Hello World.
I'm Imagination.
Today I'm going to talk about Nuclear Power.
Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions
that release nuclear energy to generate heat,
which most frequently is then used in steam
turbines to produce electricity in a nuclear
power plant.
Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear
fission, nuclear decay, and nuclear fusion
reactions.
Presently, the vast majority of electricity
from nuclear power is produced by nuclear
fission of uranium and plutonium.
Nuclear decay processes are used in niche
applications such as radioisotope thermoelectric
generators.
Civilian nuclear power supplied 2,563 terawatt-hours
of electricity in 2018, equivalent to about
10% of global electricity generation, and
was the second-largest low-carbon power source
after hydroelectricity.
As of December 2019, there are 443 civilian
fission reactors in the world, with a combined
electrical capacity of 395 gigawatts.
There are also 56 nuclear power reactors under
construction and 109 reactors planned, with
a combined capacity of 60 GW and 120 GW, respectively.
The United States has the largest fleet of
nuclear reactors, generating over 800 TWh
zero-emissions electricity per year with an
average capacity factor of 92%.
Most reactors under construction are generation
III reactors in Asia.
Nuclear power has one of the lowest levels
of fatalities per unit of energy generated
compared to other energy sources.
Coal, petroleum, natural gas, and hydroelectricity
each have caused more fatalities per unit
of energy due to air pollution and accidents.
Since its commercialization in the 1970s,
nuclear power has prevented about 1.84 million
air pollution-related deaths and the emission
of about 64 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide
equivalent that would have otherwise resulted
from the burning of fossil fuels.
There is a debate about nuclear power.
Proponents, such as the World Nuclear Association
and Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy,
contend that nuclear power is a safe, sustainable
energy source that reduces carbon emissions.
Zero-emission nuclear power is an important
part of the climate change mitigation effort.
Under I.E.A.
Sustainable Development Scenario by 2030 nuclear
power and CCUS would have generated 3900 TWh
globally while wind and solar 8100 TWh with
the ambition to achieve net-zero CO
2 emissions by 2070.
In order to achieve this goal on average,
15 GWe of nuclear power should have been added
annually on average.
As of 2019 over 60 GW in new nuclear power
plants was in construction, mostly in China,
Russia, Korea, India, and U.A.E.
Many countries in the world are considering
Small Modular Reactors with one in Russia
connected to the grid in 2020.
Countries with the nuclear power plants in
the planning phase include Argentina, Brazil,
Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland,
Hungary, India, Kazakhstan, Poland, Saudi
Arabia, and Uzbekistan.
The future of nuclear power varies greatly
between countries, depending on government
policies.
Some countries, most notably, Germany, have
adopted policies of nuclear power phase-out.
At the same time, some Asian countries, such
as China and India, have committed to the
rapid expansion of nuclear power.
In other countries, such as the United Kingdom
and the United States, nuclear power is planned
to be part of the energy mix together with
renewable energy.
Just as many conventional thermal power stations
generate electricity by harnessing the thermal
energy released from burning fossil fuels,
nuclear power plants convert the energy released
from the nucleus of an atom via nuclear fission
that takes place in a nuclear reactor.
When a neutron hits the nucleus of a uranium-235
or plutonium atom, it can split the nucleus
into two smaller nuclei.
The reaction is called nuclear fission.
The fission reaction releases energy and neutrons.
The released neutrons can hit other uranium
or plutonium nuclei, causing new fission reactions,
which release more energy and more neutrons.
This is called a chain reaction.
The reaction rate is controlled by control
rods that absorb excess neutrons.
The controllability of nuclear reactors depends
on the fact that a small fraction of neutrons
resulting from fission is delayed.
The time delay between the fission and the
release of the neutrons slows down changes
in reaction rates and gives time for moving
the control rods to adjust the reaction rate.
A fission nuclear power plant is generally
composed of a nuclear reactor, in which the
nuclear reactions generating heat takes place;
a cooling system, which removes the heat from
inside the reactor; a steam turbine, which
transforms the heat in mechanical energy;
an electric generator, which transforms the
mechanical energy into electrical energy.
Nuclear is a zero-emission clean energy source.
It generates power through fission, which
is the process of splitting uranium atoms
to produce energy.
The heat released by fission is used to create
steam that spins a turbine to generate electricity
without the harmful byproducts emitted by
fossil fuels.
According to the Nuclear Energy Institute
(NEI), the United States avoided more than
476 million metric tons of carbon dioxide
emissions in 2019.
That’s the equivalent of removing 100 million
cars from the road and more than all other
clean energy sources combined.
It also keeps the air clean by removing thousands
of tons of harmful air pollutants each year
that contribute to acid rain, smog, lung cancer,
and cardiovascular disease.
Nuclear fuel is extremely dense.
It’s about 1 million times greater than
that of other traditional energy sources and
because of this, the amount of used nuclear
fuel is not as big as you might think.
All of the used nuclear fuel produced by the
U.S. nuclear energy industry over the last
60 years could fit on a football field at
a depth of fewer than 10 yards!
That waste can also be reprocessed and recycled,
although the United States does not currently
do this.
However, some advanced reactors designs being
developed could operate on used fuel.
The NICE Future Initiative is a global effort
under the Clean Energy Ministerial that makes
sure nuclear will be considered in developing
the advanced clean energy systems of the future.
That's all for today.
Thanks for watching.
