1. Earth and Nuclear Power Sources and Resources

2. Forms of Energy Kinetic- Associated with movement Potential- Associated with position Chemical- combustion for example Electrical- created by excess charge Nuclear- E=mc 2 Thermal- molecular vibrations/heat

3. Energy conversion Consider hydroelectric power production Thermal energy converts snow -> water Potential energy of water ->kinetic energy of a turbine ->electric energy of a generator

4. The Heat Engine A device for converting thermal energy into any other form of energy is referred to as a heat engine. All these device take the thermal energy generated at temperature T 1, carry out some sort of energy conversion and reject the residual thermal energy at a lower temperature T 2. The max. efficiency obtainable from any heat engine is given by (Carnot 1824): Eff. = (T1 – T2) / T1 Thus in order to achieve 100% efficiency T2 must be zero (degrees Kelvin). At ambient temps (300 K), efficiencies run closer to 50- 60%, and even lower in practice due to non-ideal processes.

6. Earths Heat Flow The natural outflow of heat from the earths core is estimated at 30,000 GW, compared to the total worldwide electricity consumption of 800 GW, compared to the energy received from the sun 170,000,000 GW. Thus we have no shortage of energy problem, but rather our problem is how to obtain it economically. Both solar and geothermal sources are highly dispersed and the capital costs in concentrating the sources and tapping them is enormous.

8. The Fission Process

9. Fission U-235 is a fissile isotope, however naturally occurring U contain 99.3% U-238 which is non-fissile. However the energy potential of U can be increase by 100 fold by the conversion of non-fissile U238 to fissile Pu-239.