Nuclear Energy - a reality check

• The simple fact is that we are here on earth and alive.

• There is a lot of us – around 7.8 billion in 2020 and increasing.
• All of us pursue reasonably good quality of life.
• It requires energy to achieve and maintain a reasonable quality of life.
• Access to energy is an enabling force, empowering society and individuals.
• It is fundamental to our existence. Without it, there would be no life at all.
• Nuclear power is the only existing option for
large scale power production that transcends
the limitations of non-renewable alternatives
(such as coal, oil and gas) and renewable
alternatives (wind, solar and biomass).
• There are many local, national and
international issues that dictate the ultimate
choice of energy source, but nuclear should not
be dismissed. The consequences would be dire.
• Nuclear energy should be a part of the energy
mix now and in the future - we have a
functional requirement for nuclear energy.

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 Nuclear fission
• Nuclear fission is a nuclear reaction , in which a heavy nucleus splits into smaller
parts (lighter nuclei), called fission fragments.
• The fission process often produces free neutrons and photons (in the form
of gamma rays), and releases a large amount of energy.
• Key Facts
• There are nuclei that can undergo fission on their own spontaneously. But it is a
very rare process. The neutron-induced nuclear fission is the process of the
greatest practical importance in nuclear energy generation.
• Only certain nuclei (fissile nuclei) like uranium-235, uranium-233 and plutonium-
239 can sustain a fission chain reaction.
• The fission process may produce 2, 3 or more free neutrons and these neutrons
can trigger further fission and a chain reaction can take place.
• The total energy released is about 210 MeV per U-235 fission.
• About 3.1×1010 fissions per second are required to produce a power of 1 W.
• Since 1 gram of any fissile material contains about 2.5 x 1021 nuclei, the
complete fission of 1 gram of fissile material will yield about 1 megawatt-day
(MWd) of heat energy.
• 1 kg uranium-235 ≈ 2.7 million kg coal equivalent.
• In 2011 nuclear power provided 10% of the world’s electricity.
• In 2007, the IAEA reported there were 439 nuclear power reactors in operation in
the world, operating in 31 countries. 2
 A brief history of nuclear fission
• Nuclear fission of heavy elements was discovered on December 17, 1938 by Otto Hahn and his
assistant Fritz Strassmann. They attempted to create transuranic elements by bombarding uranium
with neutrons. Rather than the heavy elements they expected, they got several unidentified
products. When they finally identified one of the products as Barium141, they were circumspective
to publish the finding because it was so unexpected.
• When they finally published the results in 1939, it came to the attention of Lise Meitner, an
Austrian-born physicist who had worked with Hahn on his nuclear experiments. She was the first to
realize that Hahn’s barium and other lighter products from the neutron bombardment experiments
were coming from the fission of U235. Meitner and Frisch carried out further experiments which
showed that the U235 fission can release large amounts of energy both as electromagnetic
radiation and as kinetic energy of the fragments (heating the bulk material where fission takes
place). They realized that this made possible a chain reaction with an unprecedented energy yield.

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 Fission chain reaction
• A nuclear chain reaction occurs when
one single nuclear reaction causes an
average of one or more subsequent
nuclear reactions, thus leading to the
possibility of a self-propagating series of
these reactions.
• The “one or more” is the key parameter
of nuclear power generation.
• The probability that fission will occur
depends on incident neutron energy.
• To raise or lower the power, the rate of
reactions must be changed (using the
control rods) so that the number of
neutrons present (and hence the rate of
power generation) is either reduced or
increased.
• Most of the energy (~85%) is released in
the form of kinetic energy of the fission
products.
• The moderator is used to slow down
neutrons (to increase the probability of
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fission)
 Nuclear Energy – key concepts

• Slow neutrons (called thermal neutrons) can initiate a fission of uranium

235 (U-235), an isotope of uranium that occurs in nature.
• Natural uranium that is mined from the ground is 0.7%
U-235 and 99.3% U-238.
• The result of fission is fission products that are radioactive,
radiation, fast (or energetic) neutrons and heat.
• The fast neutrons have a low probability of inducing
further fissions, and hence have a low probability of
generating more neutrons and thus sustaining a chain
reaction.
• We need to slow down the neutrons (i.e., thermalize or moderate them), which we do by
using a moderator such as water.
• We also need to remove the heat generated.
• We control the process by controlling the number of neutrons since the number of fissions
per second (and hence the heat produced) is proportional to the number of neutrons
present to induce fission.

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 Nuclear Energy – key concepts
• Cross section - the probability of the interaction of neutrons with atomic nuclei of a
particular species can be made quantitative by means of the concept of cross section.
• The cross section of a target nucleus for any given nuclear reaction is a measure of
the probability of a particular neutron-nucleus interaction and is a property of the
nucleus and of the energy of the incident neutron.
• Suppose
• I = number of neutrons in a monoenergetic and parallel beam of neutrons per m2
that impinges perpendicularly, for a given time, on a thin layer of a target material.
• δx = thickness of target material.
• N = number of atoms (or nuclei) per m3 present in the target material . Then Nδx
is the number of target nuclei per m2.
• C = number of individual processes, e.g., neutron interactions, occurring per m2
• The nuclear cross section σ for a specified reaction (at a given neutron energy) is
then defined as the average number of individual processes occurring per target
nucleus per incident neutron in the beam.

C
= m 2 /nucleus
( Nx) I

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 Nuclear Energy – key concepts
• It has been the practice to express  in terms of 10-28 m2/nucleus which is called a barn ,
abbreviated as b.
•Why called cross section?
C
( Nx) =
I
• The right side of the equation is the fraction of incident neutrons which succeeds in
reacting with the target nuclei.
• ( Nx) can be considered as the fraction of target area that undergoes reaction.
• Since Nx is the number of target nuclei in 1 m2, the quantity  m2 is the effective area per
single target nucleus available for nuclear reaction – “cross section”.
• The cross section  which applies to a single nucleus is frequently called the microscopic
cross section.
• The quantity N is called the macroscopic cross section, the total cross section per m 3
of the target material.

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 Nuclear Energy – key concepts
• Basic functional requirement of a nuclear reactor:
• fuel such as U-235
• moderator to thermalize (i.e. slow down the fast neutrons)
• coolant to remove the heat ( and generate electrical power)
• control system to control the number of neutrons
• shielding system to protect equipment and people from radiation.
•Fuel:
• The cross section of neutron capture leading to fission is larger for slow neutrons
than for fast neutrons - practical reactors are "thermal" reactors.
• Possible fuels include some of the various isotopes of uranium (U) and plutonium
(Pu). The only naturally occurring fuel with suitable properties of significant quantities
is U-235, hence most reactors use this fuel.
• Naturally occurring uranium is composed of 0.7% U-235 and the rest is U-238 - too
low to sustain a chain reaction when combined with most practical moderators.
• Two approaches:
•Probability of fission must be enhanced - (PWR, BWR, HTGR) enrich the fuel (a
costly task) and use a cheap moderator (ordinary water or graphite).
•Moderator effectiveness must be enhanced – (PHWR) natural uranium
(relatively cheap) as fuel with an excellent but expensive moderator (heavy
water).
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 Nuclear Energy – key concepts
• Moderator:
• The best moderator to slow down a speedy
neutron is something that has the same mass as the
neutron itself.
• If a neutron hit a massive target, it would just
bounce off in a different direction but with little loss
in energy like a hard ball against a wall.
• If the neutron hit an object much smaller than
itself, it would just continue on virtually unaffected.
• If it hit a hydrogen atom, which is just a proton and
an electron, that is almost exactly the mass of a
neutron, it could lose all its energy in one collision,
just like in a game of billiards.
• Hydrogen does absorb neutrons as well and we
want to preserve these precious neutrons so that
they can cause fission.
•The deuterium isotope of hydrogen, at twice the
mass of hydrogen, is almost as good a slowing down
agent but, since it already has an extra neutron in
the nucleus, it has a very low probability of neutron
absorption - a far better moderator than hydrogen. 9
 Nuclear Energy – key concepts
•Coolant:
• to take away the heat generated by fission.
• fission generates energy in the form of kinetic energy of the fission products – fuel
heats up.

•If we don’t cool the fuel, it

will melt and the mobile
radioactive fission
products, may find a path
to the environment.
• To prevent this, a coolant
(water/heavy water is
commonly used) is passed
over the fuel.

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 Nuclear Energy – key concepts

• Control
• Staying within desired and safe limits of power
• Control of the fission process is achieved most easily by simply adding or removing
neutron absorbers.
• Materials such as cadmium readily
absorb neutrons and can be conveniently
formed into solid rods.
• By having a number of these control
rods partially inserted into the moderator
tank (also called the calandria) amongst
the fuel and moderator in guide tubes,
the neutron population and be controlled.
• These control rods and the associated
control system electronics and
measurement devices are build for
reliable, fail-safe operation, are highly
redundant

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 Nuclear Energy – key concepts
•Shielding
• Providing protection from radiation.
• Uranium isotopes are not very radioactive by themselves and do not constitute a
direct radiation hazard.
• It is the fission process that creates the nasty radioactive fission products. These ARE
dangerous and must be kept isolated from us.
•Radioactivity takes on a number of forms – alpha, beta, neutron, gamma and fission
products.
•Alpha and beta particles are energetic charged particles that cannot penetrate solids to
any significant length.
•Neutrons are not charged and can penetrate solid walls. We protect ourselves from
them by thick walls that slow down and absorb the neutrons.
•Combinations of hydrogenous materials (like water and hydrocarbons) and
absorbing materials (like boron and cadmium) make good neutron shields.
•Gamma radiation, essentially very energetic photons (ordinary light is low energy
photons), are best stopped by dense material like lead and concrete.
•Radioactive fission products are contained by a fuel sheath or some other pipe or wall.

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 Nuclear Energy – key concepts
•Shielding
•The system is stacked as layers within one another

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 Nuclear Energy – key concepts

•Putting it all together

•At the heart of the plant is the reactor core containing the fuel and the moderator.
• Heat generated there is transported away by the cooling system to the conventional
side of the plant (steam generator, turbine and electrical generator).

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 Golden Rules of Nuclear Reactor Safety

•Collectively a number of principles have been developed and incorporated in the design
and operation of a nuclear power plant : Golden rules of nuclear reactor safety.
•There is a minimum risk to the public and environment from nuclear reactor radiation,
provided at all times:
•The reactor power is controlled
•The fuel is cooled
•The radioactivity is contained.
•Control, cool and contain
•The concept of Defence in depth is used during the process of design, construction,
Commissioning and operation of a nuclear power plant so that the golden rules of nuclear
safety are met.

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 Golden Rules of Nuclear Reactor Safety
•Reliable process systems
•Process systems perform a continuous function during the operation of a reactor
•Examples:
•The primary heat transport system is a process that is continuously active in
the removal of heat from the fuel.
•Reactor regulating system is continuously active in normal control of reactor
power.
•Reliable process systems ensure that heat is produced and electricity is generated while
maintaining control, cooling and containment.
•Reliable safety systems
•Safety systems are poised systems that operate only to compensate for the failure of
process systems:
•Shutting down the reactor to regain control (Shutdown system).
•Provide additional cooling to the fuel (ECCS – Emergency Core Cooling System).
•Containing radioactivity which has escaped from fuel (Containment system).
•Reliability in this context means that in the rare events these systems are called upon
to act, they will be available to perform their intended functions.
•Multiple barriers
•Discussed earlier in shielding.

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 Golden Rules of Nuclear Reactor Safety
•Competent operating and maintenance staff
•Defence in depth principle does not allow reliance on equipments only to prevent
accidents.
•It is essential that operating and maintenance staff are knowledgeable about system
conditions.
•Alert for any evidence that system or equipment may be on the verge of failure.
•Act promptly to prevent or minimize the consequences of such failures.
•Detect and correct failures
•Adequate detection and correction of failures require not only competent staff but also
processes and procedures for the staff to achieve the availability targets.
•An operational surveillance program in conjunction with a planned preventive
maintenance program helps to ensure that the equipments and systems are monitored,
and repaired before they fail.
•Failure when do they occur, are thoroughly investigated and solutions are applied
through a change in the approval process.

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