Nuclear Energy: The Past, Present, and Future – Lab 060

About This Lab

In this lab, we are hitting all things nuclear energy. We immerse ourselves in the history of nuclear energy, its original uses, how nuclear energy actually works, and the benefits and risks of using nuclear energy as an alternative energy source in the future.

Lab 060

• Nuclear Energy comes from the nucleus of an atom

  • It takes a lot of energy to keep an atom’s makeup (its nucleus, protons, neutrons, electrons, etc) together

• Ways to create energy

  • traditionally, we’ve been using a lot of fossil fuels for energy

    • ex: combusting fossil fuels for cars

  • nuclear energy! This is the big game changer.

    • breaking the atom’s nucleus apart and harnessing the energy (fission)

      • the neutron hits another atom and, splits, the nucleus, and causes a chain reaction of heat and energy

    • smashing the nuclei together (fusion)

Funt fact: US has most nuclear reactors in world (93) and we get 20% of our energy from them

• Energy= power and then a unit of time

  • ex: much energy a thing need in order to run for x time

• Big issue: US consumes energy in the kilowatt hours but produce nuclear energy in the billions of kilowatt hours

• Risks of nuclear energy

  • fission products/daughter products, essentially residue from the fission

    • super radioactive for a long time

  • Big accidents at nuclear reactors

    • ex: Chernobyl

• Where to store the waste, then?

  • In repositories

• Radiation

  • bigger waves of radiation are basically harmless like w/ microwaves BUT ionizing radiation has really small waves and can disrupt your cells

• History of Nuclear Energy Uptick

  • 1930s WW2 era, Nazi’s wanted to weaponize nuclear energy, Einstein told FDR, US gets to the tech first

    • —> see The Manhattan Project

  • How nuclear was was prevented

    • International Atomic Energy Agency, est. 1957

    • Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, 1970

• Gender plays a big role is who’s most affected by radiation

• We have to be cognizant of the laborers exposed to different chemicals and toxins (see here for article on cobalt miners and disparate working conditions)

• Our one thing

  • Titi: Soles4Souls

  • Zakiya: Wooden Knife made from scientists in Maryland

Guest Expert

Our guest expert for this lab is Dr. Mareena Robinson Snowden, senior engineer at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. In this lab not only does she break down the important science of nuclear energy but she also schools us in the history of nuclear energy as well.

Transcript

You can read along with this lab here.