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IAEA-CN275-091
P1-091
UNDERSTANDING THE PLACE OF NUCLEAR IN THE SCIENCE OF ENERGY
Wade Allison
Physics Department and Keble College, Oxford University, UK
wade.allison@physics.ox.ac.uk
❖Young people worry about Climate Change, and demand a reasonable solution. As responsible scientists we should answer them.
❖A science-wide knowledgeable independent comparison of energy options leads to simple accessible and unambiguous conclusions.
❖The factors of ten in the fundamental science stand above the details and possible technological advances.
THE PHYSICS OF ENERGY
❖Energy is conserved. So fuel has to come from somewhere - or be primed. [First Law of Thermodynamics]
❖A concentration of energy dissipates over time. [Second Law of Thermodynamics]
❖A viable fuel should be compact (high energy density), stable (safe), available 24/7, resilient, secure (socially and politically), primed, plentiful.
❖Three types of energy: 1) Familiar classical motion of things moving/falling. Example, most “Renewables” primed by daily sunshine;
2) Chemical energy Quantum motion of electrons in atoms (chemistry/electronics). Energy X“Renewables”. Fossil fuel primed by ancient solar
3) Nuclear energy Quantum motion of protons/neutrons in nuclei. Energy X“Renewables”. U/Th primed by primordial gravitational collapse.
THREE ERAS OF HUMAN ENERGY USE
❖Pre-industrial: the intelligence to use external energy;
- other animals and wind/sun/water – “Renewables”
- conquered the world but life short, unhealthy, miserable.
❖Industrial Revolution: the intelligence to burn fossil fuels;
- steam then power for chemical/electronic technology;
- giant leap in standard of life, health and population.
❖Next Revolution: the intelligence to stop burning fossil fuels;
-no role for “Renewables”, weak unreliable as before ;
- build on the strength of nuclear power, cheap reliable safe; ;
+ small local plants with waste heat available;
+ security, resilience, less dependence on central grid;
+ steady energy production for electricity;
+ desalination/hydrogen production when less demand;
+ hydrogen for domestic heating, transport, industry;
+ vertical farming for food, season/location decoupled ;
+ recreation in an uninvaded rewilded environment.
The sole problem: the present culture of fear and
apprehension of nuclear and radiation at all levels of society.
THE SAFETY OF NUCLEAR ENERGY ENSURED BY PHYSICS
❖Nuclei are permanently shielded from reacting by the intense electric field that surrounds them;
❖Only an uncharged neutron can unlock new nuclear energy,
but they are unstable, decaying in 10 mins, and exist only inside a working reactor;
❖Nuclei do absolutely nothing for billions of years –except rotate, as exploited in MRI;
❖Exceptionally a single residual nucleus can decay having been primed either
–because it was left over from stellar collapse before the Earth was formed (U235, U238, Th232, K40);
–or exceptionally a residue of a recent nuclear event.
❖The radiation emitted by radioactive decay was intense in the early Universe but less so today.
❖Today background radiation from outer space, radioactive decay in rocks and our own bodies.
THE SAFETY OF IONISING RADIATION ENSURED BY BIOLOGY
❖Life evolved in an environment of intense radiation.
❖If biology had not secured a complete set of overlapping protective mechanisms, life would
never have begun and we should not be here;
❖Since the work of Marie Curie over a century ago moderate doses of radiation have been
used to diagnose disease and intense doses used to treat cancer (monthly dose shown as the
area of the red circle, 40 Gy per month; yellow circle dose to peripheral tissue, 20 Gy per month).
❖The green circle (also magnified), ICRP safety limit agreed in 1934 remains scientifically adequately protective today, a limit of 70 mGy per month.
❖A culture of fear was established during the Cold War and supported by unscientific ideas about radiobiology;
❖The recommended limit of 1934 has since been tightened by a factor of several hundred (1 mGy per yr, area of the black dot in green circle).
Safety not improved, but caused extra CO2 emissions, great suffering and unnecessary expenditure, for example after Chernobyl and Fukushima.
❖Nuclear fuel gives a million times the energy of carbon, and leaves a million times less waste. This is not a significant problem.
❖Nuclear power has the safest record of any energy source.
CONCLUSIONS
❖Nuclear energy is the only energy source that survives scientific scrutiny.
❖The present precautionary culture obstructs and delays the rapid roll out of nuclear
power needed to replace both fossil fuel and “renewable” plants worldwide.
❖Education challenge is critical, to build the skill base and to get opinion formers on side
–the media, teachers and politicians have never been told the truth.
❖Climate Change brings likely global dangers that far outweigh any local nuclear risk.
❖Safety regulations should be recast based on existing scientific evidence.
❖Those concerned with radiation safety should review how they might best contribute
towards a safe future in a new nuclear world.
References given in https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311175620_Nuclear_energy_and_society_radiation_and_life_-_the_evidence_1
and in published books https://www.ypdbooks.com/science-and-technology/1690-wade-allison-special-book-pack-YPD01882.html
Human Era Pre industrial Industrial
Revolution
Next
Revolution
Fuel Wind Sun Water,
”Renewables” Fossil fuels Nuclear fission
Energy density
kWh per kg 1/3000 1 to 7 20 million
Points in favour
Familiar, accepted
Available 24/7,
living standard
24/7, safest,
resilient, secure
Points against
Intermittent, weak,
huge footprint
Emissions,
unsafe
Fear.
Ignorance,
Fuel per person
per life 10 million tonnes 1000 tonnes 1 kg
Priming agent Daily
sunshine
Geological
sunshine
Ancient stellar
collapse