NUCLEAR ENERGY Springer NewYork Berlin Heidelberg HongKong London Milan Paris Tokyo NUCLEAR ENERGY PRINCIPLES, PRACTICES, AND PROSPECTS SECOND EDITION David Bodansky With 47 Figures 1 Springer DavidBodansky DepartmentofPhysics UniversityofWashington Seattle,WA98195 USA LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Bodansky,David. Nuclearenergy:principles,practices,andprospects/DavidBodansky.—2nded. p.cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN0-387-20778-3(hc:alk.paper) 1. Nuclearengineering. I. Title. TK9145.B542003 333.792(cid:1)4—dc22 2003070772 ISBN0-387-20778-3 Printedonacid-freepaper. (cid:1)c 2004,1996Springer-VerlagNewYork,LLC. AIPPressisanimprintofSpringer-VerlagNewYork,LLC. All rights reserved. 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(ING/MVY) 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 SPIN10939710 Springer-VerlagisapartofSpringer Science+Business Media springeronline.com Preface to the Second Edition This second edition represents an extensive revision of the first edition, al- though the motivation for the book and the intended audiences, as described inthepreviouspreface,remainthesame.Theoveralllengthhasbeenincreased substantially, with revised or expanded discussions of a number of topics, in- cluding Yucca Mountain repository plans, new reactor designs, health effects ofradiation,costsofelectricity,anddangersfromterrorismandweaponspro- liferation. The overall status of nuclear power has changed rather little over the past eight years. Nuclear reactor construction remains at a very low ebb in much of the world, with the exception of Asia, while nuclear power’s share of the electricitysupplycontinuestobeabout75%inFranceand20%intheUnited States.However,therearesignsofaheightenedinterestinconsideringpossible nuclear growth. In the late 1990s, the U.S. Department of Energy began new programs to stimulate research and planning for future reactors, and many candidate designs are now contending—at least on paper—to be the next generation leaders. Outside the United States, the commercial development ofthePebbleBedModularReactorisbeingpursuedinSouthAfrica,aFrench- GermanconsortiumhaswonanorderfromFinlandforthelong-plannedEPR (European Pressurized Water Reactor), and new reactors have been built or planned in Asia. In an unanticipated positive development for nuclear energy, the capacity factor of U.S. reactors has increased dramatically in recent years, and most operatingreactorsnowappearheadedfor20-yearlicenserenewals.Inanega- tivedevelopment,theGermanandDutchgovernmentshaveannouncedplans tophaseoutnuclearpowerandSwedencontinuesitsearlier,butconsiderably delayed, program to do the same. Further, it remains unlikely that private U.S. companies will find it financially prudent to order new reactors without incentives from the federal government. Significant uncertainties remain in important areas, including the fate of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository project, the degree to which v vi Preface to the Second Edition the U.S. government will act to further the construction new reactors, the outcome of on-going debates on the effects of low doses of ionizing radiation, and the extent to which nuclear weapons proliferation and nuclear terrorism canberestrained.Inthebroaderenergypicture,concernaboutclimatechange caused byfossil fuel combustion hasintensified, with increased interest in the potential of sequestering carbon dioxide after it is produced and in finding alternatives to fossil fuels. Given the uncertainties facing nuclear energy, including the overriding un- certainty as to the extent that it may expand or contract, a new look at its current status seems warranted. This book seeks to provide background for considering the role that nuclear energy might play in addressing the over- all energy dilemmas facing the United States and other countries throughout the world. It also briefly discusses alternatives to nuclear energy, without attempting a comparative evaluation of the competing, or complementary, possibilities. The preface to the first edition stated the hope that “the book will be useful to readers with a wide variety of backgrounds who have an interest in nuclear energy matters.” This was meant to include readers with technical backgroundsandthosewithoutsuchbackgrounds.Withthelatterreadership in mind, the somewhat mathematically oriented material has been slightly reduced for this edition. I hope that where uncongenial equations are found (now mostly confined to Chapter 7), readers will be able to skip over them without too much loss of basic content. Again,Iamindebtedtomanyindividuals,attheUniversityofWashington and elsewhere, formuch appreciatedhelp. Thedebts thatwere acknowledged inthefirsteditionremain.Forthisedition,assistancefromanumberofaddi- tionalindividualscallsforspecialmention.RobertAlbrecht,attheUniversity of Washington, has read and discussed many parts of the book with me, and hasgivenmethebenefitofhisdeepunderstandingofnuclearmatters.Robert and Susan Vandenbosch, also in Seattle, have reviewed virtually the entire manuscript and have made numerous helpful suggestions. Edwin Kolbe, the ProjectManagerforRadioactiveMaterialsattheSwissNationalCooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste (NAGRA) and a 2002 visitor at the Institute for Nuclear Theory at the University of Washington, kindly offered tocarryoutORIGENcalculationsthatgivetheyieldofradionuclidesin“typ- ical” spent fuel. Abraham Van Luik, with the Yucca Mountain Project, has providedvaluablehelpinelucidatingtheDOE’splanningandanalysesforthe project. Many other colleagues have read drafts of one or more chapters and I am grateful to them for their comments on those chapters, and in many cases, on other aspects of the book. I here thank: Chaim Braun, Bernard Cohen, Stanley Curtis, J. Gregory Dash, David Hafemeister, Isaac Halpern, Robert Halvorsen,WilliamSailor,LutherSmith,andGeneWoodruff.Ialsoamgrate- fultoEdwardGerjuoy,PhillipMalte,JeffreySchneble,andDonaldUmstadter for comments on the first edition. Preface to the Second Edition vii It is not possible to give a full listing of all the other individuals who have assisted me with information, advice, and documents. In this regard, in ad- dition to those acknowledged above and in the first edition, I want at least to thank Joseph Beamon, James Beard, Mario Carelli, Yoon Chang, Ray- mond Clark, Paul Craig,George Davis, Herbert Ellison,RodneyEwing,Tom Ferriera, Steve Fetter, Brittain Hill, Mark Jacobson, John Kessler, Kristian Kunert,EdwardMiles,ThomasMurley,RichardPoeton,JeromePuskin,Low- ell Ralston, Stanley Ritterbusch, Finis Southworth, John Taylor, Ronald Vi- juk, David Wade, Kevan Weaver, Ruth Weiner, Bruce Whitehead, Bertram Wolfe, and Joseph Ziegler. Again, as in the first edition, my thanks and apologies are extended to the manyothers,notnamedabove,whohavegenerouslygivenmetheirhelp.Iap- preciate the willingness of the University of Washington and the Department of Physics to provide space, facilities, and a congenial working environment. Finally,again, I wish to thank my wife, Beverly, for her patienceand support during the long continuation of an effort that seemed at times to belie the concept of retirement. Seattle, Washington David Bodansky May 2004 Preface to the First Edition This book has evolved from notes prepared for students in a physics course designed to cover the major aspects of energy production and consumption. About one-third of the course dealt with nuclear energy, and the notes for that segment were revised and expanded for the present book. The course assumed that the students had at least one year of college- levelphysics,thuspermittingtheinclusionofsometechnicaldiscussions.The present book, in its occasional use of equations and technical terminology, somewhatreflectsthenatureofthatoriginalaudience.Readerswithrelatively little background in physics and engineering may find it useful to refer to the Appendix on “Elementary Aspects of Nuclear Physics,” and to the Glossary. I have sometimes been asked: “For whom is the book written?” One diffi- culty in addressing this question has already been touched on. Some of the technicaldiscussionsincludeequations,whichisnotcustomaryinabookfora “layaudience.”Otherpartsaremoreelementarythanwouldbethecasewere thisatextbookonnuclearengineering.Nonetheless,mostofthekeyissuescan be constructively discussed using little or no mathematical terminology, and I thereforehopethat thebookwill beuseful to readerswith a widevarietyof backgrounds who have an interest in nuclear energy matters. A more fundamentaldifficulty lies inthe fact that such interest is nowat a low ebb. In fact, it is often believed that the era of nuclear fission energy has passed, or is passing. While most informed people are aware that France is highly dependent on nuclear energy, this is ignored as an aberration, holding littlebroadersignificance.Itisnotwidelyrealizedthatnuclearenergy,despite its stagnancy in the United States and most of Europe, is expanding rapidly in Asia. Further, many people who are otherwise well-informed on issues of public policy are surprised to learn that the United States now obtains more than 20% of its electricity from nuclear power. This book has been written in the belief that it is premature and probably incorrect to assume that there is to be only one era of nuclear power and thatthiserahaspassed.Thefuturepatternofnuclearenergyusewilldepend on developments in a variety of energy technologies and on public attitudes ix x Preface to the First Edition in differing countries. There can be little certainly as to how these develop- ments will unfold. However, the demands of a growing world economy and thepressuresof decliningavailabilityofoilwillinevitablyforcearealignment and reassessment of energy options. The goal of this book is to provide basic informationtothosewhowanttogain,orrefresh,anintroductoryfamiliarity withnuclearpower,evenbeforebroadnewreassessments ofenergypolicyare made in the United States and elsewhere. The preparation of the book has been aided by contributions from many individuals. Among these, I would like especially to acknowledge three. Since I first became interested in energy issues some twenty years ago and continu- ing until his death in 1991, my understanding of these issues and of nuclear energyinparticularbenefitedgreatlyfromdiscussionsandcollaborativewrit- ing with my colleague Fred Schmidt. Over the years, I have also gained much from the wisdom of Alvin Weinberg, who has made unique contributions to nuclearenergyand its literature and, most recently, has verykindlyread and commented on much of this manuscript. I am also grateful to Peter Zimmer- man who served the publisher as an anonymous reviewer of a preliminary draft of this book and who subsequently, anonymity discarded, has been a very constructive critic of a revised draft. In addition, I am heavily indebted to many other individuals at the Uni- versity of Washington, in government agencies, in industry, and elsewhere. Some have been generous in aiding with information and insights, some have commented on variouschaptersas the bookhasevolved, andsome havedone both. Without attempting to distinguish among these varied contributions, I particularly wish to thank Mark Abhold, Thomas Bjerdstedt, Robert Bud- nitz, Thomas Buscheck, J. Gregory Dash, Kermit Garlid, Ronald Geballe, Marc Gervais, Emil Glueckler, Lawrence Goldmuntz, Isaac Halpern, Charles Hyde-Wright,WilliamKreuter, JerroldLeitch,Norman McCormick, Thomas Murley, James Quinn, Maurice Robkin, Margaret Royan, Mark Savage, Jean Savy, Fred Silady, Bernard Spinrad, Ronald Vijuk, and Gene Woodruff. ThislistisfarfromexhaustiveandIextendmythanksandapologiestothe many otherswhom I havefailed to mention. I am also gratefulto the Univer- sity of Washington and the Department of Physics for making it possible for me to teach the courses and devote the time necessary for the development of this book. Finally, I must express my appreciation to my wife, Beverly, for her support and encouragement as the book progressed.