet with energy is becoming more and more pressing, and the most promising The direction is precisely nuclear energy, we will explain why in the article.

The nuclear cycle is the basis of nuclear energy, its stages include the extraction of uranium ore, its grinding, the conversion of separated uranium dioxide, the processing of uranium into a highly concentrated and special form to produce heat-generating elements for introduction into the nuclear reactor zone, then the collection of spent fuel, cooling and disposal in special “nuclear waste cemeteries”. In general, the most dangerous thing in using nuclear fuel is the mining of uranium and the disposal of nuclear fuel; the operation of nuclear power plants does not cause any particular harm to the environment.

A working nuclear reactor that has failed can take (attention!!) 4.5 years to cool down!

The first attempts to implement a chain reaction of nuclear decay were made at the University of Chicago, using uranium as fuel and graphite as a moderator, at the end of 1942.

On the planet, at least a fifth of all energy is generated by nuclear power plants.

“According to the report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), at the end of 2016, there were 450 operating nuclear power (that is, producing recycled electrical and/or thermal energy) reactors in 31 countries of the world (in addition to energy ones, there are also research and some others).

Approximately half of the world's nuclear power generation comes from two countries - the United States and France. The United States produces only 1/8 of its electricity from nuclear power plants, but this represents about 20% of global production.”

The USA and France are the most productive countries in nuclear energy; French nuclear power plants provide more than two-thirds of the country's heat demands.

Lithuania was the absolute leader in the use of nuclear energy. The only Ignalina nuclear power plant located on its territory generated more electrical energy than the entire republic consumed (for example, in 2003, a total of 19.2 billion kWh were generated in Lithuania, of which 15.5 were generated by the Ignalina nuclear power plant). Having an excess of it (and there are other power plants in Lithuania), the “extra” energy was sent for export.”

In Russia (the 4th country in terms of the number of nuclear units, after Japan, the USA and France), the cost of nuclear energy is one of the lowest, only 95 kopecks (2015 data) per kilowatt/hour, and is relatively safe from an environmental point of view: no emissions into the atmosphere, only water vapor. And in general, nuclear power plants are a fairly safe source of energy, BUT! While working safely! As experts say, any technology has its disadvantages... Of course, this is a controversial statement that thousands of victims and millions of victims are simply disadvantages of technology, but if you count the victims of modern progress in other areas, the picture will be unflattering.

Let's discuss the benefits and dangers of nuclear energy. It is very strange, in the opinion of many, to discuss the benefits of atomic energy... especially after such events as the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Fukushima, the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki... However, everything that is dangerous in large doses, either if used incorrectly or if it fails, causes disasters - when used correctly, in a peaceful rhythm, it is often quite safe. If we analyze the structure and mechanism of nuclear bombs, the cause, the problem of the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, we can understand that this is comparable to poison, which in small quantities can be a medicine, but in large quantities and when combined with other poisons it can be fatal.

So, the main arguments of those who are against nuclear energy are that waste from nuclear fuel reprocessing is difficult to dispose of, it causes a lot of harm to nature, and also broken down and operating nuclear power plants can serve as weapons of mass destruction in the event of war or in the event of an accident.

“At the same time, the World Nuclear Association, which advocates the promotion of nuclear energy, published data in 2011, according to which a gigawatt*year of electricity produced at coal power plants on average (taking into account the entire production chain) costs 342 human casualties, at gas ones - 85 , at hydroelectric power stations - 885, while at nuclear power plants - only 8.”

Radioactive waste is dangerous due to its harmful radiation and the fact that its half-life is very long; accordingly, it emits radiation in huge doses for a long time. Special places are used for waste disposal; today in Russia the most pressing question is where to make a “graveyard” for radioactive waste. It was planned to make a similar burial in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Today in Russia there are several burial sites of this type, in the Urals, for example, where enriched uranium is obtained (40% of world production!!).

They are buried in sealed barrels, each kg under strict accountability.

It is Russia that builds the safest nuclear power plants. After the Fukushima tragedy, the world took into account the mistakes of nuclear power plants; the construction of today's nuclear power plants generally involves a safer design than those built earlier. Russian nuclear power plants are the safest of all the world, and “our” nuclear power plants have taken into account all the mistakes made in the case of Fukushima. The project even includes a nuclear power plant that will withstand a magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami.

In Russia today there are about 10 nuclear power plants and the same number are under construction.

Russia is in 5th place in uranium production, but in 2nd place in reserves. The main amount of uranium is mined in Krasnokamensk, in deep mines. It is not so much the uranium itself that is dangerous, but radon, a gas formed during uranium mining. A lot of miners, who spent most of their lives mining uranium, die of cancer before reaching retirement age (don’t believe the films where they say that everyone is healthy and alive, since this is an exception), people in nearby villages also die early or suffer from illnesses.

There are fierce debates among environmentalists and scientists about whether nuclear energy is safe. There are completely different opinions, such radicalism is caused, among other things, by the fact that nuclear energy is still a relatively young niche in world technology, therefore there is no sufficient research confirming the danger or safety. But from what we have today, we can already draw a conclusion about the comparative safety and benefits of nuclear energy.

As for efficiency, everything is doubtful from the point of view of those who are against nuclear energy.

Today, maintaining the operation of nuclear power plants requires increasing costs, in particular for normal safe operations, for fuel extraction and waste disposal. And nuclear power plants themselves, as we wrote above, can be a potential means of mass destruction of the population, a weapon.

Chernobyl and Fukushima, although rare, did happen, which means that there is a chance of a repetition.

Radioactive burial sites still retain radiation for many thousands of years!!!

The vapors produced as a result of the operation of nuclear power plants create a powerful greenhouse effect, which, when accumulated, has a destructive effect on nature.

Hydroelectric power plants, for example, are no safer, according to experts; when a dam breaks, no less serious disasters occur; when other types of fuel are used, nature also suffers, and many times more than with nuclear energy.

Now about the positives. The conclusion about the benefits of nuclear energy can be made, firstly, because of its economic benefits, profitability (the “tariffs” already mentioned above, where in Russia, for example, nuclear power is the cheapest), secondly, because of its comparative safety for the environment, After all, when a nuclear power plant operates correctly, only steam is released into the atmosphere; there are only problems with waste disposal.

1 gram of uranium provides the same amount of energy as burning 1000 kg of oil or even more.

Chernobyl is an exception and a human factor, but a million tons of coal means several human lives, while the energy from the combustion of coal and oil is much less than from nuclear fuel. The radiation background from burning coal and oil is comparable to the same Fukushima, only when the disaster is immediate and large, and the gradual harm is not so noticeable, but more serious. And how much nature is destroyed by cut down quarries and when raw materials are extracted by waste heaps.

According to a number of ecologists, the absence of radiation is sometimes more harmful than its presence and sometimes even excess. Why?

Radioactive particles surround us all around, from birth to death. And radiation “within the framework” trains the immunity of cells to protect against radiation; if a person is completely deprived of contact with the radioactive environment, he may die from the very first contact with it subsequently. And nuclear plants, according to scientists, emit only a small part of harmful radiation. The absence of radiation is no less dangerous than its excess, some ecologists believe.

Those who adhere to the opposite point of view, that nuclear energy is evil, talk about the unsafety of nuclear reactors and the alternative to other types of energy - the sun, the wind.

Discussions on the good and evil of atomic energy are even called loudly: “will the atom bring peace to the world?” And these discussions are endless today. But the main thing can be said - people have no other choice but to develop nuclear energy all over the world, since the volume of consumed energy and heat resources is increasing more and more, and no other form of energy production and production is capable of meeting the needs of humanity better than nuclear energy.

There are an incredible number of us, only those living in the distant hinterlands no longer know this; the planet has exhausted all possible resources to maintain a normal standard of living for humanity. Even based on the data given in the article, nuclear energy is the most promising industry, capable of producing a much larger volume of energy with less harm to the environment and costs, its productivity is higher than other known energy sources.

Over the next 50 years, humanity will consume more energy than was consumed in all previous history. Previously made forecasts about the growth rate of energy consumption and the development of new energy technologies did not come true: the level of consumption is growing much faster, and new energy sources will work on an industrial scale and at competitive prices no earlier than 2030. The problem of shortage of fossil energy resources is becoming increasingly acute. The possibilities for building new hydroelectric power plants are also very limited.

We should not forget about the fight against the “greenhouse effect”, which imposes restrictions on the combustion of oil, gas and coal at thermal power plants (TPPs). The solution to the problem could be the active development of nuclear energy, one of the youngest and most dynamically developing sectors of the global economy. An increasing number of countries today are coming to the conclusion of the need to begin developing the peaceful atom.

What are the advantages of nuclear power?

Huge energy intensity

When fully burned, 1 kilogram of uranium used in nuclear fuel releases energy equivalent to burning 100 tons of high-quality coal.

Reuse

Uranium-235 does not burn up completely in nuclear fuel and can be used again after regeneration. In the future, a complete transition to a closed fuel cycle is possible, which means a complete absence of waste.

Reducing the greenhouse effect

Every year, nuclear power plants in Europe avoid the emission of 700 million tons of CO2. Operating nuclear power plants in Russia annually prevent the release of 210 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

The contribution of nuclear engineering and technology to ensuring the security of the state is usually divided into the spheres of civil (peaceful) and military applications. This division is in a certain sense arbitrary, since the conversion of nuclear technologies took place at all stages of their development.

Main directions of peaceful use of nuclear energy:

  • electric power industry;
  • heat supply to populated areas (municipal) and industrial facilities (industrial), desalination of sea water;
  • power plants for transport purposes, used as energy sources on naval vessels - icebreakers, lighter carriers, etc.;
  • development of deposits on the Arctic continental shelf;
  • power plants for power supply of artificial space systems and objects; rocket engines;
  • research reactor installations for various purposes;
  • obtaining isotope products necessary for use in medicine, technology, and agriculture;
  • industrial application of underground nuclear explosions.
  • The main directions of military use of nuclear energy:
  • production of weapons-grade nuclear materials;
  • nuclear weapon;
  • energy installations used to pump energy into laser weapons;
  • power plants for submarines and surface ships of the navy and spacecraft.

Electric power industry. Most operating power units use pressurized water reactors (PWR, VVER) or boiling water reactors (BWR, RBMK), which make it possible to achieve a power generation efficiency of 31...33%. Fast and high-temperature (gas-cooled) reactors provide power generation efficiency of 41...43%. The transition to gas turbine energy conversion at a temperature behind a gas-cooled reactor of about 900 °C makes it possible to increase the efficiency of electricity generation to 48...49%.

In 2002, the total global electricity production of all operating nuclear power units (441 units with a total installed electrical capacity of 359 GW) was 2574 TWh (approximately 16% of the electricity produced and 6% of the global fuel and energy balance).

Heat supply with the use of nuclear energy sources at present (with its limited volumes) is sufficiently prepared in technical terms, and its practical implementation is considered to be of particular importance when replacing organic fuel with nuclear fuel. The use of nuclear energy for the purpose of heat supply to populated areas and industry began almost simultaneously with the production of electricity by nuclear power reactors.

There are three methods of centralized heat supply from a nuclear source:

  • nuclear thermal power plant (NTPP) for combined generation of electricity and heat in one unit;
  • nuclear boiler houses that serve only to produce low-pressure steam and hot water (the method is implemented on a fairly small scale);
  • use of heating capabilities of condensing nuclear power plants to produce heat.


Heat release for heating are produced by all nuclear power plants in Russia and the CIS countries, as well as many foreign ones (Bulgaria, Hungary, Germany, Canada, USA, Switzerland, etc.). In accordance with the “Russian Energy Strategy for the period until 2020” The production of thermal energy in Russia using nuclear sources will increase from 6 million Gcal in 1990 to 15 million Gcal in 2020. The increase in thermal energy production is expected through the creation of technical capabilities for the transfer of thermal energy from nuclear power plants and operating nuclear power plants. At the same time, the factors influencing the economic efficiency of heat supply using a nuclear energy source are the type of reactor plant and capital investments in it, the concentration of heat loads of users, the length of main heating networks, as well as comparative prices for nuclear and organic fuel.

Use of thermal energy from nuclear power plants on an industrial scale in the countries of the former USSR was started in the late 50s. at the Siberian Nuclear Power Plant, where the heat was used to heat industrial premises and residential buildings. The high reliability and safety of heat supply systems was demonstrated at the Bilibino ATPP, operating in Chukotka since 1974. The last, fourth, power unit was launched in 1976. The BiATPP is the only nuclear power plant in the world designed to produce electricity and heat for the industrial and domestic needs of the Territory. North in permafrost conditions.

In Russia and abroad, projects of medium and low power reactors have been developed, intended only for heating purposes - AST-500 (Russia), NHR-200 (China), SES-10 (Canada), Geyser (Switzerland, etc.), as well as for dual purpose use, i.e. for the generation of heat and electricity - VK-300, RUTA, ATETs-200, ABV, Sakha-32 and KLT-40 (Russia), SMART (Republic of Korea), CAREM-25 (Argentina), MRX (Japan), ISIS (Italy ).

The degree of development of projects varies from sketch to working. For some projects, demonstration units have been built and are operating (SDR for SES-10, NHR-5 for NHR-200).

Heat of high temperature potential (up to 1000 °C and above), necessary for the chemical industry, hydrogen production, ferrous metallurgy and other energy-intensive technologies, can be obtained in helium-cooled reactors. The implementation of the developed projects of such reactors and the energy technology complexes they provide is technically feasible, but given the current cost of organic fuel, preference is given to traditional technologies using this fuel.

Desalination. One of the significant and promising areas of application for low- and medium-power reactors can be the desalination of sea water and other highly mineralized and saline waters (mine waters, etc.). Large-scale production of fresh water based on the use of nuclear energy was first mastered in the USSR. In 1973, a large industrial water desalination complex with a fast reactor BN-350 with a liquid metal (sodium) coolant was put into operation in Kazakhstan.

Many years of experience in operating this complex, numerous domestic and foreign design studies of desalination plants with various types of reactors, and a detailed study of the problem within the framework of research programs of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) allow us to consider nuclear reactors as economically promising sources of energy supply for desalination plants, providing the possibility of producing fresh water in vast areas with decentralized energy supply, which is typical for many water-stressed areas of the world.

Transport power plants. Shipboard and naval nuclear installations were designed and built in Russia, the USA, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, France, and China. The world's first nuclear-powered civil ship - the nuclear-powered icebreaker "Lenin" - was built in 1959, and then a series of nuclear-powered icebreakers were put into operation ("Arctic", "Sibir", "Russia", "Soviet Union", "Taimyr", "Vaigach", "Yamal") and the container-lighter carrier "Sevmorput". The experience of civil nuclear shipbuilding in other countries (USA - Savannah, 1962; Germany - Otto Gann, 1968; Japan - Mutsu, 1974) was incomparably less.

The total accident-free operation of nuclear power plants on Russian icebreakers and lighter carriers exceeded 160 reactor-years; The operating time of the equipment at the first nuclear power plants amounted to more than 100...120 thousand hours while maintaining operability. Over the 35 years of operation of nuclear icebreakers and 9 years of operation of the Northern Sea Route, there has not been a nuclear or radiation hazardous incident on them that would have led to a voyage disruption, personnel exposure or negative impact on the environment. There were no cases of occupational disease associated with work at the reactor facility.

The first nuclear submarines were built and delivered to the fleet in the United States in 1954, in Russia in 1958. Subsequently, submarines began to be built in Great Britain, France and China (1963, 1971 and 1974, respectively). In Russia, 261 nuclear submarines were built between 1957 and 1995; the main part of the nuclear submarine has two nuclear reactors.

In the context of arms limitation and reduction, the agenda includes the creation of an effective technology for dismantling decommissioned nuclear submarines, as well as the selection and economic justification of new areas of application of effective technologies for shipboard nuclear power plants. Among the latter the leaders are:

floating nuclear power plants to supply electricity and heat to remote regions that do not have a centralized power supply.

These include

  • the northern and eastern coasts of Russia, territories along Siberian rivers, some island countries of the Pacific Ocean, etc.;
  • floating nuclear power units for seawater desalination;
  • underwater vehicles for studying the World Ocean, examining sunken ships, developing bottom areas, industrial mining of iron-manganese nodules and other minerals from the bottom of seas and oceans.

Development of deposits on the Arctic continental shelf. In the 90s In the last century, Russia began developing projects for the development of deposits on the Arctic continental shelf. The total (recoverable) hydrocarbon reserves in the Arctic Ocean are estimated at 100 billion tons of fuel equivalent. Research by Russian design organizations has shown the possibility of using nuclear energy to solve a wide range of energy supply problems for the offshore oil and gas technological cycle on the Arctic shelf. Projects have emerged for nuclear power supply for hydrocarbon production on platforms in the Barents Sea, gas transportation through underwater gas pipelines over long distances, large-capacity underwater shuttle tankers (projects of a nuclear underwater icebreaker tanker from the Malachite Design Bureau, St. Petersburg; a nuclear underwater tanker for transporting liquid fuel from Russia to Japan, Design Bureau "Lazurit", Nizhny Novgorod).

As part of the project for the development of the giant Shtokman gas condensate field, an assessment was made and the possibility of creating a nuclear underwater station for pumping natural gas through long underwater gas pipelines at great depth was shown. The designs of new installations use technical solutions from extensive Russian experience in the design and operation of nuclear power plants with pressurized water reactors for the Navy and nuclear icebreakers.

Nuclear power plants on spacecraft can be used as on-board energy sources and/or engines and have absolute advantages for space rocket ships during long-distance interplanetary flights, when chemical sources and/or the flow of solar radiation cannot provide the necessary power supply for the expedition.

In Russia, one of the main directions in the development of space nuclear power plants is the use of reactors with thermionic converters built into the core - effective energy sources for delivering spacecraft to geostationary and other energy-intensive orbits using an electric propulsion system (EPS).

The first flight tests of the space nuclear power plant "Buk" with a power of 3 kW(e) with thermionic converters, developed since 1956, took place in October 1970 (satellite "Cosmos-367"). Until 1988, when the Cosmos-1932 satellite was launched, 32 Buk nuclear power plants were sent into space.

The development of the thermionic nuclear power plant "Topaz" with a power of 5...7 kW(e) with multi-element power generating channels (EGC), carried out since 1958, included (starting from 1970) life tests at the power of seven samples of nuclear power plants. The world's first space launch of a thermionic nuclear power plant took place on 02/02/1987 as part of the experimental spacecraft "Plasma-A" (satellite "Cosmos-1818", orbit altitude 810/970 km). The nuclear power plant operated in autonomous mode for 142 days, generating over 7 kW of electricity. The second launch of the Topaz nuclear power plant was carried out on July 10, 1987 (Cosmos-1867 satellite, orbit altitude 797/813 km). This installation operated in space for 342 days, generating more than 50 thousand kWh of electricity.

A significant amount of research, design and engineering developments, pre-reactor and reactor tests were carried out to solve the problem of creating a direct-acting nuclear rocket engine (NRE), in which hydrogen, heated in the core to a temperature of 2500...2800 K, expands in the nozzle apparatus , providing a specific impulse of about 850...900 s. Ground tests of prototype reactors confirmed the technical feasibility of creating nuclear powered engines with a thrust of several tens (hundreds) of tons.

One of the most preferred schemes for the use of nuclear reactors as part of spacecraft is their use for two purposes: at the stage of launching spacecraft from low Earth orbit into an operating orbit, usually geostationary, for power supply to the propulsion propulsion system, and at the subsequent stage of intended use - to power the onboard and functional equipment of spacecraft in the final orbit.

As an unconventional approach to the creation of a nuclear power plant designed to operate in two modes with significantly different electrical power of 100...150 kW and 20...30 kW with a service life of up to 15-20 years, the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation proposes a new the principle of constructing a nuclear power plant. This option provides for the separation of the functions of converting thermal energy into electrical energy in the transport mode and the mode of intended use of the spacecraft between two corresponding types of converters: a thermionic converter built into the reactor core, which is used to power the electric propulsion system (transport mode) and has a short resource of up to 1, 5 years, and located outside the core (for long-term power supply of spacecraft equipment). The energy required for operation (in the latter case) is supplied by coolant heated in the reactor core.

The prototype of the thermoelectric generator of the dual-mode nuclear power plant under consideration can be a thermoelectric generator developed in the USA for the SP-100 installation (a nuclear power plant based on a lithium-cooled fast reactor, in which a silicon-germanium thermoelectric converter was planned as the main energy generator).

Research reactor facilities. According to the IAEA, as of August 2000, 288 research reactors are in operation in 60 countries around the world, their total thermal power is 3205 MW (Fig. B.2.1). The number of operating research reactors in the main countries of the world: Russia - 63, USA - 55, France - 14, Germany - 14, Japan - 20, Canada - 9, China - 9, UK - 3,324 research reactors stopped and decommissioned due to exhaustion reasons life of the main technological equipment or completion of planned research programs. Of these, 21 reactors have projects and decommissioning work is being carried out.

Rice. B.2.1. Number of research reactors in the world and their total thermal power

Obtaining isotopic products. Radioactive and stable nuclides are used in various devices and installations, as well as labeled compounds for scientific research, technical and medical diagnostics, treatment and the study of technological processes (Tables B.2.1 and B.2.2).




Radionuclides are obtained by irradiating special target materials in nuclear reactors, as well as in high-current charged particle accelerators - cyclotrons and electron accelerators (Table B.2.3, B.2.4).

Some radionuclides are released from irradiated nuclear fuel as fission products. A number of short-lived radionuclides, intended mainly for medical purposes, are obtained directly in clinics using the so-called short-lived nuclide generators, which are genetically related systems of two nuclides: a long-lived (maternal) and a short-lived (daughter), which can be isolated as it accumulates .

Industrial applications of underground nuclear explosions(PJV) has been studied since the late 1950s. mainly in the USSR and the USA. Subsequently, this activity was regulated by such international agreements as the Treaty on the Limitation of Underground Testing of Nuclear Weapons (1974); the Treaty on Underground Nuclear Explosions for Peaceful Purposes (1976), as well as the Protocol to the latter treaty (1990). In accordance with these agreements, the power of each industrial nuclear power plant should not exceed 150 kt. The total power of all conducted “peaceful” nuclear weapons does not exceed 3...4 Mt.

In 1957, at the National Livermore Laboratory. Lawrence (USA), on the initiative of E. Teller and G. Seaborg, an experimental program "Ploughshare" was developed, within the framework of which, in the period until 1973, when this program was discontinued for technical and environmental reasons, 27 FRI. Possible areas of practical application of PNEs were considered: development of oil shale in the state. Colorado, deepening the Panama Canal, building harbors in Alaska and northwestern Australia, building a canal across the Kra Isthmus in Thailand, etc.

Of the 27 nuclear explosives outside the test site in pcs. Nevada had 4 PYVs. Of these, the most successful was the explosion in 1967 with the aim of intensifying gas production at a field in St. New Mexico, which contributed to a 7-fold increase in well pressure. 5 nuclear bombs were also successful at the test site in pcs. Nevada, carried out for excavation (discharge of soil) purposes.

The use of industrial nuclear weapons in the USSR was much more widespread. Starting from January 15, 1965, when an experiment was successfully carried out at the Grachevskoye oil field in Bashkiria to intensify the influx of oil and gas at production wells using PNEs, 115 PNEs were carried out through 1987 (81 of them in Russia).

They have been used for deep seismic sounding of the Earth's crust and mantle (39); intensification of oil (20) and gas production (1); construction of underground tanks for hydrocarbon raw materials (36); suppression of emergency gas fountains in the fields (5); excavation of soil along the canal route in connection with the implementation of a project for transferring part of the flow of northern rivers of the European part of Russia to the south (1 triple PJV); creation of dams (2) and reservoirs (9); crushing of ore deposits (3); disposal of biologically hazardous industrial waste (2); prevention of gas emissions in a coal mine (1).

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