In the UK we have been bombarded with news of sharp rise in energy prices for some time. When I checked our energy tariff, I noticed there is a recent 248% increase in price for gas and electricity. Parallel with that the fuel price is also sky rocketing. For the climate change issue, there were many activists calling themselves as existential army blocked roads and public transport, but for heating home in the winter, there are no organised force to protest . The government through the climate conference at Glasgow endorsed partly their demands, declaring net zero fossil fuel emission without looking into the agony of everyday fuel poverty. To seize the opportunity like a fox licking the blood of fighting goats, UK government increased the air passenger duty and tax on energy to uphold the principle of ‘net zero’.
Consumption of fossil fuel should be replaced by renewable energy and by nuclear energy. Once the fossil fuel is completely eradicated from energy market, the country fulfils ‘net zero'. It is important to do so, not because of the climate change saga, but because of the security of the country. The UK need not depend on Norway, Russia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia for the supply of gas and fuel. During this time of heightened tension in Ukraine, Putin is blackmailing Germany and France that Russia would cut off crude oil supply to taunt the NATO.
Major sources of renewable energy are solar energy from the sun, geothermal energy from heat inside the earth, wind energy, biomass from plants, hydro-power from flowing water. We spot a lot of roofs of houses having solar panels generating energy. We also notice, on shore and off shore wind mills in most countries. Still renewable energy constitutes less than 36% of the total demand of energy. While there is scope for expanding the generation of renewable energy, the government should endeavour to increase the nuclear energy from its share of under 20%.
World's first nuclear power station to generate electricity was commissioned by the Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant at Obninsk, in USSR on 27th June 1954. In the UK. United kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) was established in 1954 and the first nuclear plant was set up at Calder Hill, in 1956. Currently there are 17 reactors and 5 nuclear plants in the UK, generating 20% of the total consumption of electricity. In 1979, Thatcher government announced a new long term nuclear power programme to safeguard Britain from often repeated oil crisis and blackmailing by oil producing countries. Nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in 1986, put the expansion of nuclear plants in reverse gear, due to the difficulties in disposing of nuclear waste.
Although building nuclear power plants has a high initial cost, running the nuclear plant is relatively low cost. Unlike wind, solar and fossil-fuel, nuclear energy is very reliable and can produce electricity 365 days in a year. Nuclear plants do not emit any carbon dioxide. It is ten times efficient than burning fossil fuel. Unfortunately, production of nuclear energy has substantial impact on the environment, mainly because of mining and water consumption. To produce nuclear energy, it takes more water than extraction of coal. Very rarely, there can be nuclear accidents, as happened at Chernobyl in Ukraine, Fukushima in Japan and Three Mile Island in America. The waste created by nuclear power plants remains dangerously radioactive for thousands of years after it is created.
Nuclear energy is produced by fission or fusion of atoms. Currently, electricity produced in Nuclear plants are through fission of heavy metals like uranium. An atom is the smallest unit of any chemical element. Every atom is composed of a nucleus and one or more electrons bound to the nucleus. The nucleus is made of one or more protons and a number of neutrons. Hydrogen has no neutrons, but Helium has two neutrons, two protons and two electrons. More than 99.94% of an atom\'s mass is in the nucleus. Isotopes are atoms of the same element having different number of neutrons. The atomic number of isotopes will be the same, but atomic weight will be different. Through ‘electromagnetic force’, electrons are attracted to protons. In the nucleus, protons and neutrons are attracted by ‘nuclear force’.
Energy is released by breaking the electromagnetic or nuclear force. During nuclear fission, a neutron crashes with an atom and splits it. By doing so it produces a large amount of energy in the form of heat and radiation. After the collision, two smaller atoms called ‘fission products’ are formed. Uranium and plutonium are the most commonly used metals for fission reactions because they initiate reaction easily. Nuclear power plants use heat produced during nuclear fission to heat water. The steam produced turns the turbines to produce electricity. Fission takes place inside the reactor of a nuclear power plant. At the centre of the reactor is the core, which contains uranium fuel.
Uranium is found in small amounts in most rocks, and even in seawater. Uranium mines operate in many countries, but more than 85% of uranium is produced in six countries: Kazakhstan, Canada, Australia, Namibia, Niger, and Russia. Although uranium is a common metal, for nuclear fission U-235 isotope of uranium is required, which constitutes only 0.7% of the mined uranium. By enrichment process, more U235 isotopes can be produced from U238. The United States has the most operational nuclear reactors in the world, which have a total capacity of 97,565 MW electricity.
Fission nuclear reactors produce nuclear waste, still containing radioactivity which will not decay for the next 1000 years. As such they are deleterious not only to human life but also to environment and all living organisms. Nuclear waste is a by-product from nuclear reactors, fuel processing plants, hospitals and research facilities. Radioactive waste is also generated while decommissioning and dismantling nuclear reactors. The total amount of radioactive waste produced to date is about 4 million tonnes. Since the spent nuclear waste contains 90% uranium, it can be recycled or disposed in an a safe underground repository.
In nuclear fusion, two atomic nuclei join to become one. Sun and stars generate their energy by nuclear fusion of hydrogen nuclei into helium. In its core, the Sun fuses 620 million metric tons of hydrogen and makes 616 million metric tons of helium each second. In nuclear fusion massive amount of energy is released without radiation or production of nuclear waste. Interplay of ‘nuclear force’ (between protons and neutrons) and ‘Coulomb force’ (protons to repelling force) release this huge spurt of energy. The theory of energy generation through nuclear fusion was established in 1920. But so far no such plants are set up on an industrial scale, because very high temperature as prevalent in Sun is required for nuclear fusion.
The concept of generating electricity from nuclear energy has been there for many decades, but only from nuclear fission, we generate energy. Research is going on vigorously in many developed countries to harness electricity through nuclear fusion technology. I sincerely hope that one day our scientists will conquer the nuclear fusion technology to benefit the energy market. Not only for the environment , but also for the security of this country, it is better not to depend on other countries for energy.
Dr.C.J.George FRCS
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