At the end of World War II, two nuclear bombs were dropped over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The new weapon proved to be the deadliest in human history. The ensuing nuclear race between the USSR and the USA further exacerbated the world community's fears of the nuclear factor. However, in addition to atomic warheads, a peaceful atom appeared. This phrase refers to nuclear power.
NPP operation principle
The operation of any nuclear power plant is based on the reaction of atom fission. In order to call it, it is necessary to conduct a neutron bombardment of uranium-235 nuclei. The smallest particles are divided into fragments, while generating a huge amount of gamma rays and thermal energy.
Peaceful atom can remain peaceful only under strict control, mandatory for nuclear power plants. The fact is that during fission, neutrons arise, which give rise to new chain reactions. Uncontrolled envelopment of the nuclei leads to an explosion. It is this principle that underlies the operation of atomic bombs. At power plants, the process is controlled, and excess energy is directed to a useful channel for people.
Uranium-235
Nuclear fuel is placed in special rods before use. It is stored in the form of tablets made from uranium oxide. It should be understood that this substance is heterogeneous. 3% of these tablets consist of uranium-235 (it is he who is fissile during the reaction), the rest is uranium-238 (this isotope is not fissile).
Why is this ratio necessary? To keep the process under control. A working reactor starts a fission reaction. In the course of its development, the amount of uranium-235 decreases. At the same time, the volume of fission products increases. This is nuclear waste. They pose a serious environmental hazard and must therefore be disposed of properly. Can an atom be peaceful? As can be seen from the described technology, only with strict observance of the instructions and rules of the production process.
Prerequisites for appearance
Nuclear (atomic) energy originated in the middle of the 20th century. Since then, hundreds of nuclear power plants have been built around the world (today 442 are operating). Peaceful atom provides more than half of the energy needed by France, Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Sweden and South Korea. In Western Europe, nuclear power plants generate about a third of electricity.
It all started in 1939, when uranium fission was discovered in Germany. Researches of the Germans were extremely interested in the USSR. It immediately became clear to scientists that the newly discovered process allows the production of gigantic amounts of energy. If specialists could learn to control complex reactions, this would solve many economic problems.problems. The first Soviet research related to the peaceful atom took place at the RIAN (Radium Institute of the Academy of Sciences) under the guidance of the outstanding physicist Igor Kurchatov.
Nuclear race
The work of Soviet scientists was hampered by the absence of the USSR's own uranium reserves. In addition, the Great Patriotic War began in 1941, and revolutionary discoveries had to be forgotten for a while. Against this background, the agenda was intercepted in the UK, the US and Germany. The paradox lies in the fact that nuclear energy appeared as an offshoot of a militaristic project. Of course, the warring countries first of all tried to get the most powerful weapons, and only then thought about peaceful ways to use their discoveries.
The first experimental nuclear reactor was launched in the United States in December 1942. The project leader was the Italian scientist Enrico Fermi. In the USSR, the first reactor appeared at the end of 1946 at the Institute of Atomic Energy. By this time, the American bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had already taken place. In the USSR, the atomic bomb was created in 1949, and the hydrogen bomb in 1953. The war has already ended, and scientists have begun to prepare a nuclear reactor to work for the national economy of the Soviet Union.
NPP construction
The world's first nuclear power plant was launched in the summer of 1954. It turned out to be the Obninsk nuclear power plant, located in the Kaluga region. In the United States, with a slight delay, they also began to implement an atomic energy project. In 1956, the Americans succeeded for the first time with the help ofreactor to get electricity. Gradually, more and more new nuclear power plants were founded in the two superpowers. Each of them broke another power record.
The peak of the development of nuclear power came in the second half of the 1960s. Then the number of nuclear power plant construction began to decrease. In the United States, a discussion has begun in Congress and the scientific community about the problems associated with the safety of the peaceful atom. Nevertheless, by 1986, nuclear power generation reached 15% of that generated by conventional power plants.
Nuclear energy symbol
In 1958, the Atomium was opened in Brussels, where the next World Exhibition was held. The design concept was developed by architect André Waterkeyner. The atomium looks like an enlarged crystal lattice of iron: nine atoms joined together. The weight of the structure is 2400 tons, and the height is 102 meters. Visitors can enter six of the nine realms. These models of atoms, magnified hundreds of billions of times, are connected to each other by twenty 23-meter pipes. Inside they are corridors and escalators.
The photo of the “peaceful atom”, which appeared in Brussels at the height of the atomic era, quickly spread around the world, and the Atomium became a symbol of all nuclear energy and the idea that revolutionary scientific discoveries should be used for the benefit of mankind, and not for wars and destruction. The Belgian landmark is mentioned in the novel by the famous Soviet science fiction writers the Strugatsky brothers "Monday begins on Saturday." The symbol of the peaceful atom appears in many drawings, as well as on emblems dedicated to nuclear energy.
Environmental factor
The problem of environmental pollution with radioactive waste is becoming more and more urgent every year. For example, in modern Russia, the personnel of 10 nuclear power plants are engaged in peaceful nuclear power. All these enterprises need special attention from environmentalists and government departments.
50,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste accumulate in the European Union every year. The key problem is that such debris remains dangerous for thousands of years (for example, the period of decay of plutonium-239 is 24 thousand years).
Waste management
Today there are several concepts on how best to dispose of radioactive waste. The first idea is to create burial grounds located at the bottom of the oceans. This is a rather difficult way to implement. Containers must be located at a considerable depth, in addition, they can be damaged by sea currents.
The second idea is being considered by NASA, where they propose to send nuclear waste into outer space. This method is safe for the Earth, but fraught with excessive spending. There are other ideas: to take waste to uninhabited islands or to bury them in the ice of Antarctica. The most acceptable option today is the construction of burial grounds in rocky underground rocks. Research related to this idea continues in Germany and Switzerland.
Chernobyl lesson
For a long time, nuclear energy was considered uncontested. For severalFor decades, the peaceful atom in the USSR and other countries continued its economic expansion. However, in 1986, a tragedy occurred in Chernobyl that forced humanity to rethink its attitude towards nuclear power plants. An explosion occurred at a station near Pripyat, which resulted in the destruction of the reactor and the release into the environment of a significant amount of radioactive substances hazardous to he alth.
The famous Soviet slogan "Peaceful atom in every home" has been compromised. In the first months after the accident, 30 people died. However, the true effects of exposure came later. Over the following years, dozens more people died in agony from a terrible disease. Thousands of citizens of the USSR were in the zone of infection. Significant territories of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia became unsuitable for agriculture. The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant led to an outbreak of public phobia in relation to nuclear energy. After that tragedy, many stations around the world were closed.
Although security measures at such enterprises have improved markedly over 30 years, theoretically, a tragedy similar to Chernobyl could happen again. There were accidents both before and after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant: in 1957 - in the UK (Windscale), in 1979 - in the USA (Three Mile Island), in 2011 - in Japan (Fukushima). Today, the IAEA has collected information on more than 1,000 emergency situations at stations. Causes of accidents: human factor (80% of cases), less often - design flaws. At Fukushima in Japan, an emergency occurred due to a powerful earthquake and the ensuing tsunami.
Prospects for nuclear power
The question of whether the peaceful atom has a future is complicated from an economic point of view and causes a lot of disputes among specialists. Due to a large number of conflicting factors, its future is unclear and foggy. The latest forecasts issued by the International Energy Agency suggest that, if current trends continue, the share of electricity produced by nuclear power plants will fall from 15% to 9% by 2030.
Until recently, nuclear energy was in demand, including because of high oil prices. However, in 2014 they dropped sharply. Thus, another cheaper alternative to nuclear power plants has appeared. It is also important that the peaceful atom provides people only with electricity (that is, even with widespread use, it cannot completely rid society of energy dependence).
Oil or electricity?
Oil, despite everything, is important for industry and transport. About 40% of the energy that the US consumes is provided by this resource. Japan and France could not get rid of dependence on oil (although they actively use nuclear power plants). So does the peaceful atom have a future or is it doomed to remain in the shadow of "black gold"? These trends suggest that nuclear power plants may be a thing of the past. However, some recent developments have given nuclear power a new lease of life.
We are talking about the emergence of cars that run on electricity instead of gasoline. Today, such transport is increasingly conquering the markets of the USA and Europe. In a few decades, electric vehicleswill become the norm. It is at this moment that the peaceful atom can again come to the rescue of the world economy. Nuclear power plants are able to solve the problem of the ever-increasing demand of different countries for electricity.
Fusion energy
There is another perspective in which the peaceful atom can make an economic triumph. One of the most important problems associated with the operation of nuclear power plants is environmental safety. The question of the complexity of the disposal of radioactive waste and spent fuel gave rise to the idea of reformatting nuclear reactors into new nuclear fusion reactors. Such enterprises will be completely safe for the environment. But before this peaceful atom technology is introduced into production, specialists will have to go a long way.
Teams from 33 countries of the world are already working on a thermonuclear project. The global nature of the idea of thermonuclear fuel is due to its many advantages. It is not only safe from the point of view of ecology, but also inexhaustible. The resource necessary for scientists is deuterium, which is obtained from the oceans. The main technological difference between a thermonuclear station and a nuclear power plant is that nuclear fusion will take place at new enterprises (nucleus fission is carried out at former nuclear power plants). Perhaps this technology is the future of the peaceful atom.
