1. How much of the worlds electricity do nuclear power plant provide?

Nuclear power provides 17% of world's electricity.

2. In the United States, nuclear power plants produce about __% of the countrys electricity and about _
____% of the total energy used.
20, 8.
3. The nuclear power plants in France provide ___% of the countrys total energy
80
4. What is nuclear energy?
energy contained in an atom's nucleus.
5. What is the difference between fission and fusion?
fission splits the atom and fusion combines atom.
6. Nuclear reactors use (fusion or fission?) and which product as a source of radioactivity?
fission and the product is uranium oxide.
7. Which type of Uranium is used for nuclear power plants?
Uranium-235 is used for nuclear power plants.
8. What does it mean that the Uranium is enriched?
The Uranium is increased in concentration.
9. What is a nuclear meltdown?
It refers to a nuclear accident in which the coolant system fails.
10. Reactors that use ordinary water as the coolant are called: moderators
11. Label a diagram below to explain the nuclear power plant set-up:



12. What is a radioisotope?
A Radioisotope: a form of a chemical element that spontaneously undergoes radioactive decay.
13. What is radioactive decay?
when the radioisotope changes from one isotope to another and emits one or more kinds of radiation.
14. What is a half-life? What is the half-life of Uranium 235?
The time required for half of the isotope to decay.
half-life of Uranium-235 is 700 million years.
15. Define the following types of nuclear radiation: (Explain the safety measures needed when using
each)
- Alpha Particle: two protons and neutrons and has greatest mass. Safety is to be far away from this
particle.
- Beta Particle: electrons that travel further through air, but can be blocked by shielding like sheet metal.
- Gamma Rays: Most penetrating type of radiation. It requires thick shielding when being used.
16. Uranium goes through a radioactive decay chain to finally become which element?
Uranium goes through radioactive decay to become lead-206
17. What are the major problems associated with the nuclear fuel cycle?
exposed miners to radiation, radioactive waste must be carefully handled, site selection is controversial,
waste disposal controversy.
18. How does nuclear radiation effect ecosystems? Explain and give an example.
By entering pathways of mineral cycling and ecological food chains. Radioactive particles are moved
around by winds.
19. Radiation is found naturally in what kind of materials? Give 2 examples.
Radiation is found naturally in soils and rocks.
For example, granite and shale.
20. Where in the United States are background radiation levels higher?
In the U.S., Florida has background radiation levels higher than normal.
21. In what ways are people exposed to radiation in their every day lives?
through x-rays, flying planes and cosmic rays.
22. What is the commonly used unit for radioactive decay? Who is it named after?
The used unit for decay is curie, named after Marie Curie.
23. What is the SI unit for radioactive decay?
Becquerel.
24. When dealing with the environmental effects of radiation, we are most interested in the actual dose
of radiation delivered by radioactivity. This dose is commonly measured in terms of _rads__ and
__rems____. In the international system (SI), the units are _grays_____ and __sieverts______.
25. For gamma rays, the unit commonly used is the ______roentgen____ or in SI units,
___coulombs_____
26. What is the LD50 dose of radiation in humans?
5 Sieverts.
27. What happened to the women who worked in the watch factories in the early 1900s?
The women died of anemia or bone cancer from radium.
28. What are the health effects for workers in uranium mines?
high rates of lung cancer
29. What is the current risk of a nuclear meltdown in the U.S. according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission?
one in ten thousand.
30. When did the event on Three-Mile Island occur?
March 28, 1979.
31. Where is Three-Mile Island located?
near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
32. What were some of the societal issues associated with the incident at Three-Mile Island?
fear of another meltdown, revealed problems to nuclear power.
33. Summarize the events at Chernobyl, Soviet Union
In April 28, 1986 a power plant in Chernobyl had high levels of radiation. The cooling system for the
Chernobyl reactor failed, it causes temperatures to increase to 300 degrees Celsius, It left 237 people
with acute radiation sicknesses and 31 people dead. 3 million people in the Northern Hemisphere
received varying amounts of radiation from Chernobyl.
34. How many people died and how many people were diagnosed with acute radiation sickness?
237 people were diagnosed with acute radiation, 31 people died.
35. How many people were exposed to radiation in the days following the accident?
3 million people were exposed.
36. What was the most common type of illness that resulted from the Japanese A-bomb survivors?
leukemia.
37. What was the most common type of illness that resulted from the Chernobyl accident?
thyroid cancer.
38. What happened to the ecosystem around the affected area following the meltdown?
The vegetation within 7 km had been killed or damaged and pine trees had extensive tissue damage and
contained radioactivity.
39. What is low-level radioactive waste? Where it is stored?
waste contains radioactivity in low concentrations that doesn't give environmental hazards. It is stored
in near-surface burial areas.
40. What is transuranic waste? How is it created?
Transuranic waste: waste contaminated by man-made radioactive elements.
Created: when industrial trash has been contaminated.
41. What is high-level radioactive waste? Where is it stored?
High-level radioactive consists of commercial and military spent nuclear fuel.
Stored in more than a hundred sites in 40 states. 72 sites are commercial nuclear reactors.
42. What and where is Yucca Mountain? What was the plan with it?
Yucca Mountain is a mountain in Nevada where they want to burry nuclear waste.
The plan: to dispose the waste deep underground in Yucca Mountain.
43. What are the safety hazards associated with using Yucca Mountain to store nuclear waste?
the probability of volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and changes in storage environments.
44. How much Uranium stores do we have left?
104 uranium stores left.
45. What are the PROS and CONS of using Nuclear Power?
- PRO: Environmental Friendly. Does not emit any greenhouse gases.
- CON: Nuclear power unlikely to have real impact on environmental problems, and maybe used for
weapons.
46. What are breeder reactors?
Breeder reactors: designed to produce new nuclear fuel by transforming waste or lower-grade uranium
into fissionable material.