Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Nuclear Energy
- Uranium Extraction
- Polymer Adsorption
- Uranium dissolved in
seawater adsorbs onto
polymers
- The uranium can be washed off
using acids and concentrated
- Phosphate Mining
- Uranium in phosphate
desposites can be
seperated in the phosphate
mines
- Coal Ash
- Uranium can be extracted
from coal ash
- This will become economic if
the price of uranium rises
enough
- New Reactor Designs
- Molten Salt Reactors
- Using molten salt as a
collant makes reactor far
more efficent
- It can operate at much higher
temps high without needing
high pressure to prevent the
coolant boiling
- Much smaller than
gas-cooled reactors so
are cheaper to
consturct
- Plutonium Reactors
- Most reactors work by
fission of Uranium 235
- Uranium 235 is only 0.7% of the
uranium in the mined ore
- The remaining 99.3% is
uranium 238 which is not fissile
- However U238 can be converted
into Plutonium 239 by neutron
bombardment
- An isotope that is not in itself a fissile fuel but can be
converted into a fissile fuel by neutron bombardment
is called a "fertile fuel"
- These reactions use breeder reactors. These reactors release
energy for electricity and can produce more new fissile fuel
than they use
- Thorium Reactors
- Thorium 232 is not fissile, however it is a fertile
fuel and can be converted into Uranium 233
- The reactor has rods of U233 which release
energy and neutrons to maintain the chain
reaction
- There are also rods of Th232 in the reactor core which breed
U233 as they become bombarded with neutrons
- The U233 can be extracted to make new fuel rods
- Nuclear Fusion
- Joining the nuclei of small atoms such
as isotopes of hydrogen e.g. deuterium
- Energy source of all stars but
producing controllable fusion
on a small scale on Earth has
proven difficult
- Fuel sources
- Deuterium
- Hydrogen 2, extracted from water
- Tritium
- Hydrogen 3, produced by neutron
bombardment of lithium
- Solar Nuclear Fusion
- Consists of 70% H and 28% He
- Every second 508 million
tonnes of H are converted to He
- Fusion occurs ar
temps around 15
million oC
- Average temp of
sun is 6000 oC
- The energy then
leaves the sun as
short wave radiation
- Toroidal Reactors
- Torus reactors such as the Joint
European Torus (JET) bear Oxford
- If it is actually possible, may not be
commercially viable for many years
- ITER
- A new tokamak reactor that builds
on the knowledge gained from JET
- Should be operational around 2025
- 500MW output from
50MW input
- Maintain fusion for longer periods
- Use a blanket of lithium around the
reactor to breed new tritium fuel
- Laser Fusion - HiPER
- High Powered laser Energy Research
- Research's Laser fusion
- Small scale fusion that avoids the
problems of plasma containment
and refuelling as with torus reactors
- Small spheres of frozen deuterium
and tritium would be dropped into
intense laser beam to initiate fusion
- Construction planned to take place from the late 2020's