Meredith Sell Reading Assignment 1. Outline the reading. 7.7 The Weapons Connection A. Enriched Uranium 1.

fuel of nuclear reactions 2. uranium with higher percent of U-235 than its natural abundance of about 0.7% 3. nuclear reactor: low concentration of fissionable U-235. Neutron stream doesnt build up enough to cause a nuclear explosion. B. Gaseous Diffusion 1. used to separate U-235 and U-238 2. process in which gases with different molecular weights are forced through a series of permeable membranes. 3. lighter molecules diffuse more rapidly C. Depleted Uranium 1. the U-238 that remains after U-235 has been separated. 2. Composed almost entirely of U-238 because much of U-235 it once naturally contained has been removed. D. Nuclear Fuel Cycle 1. Components a. depleted uranium b. enriched uranium c. plutonium 2. a way of conceptualizing all the different processes that can happen when uranium ore is mined, processed, used to fuel a reactor, and then dealt with as waste. 7.8 Nuclear Time: The Half-Life A. half-life 1. t

2. time required for level of radioactivity to fall to one half of its initial value B. Each radioisotope has its own half-life, including for those of the same element. C. half-life can be used to determine the percent of sample that remains later. D. fission products may enter and accumulate in your body with potentially fatal consequences. E. Carbon-14 1. half-life: 5715 years 2. decays to Nitrogen-14 7.9 Nuclear Waste: Here Today, Here Tomorrow A. High-level Radioactive Waste 1. HLW 2. high levels of radioactivity 3. long half-lives of involved radioisotopes 4. requires essentially permanent isolation from biosphere 5. hazardous because of chemicals and radioactivity 6. contains plutonium B. Low-level Radioactive Waste 1. LLW 2. smaller quantities of radioactive materials than HLW and excludes spent nuclear fuel. 3. wide range of materials 4. 90% of all nuclear waste C. Spent nuclear fuel 1. SNF 2. radioactive material remaining in fuel rods after they have been used to generate power in a nuclear reactor. 3. primarily U-238 D. Breeder Reactor: a nuclear reactor that can produce more fissionable fuel than it consumes.

E. Two options for HLW storage 1. monitored storage on or near surface 2. storage in geological repositories underground 3. HLW must remain isolated from groundwater for at least 10,000 years F. Vitrification 1. method in which spent fuel elements or other mixed waste are encased in ceramic or glass. 2. radioactivity remains, but nuclear materials are trapped in solid glass.

2. List reasons nuclear waste is a problem. It is radioactive and can be detrimental to health, life, and the environments processes. Nuclear waste takes a long time to decay. Disposal safe to life and the environment is difficult.

3. How can nuclear power industry increase the risk of nuclear weapons getting into the wrong hands? The nuclear power industry can increase the risk of nuclear weapons getting into the wrong hangs by not storing products like plutonium in adequately protected facilities, making them vulnerable to theft.