Nuclear fission power for 21st century needs: Enabling technologies for large-scale, low-risk, affordable nuclear electricity

2008 ◽  
Vol 50 (2-6) ◽  
pp. 82-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roderick Hyde ◽  
Muriel Ishikawa ◽  
Nathan Myhrvold ◽  
John Nuckolls ◽  
Lowell Wood
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Nuclear Fission ◽  
Low Risk ◽  
Enabling Technologies ◽  
Fission Power

Hazards of Nuclear Fission Power and the Choice of Alternatives

1974 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
John T. Edsall
Keyword(s):  
Energy Production ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Biological Effects ◽  
Nuclear Fission ◽  
The United States ◽  
Radioactive Wastes ◽  
National Academy Of Sciences ◽  
The Future ◽  
Fission Power

Nuclear fission reactors are widely regarded as the chief energy source of the future. This article holds that the hazards of such reactors, in comparison with other prospective energy sources, are unacceptably high. The biological effects of ionizing radiations, as analyzed in the recent BEIR Report (1972) of a committee of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, are briefly reviewed; the effects include genetic mutations, induction of cancer, and developmental abnormalities. Hazards are encountered at many stages in the process of nuclear power production: in the mining and processing of uranium, in the design and operation of the reactors, and in the handling, shipping, and storage, of the huge quantities of radioactive wastes produced by the reactors. Grave questions have been raised concerning the safety of the emergency core-cooling systems of present reactors; and the planned breeder reactors, which will contain great quantities of plutonium-239, are likely to be even more hazardous. Storage of radioactive wastes, away from all risks of environmental contamination, in order to be acceptable must be secure for about half-a-million years. No place on Earth has yet been found for which such safety can be guaranteed. Hazards of theft, sabotage, and war, are formidable threats to the future of nuclear fission power.Use of fission power is not compulsory; present supplies of coal are adequate for two or three centuries, though its mining and use will require drastic steps to protect the environment, thereby raising costs. Alternative, and far less dangerously polluting, sources of large-scale energy production exist or can be developed: notably solar energy and probably nuclear fusion, where intensive research gives high promise of adequate systems for large-scale energy production within 20–30 years. Geothermal energy, though more limited in amount, is also promising. Great savings can also be made by reducing the extravagant use of energy, especially in such countries as the United States; and various conservation measures are indicated.

Agile Intelligent Research of Manufacturing System in Modern Enterprises

2012 ◽  
Vol 220-223 ◽  
pp. 123-126
Author(s):  
Chao Meng ◽  
Shan Wang
Keyword(s):  
Human Resources ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Basic Concept ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Manufacturing System ◽  
Intelligent Manufacturing ◽  
Advanced Method ◽  
Management Models ◽  
Enabling Technologies ◽  
Production Pattern

In the large-scale modern production, enterprises have to improve the ability of agile intelligent manufacturing for surviving and developing. This paper explained the basic concept of agile intelligent manufacturing, and then discussed in detail its three bases, namely enabling technologies, management models and human resources. Because it adapts well to the production pattern of the 21st Century, this advanced method should be greatly promoted according to circumstances.

scholarly journals Implications of the school-household network structure on SARS-CoV-2 transmission under school reopening strategies in England

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. Munday ◽  
◽  
Katharine Sherratt ◽  
Sophie Meakin ◽  
Akira Endo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Infection Control ◽  
Network Structure ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Low Risk ◽  
Careful Monitoring ◽  
School Closures

AbstractIn early 2020 many countries closed schools to mitigate the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Since then, governments have sought to relax the closures, engendering a need to understand associated risks. Using address records, we construct a network of schools in England connected through pupils who share households. We evaluate the risk of transmission between schools under different reopening scenarios. We show that whilst reopening select year-groups causes low risk of large-scale transmission, reopening secondary schools could result in outbreaks affecting up to 2.5 million households if unmitigated, highlighting the importance of careful monitoring and within-school infection control to avoid further school closures or other restrictions.

scholarly journals Large-Scale Use of the Modified Checklist for Autism in Low-Risk Toddlers

PEDIATRICS ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 131 (4) ◽  
pp. e1121-e1127 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Chlebowski ◽  
D. L. Robins ◽  
M. L. Barton ◽  
D. Fein
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Low Risk

An Overview of Multilingual Learners' Literacy Needs for the 21st Century

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
MaryAnn Christison ◽  
Denise E. Murray
Keyword(s):  
Critical Literacy ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Human Migration ◽  
Multimodal Literacy ◽  
Common Definition ◽  
Societal Changes ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Theoretical Considerations

The most common definition of literacy is the ability to read and write. However, for teachers working with multilingual learners, the development of literacy skills is much more complex than this simple definition would suggest. Notions of literacy in the 21st century have evolved in response to a number of societal changes, such as globalization, large-scale human migration, and advances in digital technologies. This chapter considers how these societal changes have influenced conceptions and practices of literacy. It provides a brief overview of some important theoretical considerations that inform understandings of literacy development for multilingual learners, including critical literacy, multiliteracies, multimodal literacy, and translanguaging, and explores current conceptions of literacy to help second and foreign language (SFL) teachers better understand how to meet the literacy needs of multilingual learners in the 21st century, offering practical suggestions for teaching from a multiliteracies perspective.

Nuclear fission

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Ion
Keyword(s):  
Energy Supply ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Nuclear Reactor ◽  
Nuclear Fission ◽  
Fuel Rods ◽  
Power Stations ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Burning Coal ◽  
Hollow Metal

This chapter will cover the nuclear fission option as a future energy supply, and will essentially address the question: can nuclear fission plug the gap until the potential of nuclear fusion is actually realized? (The potential for fusion is considered in detail chapter 7.) To put this question into context, let us first look at some of the key issues associated with nuclear fission, which currently supplies around one fifth of the UK’s electricity. Most large scale power stations produce electricity by generating steam, which is used to power a turbine. In a nuclear power station, the principle is the same, but instead of burning coal, oil, or gas to turn water into steam, the heat energy comes from a nuclear reactor. A reactor contains nuclear fuel, which remains in place for several months at a time, but over that time it generates a huge amount of energy. The fuel is usually made of uranium, often in the form of small pellets of uranium dioxide, a ceramic, stacked inside hollow metal tubes or fuel rods, which can be anything from a metre to four metres in length, depending on the reactor design. Each rod is about the diameter of a pencil, and the rods are assembled into carefully designed bundles, which in turn are fixed in place securely within the reactor. There are two isotopes (or different types) of uranium, and only one of these is a material which is ‘fissionable’—that is to say, if an atom of this uranium isotope is hit by a neutron, then it can split into two smaller atoms, giving off energy in the process and also emitting more neutrons. This, and other pathways, are illustrated in Fig. 6.1 (Source: CEA). Controlling the reaction, so that the energy from the fission of uranium atoms is given out slowly over a period of years, requires two aspects of the process to be carefully balanced. 1. First, there must be enough fissile atoms in the fuel so that—on average— each fission leads to exactly one other. Any fewer, and the reaction will die away.

scholarly journals Nuclear Energy

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 51-58
Author(s):  
Parashu Ram Poudel
Keyword(s):  
Energy Source ◽  
Periodic Table ◽  
Nuclear Energy ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Nuclear Fission ◽  
Heavy Elements ◽  
Direct Service

Nuclear energy is the latest energy source to be used on a large scale. It has tremendous potentiality to meet the growing demand of energy without degrading the environment. Presently the nuclear fission of some heavy elements of the periodic table produces the vast majority of nuclear energy in the direct service of humankind. So nuclear energy produced by nuclear fission and its impacts are the main focus of this article.The Himalayan Physics Year 5, Vol. 5, Kartik 2071 (Nov 2014)Page: 51-58

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