Nuclear Energy In the Philippines, the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant is the only

nuclear power plant in the country however it was never fueled

- A powerful source of energy generated during nuclear
due to the scare of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and issues of
reaction, by change in the nucleus of an atom.
corruption.
- The source of nuclear energy is the mass of the
nucleus and the energy generated is due to the Nuclear Fuels: Uranium and Uranium Processing
conversion of mass into energy
- Nuclear Fuel – “highly enriched uranium”
- Two ways to obtain nuclear energy:
- Uranium is a naturally occurring element with an
1) Nuclear Fusion - it involves the combination of
average concentration of 2.8 parts per million in the
two light element to form a heavier element and
Earth's crust
release uncontrollable energy.
- Mostly mined in Canada, Australia, Niger, Russia,
2) Nuclear Fission - The nucleus of heavy radioactive
Kazakhstan and Namibia
element (Uranium, plutonium and thorium) splits
up into smaller nuclei when bombarded by low Types of Uranium Mining
energy neutrons.
-The heat generated in this process is used in - A hydrometallurgical process is used to produce
nuclear power plants to generate heat uranium from uranium ore, using chemicals and
solutions to extract the uranium from the ore matrix.
Nuclear Power - The process is complete when the final uranium
product, known as yellowcake, is produced in a
- Nuclear power plants use heat produced during
sufficient high purity (typically 75 to 85 percent U3O8)
nuclear fission (usually uranium) to boil water and
so that it can be used in the remainder of the nuclear
produce steam, which turns turbines to produce
fuel production cycle.
electricity.
- Except for the reactor itself, nuclear power stations Types of Uranium Mining
work like most coal or gas-fired power stations.
1) Open Pit Mining
2) Underground Mining
a. Cut and Fill mining
Advantages of Nuclear Power
b. Drift and fill mining
- Lower greenhouse emissions c. Room and pillar mining
- Powerful and efficient d. Block caving
- Reliable
Uranium Processing Types
- Cheap electricity
- Supply General:
- Low fuel cost
- Easy to transport

Disadvantages of Nuclear Power

- Radioactive waste
- Raw material
- Nuclear accidents
- Non-renewable energy
- Fuel availability
- Hot target for militants

Some of the world’s worst nuclear disasters:

• Chernobyl, Ukraine
- April 26 1986
- 1 out of 4 reactors exploded
• Fukushima, Daiichi
- March 11 2011
- Tsunami generated from magnitude-9.0 earthquake
damages 4 out of 6 reactors
1) Conventional Agitation Leach Process
- Step 1: Finely grind the ore to about 300-500 microns
in size in a water-slurry mixture
- Step 2: Choice of a carbonate or leaching route.
- Step 3: The slurry is washed with acidified water for
the acid leach process, or water only in the case of the
alkaline leach option, in what is termed
countercurrent decantation.
- Step 4: The washed solids, now referred to as tailings,
are generally neutralized with lime or other alkaline
Nuclear Energy from Fuels
material if acid leaching of the ore was employed to
extract the uranium.
- Step 5: The clear liquid containing the uranium in
solution is further purified using a solvent extraction
or ion exchange technology.
- Step 6: After uranium removal, the solution—known
as “raffinate” or “barren solution”—is recycled back to
the filters or decantation process.
- Step 7: The concentrated, purified uranium solution
(referred to as “pregnant solution” or “eluate”) is
advanced to a precipitation stage using hydrogen
peroxide, magnesium oxide, or sodium hydroxide.
- Step 8: The resultant uranium precipitate is then
filtered or centrifuged, dried or calcined, and
packaged into suitable drums for shipping.
2) In-Situ Leaching Process
- Involves leaving the uranium ore in the ground, and
recovering the uranium by dissolving it from the
uranium-bearing minerals by injecting carbonated
solution or mild acid and pumping the leached
uranium in a pregnant solution to the surface where
the metal can be recovered.
3) Recovery as by-product
- Byproduct uranium recovery occurs when other metal
production, such as gold, copper, or nickel, is the
primary product and uranium is recovered as a minor
byproduct.
4) Heap Leaching
- Occurs when ore containing uranium is piled in a heap
and fluid is distributed over the surface to leach metal
from the heap over a period of months.
➢ In a Pressurized Water Reactor:
- Step 1: The nuclear reaction is triggered. At the reactor
vessel, neutrons are fired at the uranium atoms
causing them to split and release more neutrons.
These then hit other atoms, causing more splits, and
so the chain reaction continues.
- Step 2: Water is heated. Water is passed through the
reactor vessel, where the chain reaction heats it to
around 300degC. The water needs to stay in liquid
form for the power station to work, so the pressurizer
applied around 155 rimes atmospheric pressure, to
stop it from boiling and evaporating.
- Step 3: Hot water is circulated. A coolant pump then
circulates the hot pressurized water from the reactor
vessel through to a steam generator.
- Step 4: Steam is created. This hot pressurized water
flows through thousands of looped pipes while a
second stream of water flows around the outside of
the pipes. This water is under much less pressure, so
the heat from the pipes boils it into steam.
- Step 5: Steam energy is converted to electrical energy.
The steam passes through a series of turbines and
causes them to spin. A shaft is connected to the
turbine to connect to the generator. The generator
uses an electromagnetic field to convert this
mechanical energy into electrical energy.
- Step 6: Electrical energy is passes to the national grid.
A transformer converts the electrical energy to the
high voltage needed by the national grid.
- Step 7: Electricity is sent through power lines to homes.
The national grid uses high voltages to efficiently
transmit electricity, but other transformers reduce the
voltage back down to a usable level.
- Step 8: The steam is cooled and recycled. The steam is
cooled by passing it over pipes full of cold water
pumped from the sea. These cool the steam and
condenses it back to the water. It is then piped back to
the steam generator where it can be reheated into
steam again, keeping the turbines going and the
electricity generation going.
a) Boiler Water Reactor

b) Pressurized Water Reactor