Nuclear Fuels

Questions

1. What is nuclear power?

News Articles

• Japan Plots 40-Year Nuclear Cleanup
• Uranium Mines Dot Navajo Land, Neglected and Still Perilous
• A Window Into the Nuclear Future
• Uranium Mining Debate in Virginia Takes a Step
• Studies detail post-Fukushima radioactivity levels
• Gates-Backed TerraPower Pitches New Nuclear Tech
• Japan’s Nuclear Energy Industry Nears Shutdown, at Least for Now

Videos

• Bill Gates Talks About TerraPower
• Kirk Sorensen: Thorium, an alternative nuclear fuel

Background Information

• How Stuff Works: Nuclear Power
• Introduction to Nuclear Power
• International Atomic Energy Agency: Power Reactor Information System

Take Away (Main) Points

This is a vast topic - these points are not comprehensive to this topic.

1. There are three main types of nuclear reactions: fission, fusion and radioactive decay.
2. There are three main types of radioactive emissions: alpha particles, beta particles and gamma radiation.
3. A nuclear power plant uses the heat from fission reactions to turn water to steam, turn a turbine and generate electricity.
4. The sun is a fusion reactor fusing hydrogen into helium. We cannot use fusion to generate electricity.
5. Uranium-235 is a radioactive isotope of uranium that is used in fission reactors.
6. Nuclear power plants do not release CO₂ into the atmosphere but carbon dioxide is emitted during the mining of uranium.
7. There are three very serious nuclear powerplant accidents: Three mile island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima Daiichi.
8. Nuclear power plants generate radioactive waste.
9. 104 nuclear reactors in 31 states operate 24/7, producing almost 20 percent of U.S. electricity while emitting no carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxide (a precursor to ground-level ozone).
10. Nuclear power plants provided 13.5 percent of the world's electricity production in 2010. In total, 13 countries relied on nuclear energy to supply at least one-quarter of their total electricity.