Abstract
The objective of the nuclear industry is to produce energy in the forms of heat from either fission reactions or radioactive decay and radiation from radioactive decay or by accelerator methods. For fission heat applications, the nuclear fuel has a very high specific energy content that currently has two principal uses, for military explosives and for electricity generation. As higher temperature reactors become more widely available, the high temperature heat (>900°C) will also be useful for making chemicals such as hydrogen. For radiation applications, the emissions from radioactive decay of unstable nuclides are employed in research, medicine, and industry for diagnostic purposes and for chemical reaction initiation. Radioactive decay heat is also employed to generate electricity from thermoelectric generators for low-power applications in space or remote terrestrial locations. Radiation produced from accelerator-based sources is used for geologic investigation (e.g., identifying oil deposits), materials modification, and contrast imaging of dense media (e.g., security inspections in commercial shipping). Fuel from the first atomic pile is shown in Fig. 21.1.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Status and Outlook
Finger H (1989) Need for nuclear energy, national energy strategy hearings. US Council for Energy Awareness, Washington, DC
World Nuclear Association Web site. Information and brief news. Accessed September 2012. http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/reactors.html
NRDC: Nuclear Notebook Global nuclear stockpiles, 1945–2002 By Robert S. Norris and Hans M. Kristensen November/December 2002 (vol. 58, no. 06) © 2002 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, pp. 103–104
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Accident-Health and Environmental Consequences. DOE/ER-0332. US Department of Energy, June 1987
Nuclear Safety
US NRC (1979) The accident at Three Mile Island. Staff Report to the President’s Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC
Nuclear Safety
US NRC. Code of federal regulations, Title 10 Energy, Chapter 1. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
Domenici PV (2004) A brighter tomorrow: fulfilling the promise of nuclear energy. Rowman & Littlefield, New York
Fact Sheet: United States NRC. Nuclear reactor risk. June 2003
USNRC (1975) Reactor safety study, WASH 1400 (NUREG 75/014). US Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
From HP Society University of Michigan Web site, 1/18/05
The Earth’s Supply And Demand
USEIA (1989) Annual report to congress 1988. Energy Information Administration, Washington, DC
USEIA (1988) Annual energy review, DOE/EIA-0384[88]. Energy Information Administration, Washington, DC
Energy efficiency, The Energy Daily, 18; 64, Washington, DC, 1990
Parent JD (1977) A survey of United States and total world production, reserves and remaining recoverable fossil fuel and uranium. Institute or Gas Technology, Chicago
OECD/NEA-IAEA (1990) Uranium resources production and demand. OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and International Atomic Energy Agency, Paris, 1990
Energy Information Administration/Annual Energy Review, 2003
Nuclear Processes
Friedlander G, Kennedy J, Macias E, Miller J (1981) Nuclear and radiochemistry, 3rd edn. Wiley, New York
Nuclides and isotopes, 14th Ed, 202-37-000 GE Nuclear Operations, San Jose, CA
Fission
Lamarsh JR (1972) Introduction to nuclear reactor theory. Addison-Wesley, Reading
Advanced proliferation resistant, lower cost, uranium-thorium dioxide fuels for light water reactors. Nuclear Energy Research Initiative, Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID, 2000
Fusion
A status report on controlled thermonuclear fusion, STU/PUB/872 International Fusion Research Council. International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1990
Starpower, the U.S. and the International Quest for Fusion Energy, OTA-E-338, Office of Technology Assessment, Congress of the United States, Oct 1987
Cleary, D. The American Association for the Advancement of Science Website. Science Insider, May 27, 2010, accessed August 2010. http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/05/no-solution-yet-to-iters-budget-html
Nuclide Production
Kauffman G (1990) Beyond uranium. Chemical and Engineering News, Washington, DC, Nov. 1990
Meyer W, Plascjak P. Cyclotron group, National Institute of Health-Personal communication
Cohen BL (1971) Concepts of nuclear physics. McGraw-Hill, New York
Neutron Transmutation Products
Crandall J (1965) The Savannah River high flux demonstration, USAEC Report DP999. US Atomic Energy Commission, Washington, DC 28-June 1965
Charged Particle Transmutation Products
Lagunas-Solar M (1982) Cyclotron production of no-carrier-added medical radionuclides. In: 7th Conference on the applications of acceleration in research and industry, Denton
Isotope Enrichment
Isotec (1990) Stable isotopes for research and industry. Isotec, Maimisburg
Avona V, Spicer H (1987) Separation and applications of stable isotopes. American Laboratory, April 1987
Rae H (ed) (1978) Separation of hydrogen isotopes. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC
The Uranium Fuel Cycle
Nuclear Engineering International (1990) Fuel Cycle Review, Cornell University
Eister W, Stoughton R, Sullivan W (1955) Processing of nuclear reactor fuel. In: Glasstone S (ed) Principles of nuclear reactor engineering. Van Nostrand, New York
Fuel Preparation
Mantz E (1970) Production of uranium tetrafluoride and uranium metal, USAEC Report NCLO 1068. U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Washington, DC
Olander D (1978) The gas centrifuge. Sci Am 239:2
United States Enrichment Corporation (1988) The case for restructuring. The Council for Energy Awareness, Washington, DC
Spent Fuel Reprocessing
Long J (1967) Engineering for nuclear fuel reprocessing. Gordon and Breach, New York
Logsdail D et al (1985) Solvent extraction and ion exchange. Wiley, New York
Radioactive Waste Management
USDOE (1989) Integrated data base for 1989: spent fuel and radioactive waste inventories. U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC
Storage of Spent Fuel
Matthew Bunn et al and Atsuyuki Suzuki et al (2001) Interim Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel, Harvard University and University of Tokyo
Eister W (1977) Materials considerations in radioactive waste storage. Nucl Technol 1:6
Low-Level Waste Disposal
USDOE (1989) Annual report to congress. Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC
USDOE (1989) Environmental assessment of remedial action at the Monument Valley Uranium Mill Tailings Site, Monument Valley, AZ. U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC
USDOE (1989) Uranium mill tailings remedial action program, Annual Report, 1989. U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC
Transportation of Nuclear Materials
Rail transportation corridor analysis, BMI/ONWI-617. U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC, p. 186
USDOE (1986) Transporting spent nuclear fuel. U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, Washington, DC
The Nuclear Reactor
Benedict M, Pigford T, Levi H (1981) Nuclear chemical engineering. McGraw-Hill, New York
Forsberg C, Reich W (1991) Worldwide advanced nuclear power reactors with passive and inherent safety: what why, how and who, ORNL/TM-11907, September 1991. Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Light Water Reactors
Beckjord E et al (1989) International comparison of LWR performance, Report MIT EL 87–004. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Feb 1989
Frost B (1982) Nuclear fuel elements. Pergamon, New York
Cohen P (1969) Water coolant technology of power reactors. Gordon and Breach, New York
USCEA (1988) Advanced LWRs, Nuclear industries, July 1988. U.S. Council for Energy Awareness, Washington, DC
CANDU Heavy Water Reactor
Veeder J, Didsbury R (1985) A catalogue of advanced fuel cycles in CANDU-PHW reactors. Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories, Chalk River
Liquid Metal Fast Reactor
Till C, Chang Y (1988) The integral fast reactor. Adv Nucl Sci Technol 20:127–154
Other Nuclear Reactors
See NASA Web site concerning Explorer program and nuclear reactors.
Radiation Processing
USDOE (1988) Machine sources for food irradiation. U.S. Department of Energy, Department of Energy, Washington, DC
Radioisotope Application
Eister W et a1 (1970) Radioisotope production in the U.S., radioisotope production study, Sao Paulo, Brazil. International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna
Radiation Sources
Eichholz G (1972) Radioisotope engineering. Marcel Dekker, New York
Radioisotope Thermal Electric Generators
Arnold ED (1964) Handbook of isotopic power source characteristics. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge
Nuclear Medicine
Eister W et al (1970) Radiopharmaceuticals and short-lived radioisotopes, radioisotope production study, Sao Paulo, Brazil. International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna
Ester, W., et al., Radioisotope generators America (see above)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Congedo, T., Lahoda, E., Matzie, R., Task, K. (2012). The Nuclear Industry. In: Kent, J. (eds) Handbook of Industrial Chemistry and Biotechnology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4259-2_21
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4259-2_21
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-4258-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-4259-2
eBook Packages: Chemistry and Materials ScienceChemistry and Material Science (R0)