What is this plot?
Why does it matter*?
*Yes, it really does matter!
What is this plot?
Average binding energy per nucleon
(How tightly nuclei are stuck
together by the strong nuclear force
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Binding_energy_curve_-_common_isotopes.svg
FISSION
Why does this plot matter?
This is why nuclear fission and fusion release energy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Binding_energy_curve_-_common_isotopes.svg
Daily Fuel Requirements for 1000 MW power plant
Material
Coal
Oil
Natural Gas
Uranium
(enriched)
amount
8,000,000 kg
40,000 barrels
2,500,000 ft3
3 kg
2H, 3H
~100g
1 train/day
1 tanker/week
Fission
Few liters/month
Fusion
Consider a mile long coal train
How much carbon dioxide is produced when the coal is burned?
How much carbon dioxide is produced when the coal is burned?
CO2 =
12C
+
+2
16O
= 12 + 32 = 44 nucleons
44/12 = 3.67
+
= 3.67 mile train equivalent of of C02
Per day for a 1000 MW coal power plant
Global Temperature Increasing…
+
Early Solar models were challenged as scientists started to
realize that the earth was quite old.
Chemical burning -> 100,000 year solar lifetime
Gravitation collapse-> 1,000,000 year “ “
1920’s Sir Arthur Eddington realized that
mass of 4 protons > Mass of 4He
So when 4He was assembled energy would be released!
This suggested that fusion could explain how
the sun was so old and generated so much energy
Artist’s sketch of the first atomic pile,
Stagg Field, University of Chicago Dec 1942
Enrico Fermi
1901-1954
Nobel Prize Physics 1938
Chernobyl April 1986
Accident Level 7 of 7
Three Mile Island PA
March 1979
Accident Level 5 of 7
Mechanical Failure
Operator Errors
Loss of Coolant
Confusing control interfaces
Containment vessel not
compromised
Fukushima Daiichi (Japan)
March 2011
Accident Level 7 of 7
Poorly planned test of safety
system
Power surge
Reactor vessel rupture
Ignition of graphite moderator
Significant release of
radioactive material
31 deaths at plant
+ 4000(?) eventual
Unsafe Site
Tsunami disabled
primary and backup
power
Reactors were
shutdown
Loss of Coolant
Core meltdown
1945 Japan
History of Fission Energy
• Meitner, Hahn, Strassman: fission of Uranium (1939)
• Bohr and Wheeler; Theory of Fission
(Phys Rev 56, 426; Sept 1, 1939)
• Fermi: First controlled fission reactor; Chicago 1942
• Oppenheimer; First fission (“atomic”) bomb;
New Mexico 1945
Which process was first proposed as a
source of energy?
Fusion?
Fission?
Which process was first proposed as a
source of energy?
Fusion (probably)
His novel proposal that fusion was the energy
mechanism of the sun was not widely for various
reasons.
Eddington responded …….
"The helium which we handle must have been put together at
some time and some place. We do not argue with the critic
who urges that the stars are not hot enough for this process;
we tell him to go and find a hotter place."
Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington
The Internal Constitution of the Stars (1926), 301.
Applications to induced fusion
Controlled:
Nuclear Fusion Power Plant
(projects: tokamaks, laser…)
New initiative: ITER project
Problem: Ignition !
Uncontrolled:
Hydrogen Bomb (H-bomb)
requires an A-bomb to ignite fusion !!!
Enhanced yield:
Hundreds of kilotons  Tens of Megatons !
(Hiroshima, 20 kt)
Reading: “Dark Sun” (Richard Rhodes)
http://www.toodlepip.com/tokamak/gallery-int.htm
National Ignition Facility (NIF)
History of fusion energy
• Eddington “The internal constitution of stars” (1926)
• Gamow “ The rate of fusion in stars” (~1930)
• Spitzer “Project Matterhorn: a proposed stellarator” (1951)
• Einwetok: First “hydrogen” bomb tested (1952)
• ITER; projected operation; Cadarache, France (2018)?
•
National Ignition Facility …. Laser Implosion of fuel
Electricity Generation US 2012
•
•
•
•
•
Coal 37%
Natural Gas 30%
Nuclear 19%
Hydropower 7%
Other Renewable 5%
–
–
–
–
Biomass 1.42%
Geothermal 0.41%
Solar 0.11%
Wind 3.46%
• Petroleum 1%
• Other Gases < 1%
http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=427&t=3