GLY-1103 Lecture 6: Alternate Energy notes
Document Summary
Alternative energy sources: a quick note on clean coal means nothing. No such thing as totally clean coal: has resulted in increased interest in new energy technology. Not a permanent solution: if nuclear energy production is increased 4 fold it will account for only 15% of total. Us energy production and would exhaust u-235 reserves within a few decades: suplemental solution, attempts at recycling or using other ssionable material. Onkalo, finland: only permanent waste disposal site currently being build; made for 100k year security, holds very small percentage of finland"s energy resources. Nuclear accidents: plant safety is a major concern, extensive efforts applied to thwart terrorism, nuclear accidents are rare but have occurred, chernobyl, 3 mile island, fukashima. Chernobyl: meltdown during a test, both human and mechanical error, human error = reactor and coolant directly correlated, coolant couldn"t get to reactor, runway chain reaction lead to steam explosion, fallout over europe, hit chernobyl and belarus.
