Why we need nuclear power: the environmental case

Abstract

Table of Contents Introduction Part 1 Global Warming and Energy Production 1 Global climate change: Real or myth? What is the debate about? The IPCC and International Conventions The greenhouse effect Skeptical politicians and pundits Skeptical scientists Historical temperature and greenhouse gas record Last 10,000 years of climate - the Holocene Recent changes in temperature and CO2 Melting glaciers and rising seas Models Response to Singer and Avery Predictions of future global warming and consequences Sea level and acidification Global weirding 2 Where our Energy Comes From A brief history of energy Coal Oil and natural gas Uranium How much energy do we use and where does it come from? World energy usage What can be done to reduce our carbon-intensive energy economy? 3 The Good, Bad and Ugly of Coal and Gas Coal Anatomy of a coal-fired plant Carbon dioxide emissions and other pollutants Mining and health hazards How much is there? 50 Carbon Capture and Storage Natural Gas How much is there? Greenhouse gas emissions Fracking 4 The Siren song of renewable energy Solar Photovoltaic (PV) solar power Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) Solar heating Limitations of solar power Wind Limitations of Wind Power Summary 5 Back to the Future: Nuclear Power Anatomy of a reactor Advantages of nuclear power Baseload power 82 Greenhouse gas emission Location and footprint Cost Subsidies for nuclear and renewables Advanced Reactor Technology Can nuclear replace coal? Arguments against nuclear power Part 2 Radiation and its Biological Effects 6 The world of the atom What is radiation? Black body radiation - the quantum The nuclear atom The quantum atom The nucleus Radioactivity: decay processes Fission Summary 7 How dangerous is radiation? Interactions of Radiation with Matter Electromagnetic radiation (photon) interactions Charged particle interactions Neutron interactions What is a dose of radiation? Effects of radiation on DNA and cells How does radiation cause cancer? What are the risks? Death from radiation Cancer from radiation Hereditary effects of radiation How bad is plutonium? Summing up 8 What comes naturally and not so naturally Natural Background Radiation Cosmic radiation Primordial terrestrial radiation Medical exposure Part 3 Risks of Nuclear Power 9 Nuclear Waste What is nuclear waste? The long and the short of storage Yucca Mountain Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Recycling spent nuclear fuel Making new fuel from recycled waste Summing up 10 About those accidents The Scare, March 16, 1979 Three Mile Island, March 28, 1979 How the accident happened Consequences of TMI Chernobyl, April 26, 1986 How the accident happened The hazardous radioisotopes Health consequences Environmental consequences A trip to Chernobyl Consequences for nuclear power Fukushima, March 11, 2011 How the accident happened Health and environmental consequences Consequences for nuclear power Public perception of risks from nuclear power 11 The Quest for Uranium Mining for uranium Shinkolobwe Shiprock Milling In Situ Recovery Enrichment Fuel fabrication World resources of uranium Megatons to Megawatts Is there enough uranium for a nuclear renaissance? Breeder reactors Thorium Summary 12 Now What? Myth 1: Radiation is extremely dangerous and we don't understand it Myth 2: There is no solution to the nuclear produced by nuclear power Myth 3: Nuclear power is unsafe and nuclear accidents have killed hundreds of thousands of people Myth 4: Uranium will run out too soon and mining it generates so much carbon dioxide that it loses its carbon-free advantage Myth 5: Nuclear power is so expensive it can't survive in the marketplace Afterword Appendix A: Global warming Earth's energy balance: Radiative forcing The emission scenarios of the IPCC special report on emissions scenarios (SRES) Appendix B Glossary of terms, definitions and units Appendix C Glossary of acronyms and abbreviations Appendix D Selected Nobel prizes Index