Nuclear power plants.
In nuclear power plants, the principle to obtain electricity is exactly the same as the one in conventional thermal power plants: getting steam under pressure, projecting it against a turbine and thus, obtaining the kinetic energy required to produce large amounts of electricity through an alternator.
The only difference is the combustible used: uranium or plutonium.
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SOURCE: http://www.endesa.com
The video that you have just watched it was produced by a company that owns several nuclear power plants in Spain. If you noticed, they spend half of the video insisting on how safe the nuclear power plants are. But why are they insisting that much? If you remember, there is no mention of security issues in the video about the conventional thermal power plants (produced by the same company).
Radioactivity.
As we saw in the video, it is necessary to disintegrate the uranium little by little (fission process), so that it produces heat.
Well, during the fission process, the uranium releases large amounts of radiation. But also, soon after being used, the uranium keeps on being highly radioactive during...thousands of years!!
But, what is radioactivity?
When you have a radiography made, actually an invisible light passes through your body: the X-rays. You do not notice it at all. Well, the radioactivity is like an invisible light that can also pass through your body without your noticing, but your cells can be seriously damaged. These damages depend on the dose of radiation you have been exposed. If it is high, this implies an immediate cancer. If it is low, it can produce cancer in a long term (depending on the tolerance of each individual, like the tobacoo)
To prevent the radioactivity from escaping to the environment, the nuclear reactor where the uranium is desintegrated is hidden in an enormous concrete container of insulating materials. When it has already being used, the uranium has to be kept in a special warehouse because it is still highly radioactive and consequently very dangerous for the human health.
Marie Curie.
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This woman on the left was one of the most important scientist of the 20th century. Write a brief report about her life, work and causes of her death. A little clue for you: "...Mrs Curie ... died of leukemia in 1934. Radiation is The radiation is, in fact, so pernicious and long lasting that even now her papers from the 1890s - even her cookbooks - are too dangerous to handle. Her lab books are kept in leadlined boxes, and those who wish to see them must don protective clothing" Bill Bryson: A Short History of Nearly Everything. |
March 2011: Fukushima.
Summarizing...
From this computer graphics, write a report about the security measures in nuclear power plants.
Reflexión