Nuclear Technology

Nuclear technology is technology that involves the reactions of atomic nuclei. It has found applications from smoke detectors to nuclear reactors, and from gun sights to nuclear weapons. There is a great deal of public concern about its possible implications, and every application of nuclear technology is reviewed with care.

Discovery

In 1896, Henri Becquerel was investigating phosphorescence in uranium salts when he discovered a new phenomenon which came to be called radioactivity.[1] He, Pierre Curie and Marie Curie began investigating the phenomenon. In the process they isolated the element radium, which is highly radioactive. They discovered that radioactive materials produce intense, penetrating rays of several distinct sorts, which they called alpha rays, beta rays and gamma rays. Some of these kinds of radiation could pass through ordinary matter, and all of them could cause damage in large amounts - all the early researchers received various radiation burns, much like sunburn, and thought little of it.

The new phenomenon of radioactivity was seized upon by the manufacturers of quack medicine (as had the discoveries of electricity and magnetism, earlier), and any number of patent medicines and treatments involving radioactivity were put forward. Gradually it came to be realized that the radiation produced by radioactive decay was ionizing radiation, and that quantities too small to burn presented a severe long-term hazard. Many of the scientists working on radioactivity died of cancer as a result of their exposure. Radioactive patent medicines mostly disappeared, but other applications of radioactive materials persisted, such as the use of radium salts to produce glowing dials on meters.

As the atom came to be better understood, the nature of radioactivity became clearer: some atomic nuclei are unstable, and they can decay, releasing energy (in the form of gamma rays, high-energy photons) and nuclear fragments (alpha particles, a pair of protons and a pair of neutrons, and beta particles, high-energy electrons).

Nuclear Fission

Radioactivity is generally a slow and difficult process to control, and is unsuited to building a weapon. However, other nuclear reactions are possible. In particular, a sufficiently unstable nucleus can undergo nuclear fission, breaking into two smaller nuclei and releasing energy and some fast neutrons. This neutron could, if captured by another nucleus, cause that nucleus to undergo fission as well. The process could then continue in a nuclear chain reaction. Such a chain reaction could release a vast amount of energy in a short amount of time. When discovered on the eve of World War II, it led multiple countries to begin programs investigating the possibility of constructing an atomic bomb—a weapon which utilized fission reactions to generate far more energy than could be created with chemical explosives. The Manhattan Project, run by the United States with the help of the United Kingdom and Canada, developed multiple fission weapons which were used against Japan in 1945. During the project, the first fission reactors were developed as well, though they were primarily for weapons manufacture and did not generate power.

Nuclear Fusion

Nuclear fusion technology was initially pursued only in theoretical stages during World War II, when scientists on the Manhattan Project (led by Edward Teller) investigated the possibility of using the great power of a fission reaction to ignite fusion reactions. It took until 1952 for the first full detonation of a hydrogen bomb to take place, so-called because it utilized reactions between deuterium and tritium, isotopes of hydrogen. Fusion reactions are much more energetic per unit mass of fusion material, but it is much more difficult to ignite a chain reaction than is fission.

Research into the possibilities of using nuclear fusion for civilian power generation was begun during the 1940s as well. Technical and theoretical difficulties have hindered the development of working civilian fusion technology, though research continues to this day around the world.

Nuclear Weapons

The design of a nuclear weapon is more complicated than it might seem; it is quite difficult to ensure that such a chain reaction consumes a significant fraction of the fuel before the device flies apart. The construction of a nuclear weapon is also more difficult than it might seem, as no naturally occurring substance is sufficiently unstable for this process to occur. One isotope of uranium, namely uranium-235, is naturally occurring and sufficiently unstable, but it is always found mixed with the more stable isotope uranium-238. Thus a complicated and difficult process of isotope separation must be performed to obtain uranium-235. Alternatively, the element plutonium possesses an isotope that is sufficiently unstable for this process to be usable. Plutonium does not occur naturally, so it must be manufactured in a nuclear reactor. Ultimately, the Manhattan Project manufactured nuclear weapons based on each of these.

The first atomic bomb was detonated in a test code-named "Trinity", near Alamogordo on July 16, 1945. After much debate on the morality of using such a horrifying weapon, two bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Japanese surrender followed shortly.

Several nations began nuclear weapons programs, developing ever more destructive bombs in an arms race to obtain what many called a nuclear deterrent. Nuclear weapons are the most destructive weapons known - the archetypal weapons of mass destruction. Throughout the Cold War, the opposing powers had huge nuclear arsenals, sufficient to kill hundreds of millions of people. Generations of people grew up under the shadow of nuclear devastation.

However, the tremendous energy release in the detonation of a nuclear weapon also suggested the possibility of a new energy source.

Nuclear Power

Commercial nuclear power began in the early 1950's in the US, UK, and Soviet Union. The first commercial reactors were heavily based on either research reactors, or military reactors. The first commercial nuclear reactor to go online in the US was the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Western Pennsylvania. In some countries any form of nuclear power is banned.

Types of nuclear reaction

Most natural nuclear reactions fall under the heading of radioactive decay, where a nucleus is unstable and decays after a random interval. The most common processes by which this can occur are alpha decay, beta decay, and gamma decay. Under suitable circumstances, a large unstable nucleus can break into two smaller nuclei, undergoing nuclear fission.

If these neutrons are captured by a suitable nucleus, they can trigger fission as well, leading to a chain reaction. A mass of radioactive material large enough (and in a suitable configuration) is called a critical mass. When a neutron is captured by a suitable nucleus, fission may occur immediately, or the nucleus may persist in an unstable state for a short time. If there are enough immediate decays to carry on the chain reaction, the mass is said to be prompt critical, and the energy release will grow rapidly and uncontrollably, usually leading to an explosion. However, if the mass is critical only when the delayed neutrons are included, the reaction can be controlled, for example by the introduction or removal of neutron absorbers. This is what allows nuclear reactors to be built. Fast neutrons are not easily captured by nuclei; they must be slowed (slow neutrons), generally by collision with the nuclei of a neutron moderator, before they can be easily captured.

If nuclei are forced to collide, they can undergo nuclear fusion. This process may release or absorb energy. When the resulting nucleus is lighter than that of iron, energy is normally released; when the nucleus is heavier than that of iron, energy is generally absorbed. This process of fusion occurs in stars, and results in the formation, in stellar nucleosynthesis, of the light elements, from lithium to calcium, as well as some formation of the heavy elements, beyond Iron and Nickel, which cannot be created by nuclear fusion, via neutron capture - the S-process. The remaining abundance of heavy elements - from Nickel to Uranium and beyond - is due to supernova nucleosynthesis, the R-process. Of course, these natural processes of astrophysics are not examples of nuclear technology. Because of the very strong repulsion of nuclei, fusion is difficult to achieve in a controlled fashion. Hydrogen bombs obtain their enormous destructive power from fusion, but obtaining controlled fusion power has so far proved elusive. Controlled fusion can be achieved in particle accelerators; this is how many synthetic elements were produced. The Farnsworth-Hirsch Fusor is a device which can produce controlled fusion (and which can be built as a high-school science project), albeit at a net energy loss. It is sold commercially as a neutron source.

The vast majority of everyday phenomena do not involve nuclear reactions. Most everyday phenomena only involve gravity and electromagnetism. Of the fundamental forces of nature, they are not the strongest, but the other two, the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force are essentially short-range forces so they do not play a role outside the atomic nucleus. Atomic nuclei are generally kept apart because they contain positive electrical charges and therefore repel each other, so in ordinary circumstances they cannot meet.

Nuclear Accidents

Three Mile island Incident (1979)

The Three Mile Island incident, which ironically occurred two weeks after the release of the disaster film The China Syndrome greatly impacted the public's perception of nuclear power. Many human factors engineering improvements were made to American power plants in the wake of Three Mile Island's partial meltdown.

Chernobyl Accident (1986)

The Chernobyl accident in 1986 further alarmed the public about nuclear power. While design differences between the RBMK reactor used at Chernobyl and most western reactors virtually eliminate the possibility of such an accident occurring outside of the former Soviet Union, it is only recently that the general public in the United States has started to embrace nuclear energy.

Nuclear Power

Nuclear power is a type of nuclear technology involving the controlled use of nuclear fission to release energy for work including propulsion, heat, and the generation of electricity. Nuclear energy is produced by a controlled nuclear chain reaction which creates heat—and which is used to boil water, produce steam, and drive a steam turbine. The turbine can be used for mechanical work and also to generate electricity.

Currently nuclear power is used to propel aircraft carriers, icebreakers and submarines; and provides approximately 15.7% of the world's electricity (in 2004). The risk of radiation and cost have prohibited use of nuclear power in transport ships.

Medical Applications

Imaging - medical and dental x-ray imagers use of Cobalt-60 or other x-ray sources. Technetium-99m is used, attached to organic molecules, as radioactive tracer in the human body, before being excreted by the kidneys. Positron emitting nulceotides are used for high resolution, short time span imaging in applications known as Positron emission tomography.

Industrial Applications

Oil and Gas Exploration- Nuclear well logging is used to help predict the commercial viability of new or existing wells. The technology involves the use of a neutron or gamma-ray source and a radiation detector which are lowered into boreholes to determine the properties of the surrounding rock such as porosity and lithography.

Road Construction - Nuclear moisture/density gauges are used to determine the density of soils, asphalt, and concrete. Typically a Cesium-137 source is used.

Commercial Applications

An ionization smoke detector includes a tiny mass of radioactive americium-241, which is a source of alpha radiation. Tritium is used with phosphor in rifle sights to increase nighttime firing accuracy. Luminescent exit signs use the same technology.

Food Processing and Agriculture

In an effort to find new markets for isotopes, the Canadian nuclear industry is promoting the use of intense radiation from cobalt-60 to kill insects and microbes in spices, fruit, poultry, grain and other foodstuffs. The purpose is to prolong shelf life. A similar technology is used to sterilize medical equipment.

The industry proposes that irradiated food be labeled inconspicuously to minimize consumer anxiety.