SSplittingplitting Atoms, Canadian Style
Dr. Jeremy Whitlock Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. Canadian Nuclear Society
11th Canadian Neutron Scattering Summer School Deep River, May 11ththth, 2011, 2011 ONTARIOONTARIO HERE BE DRAGONS
CHALKCHALK RIVER LABS
Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) Chalk River Laboratories CCCCAAAANNNNDDDDUUUU The Canadian Reactor that CouldCouldthat and still Can
“One of Canada’s top ten engineering achievements of the past century” Canadian engineering centennial, 1987
(Other nine: CPR railway, St. Lawrence seaway, Polymer Corp. synthetic rubber, oil sands, Hydro Quebec HVHVtransmission, Beaver aircraft, AlouetteAlouette satellite, Bombardier snowmobile, transtrans--CanadaCanada telephone network) In the beginning … 14 billion years ago …
… the Big Bang fills the universe with hydrogen 0.5 billion years later …
… stars and galaxies start to form, creating heavier eelementslements up to iron and nickel – a process called FUSION. HH Why?Why?Why?Why? LESSLESS STABLESTABLE HeHe
LiLi
BB 44HeHe CC HgHg RaRa LuLu MgMg SmSm OO CaCa MoMo TeTe MORE FeFe ZnZn KrKr
STABLESTABLE ENERGY ENERGY “POTENTIAL” “POTENTIAL”
00 5050 100100 150150 200200 ATOMIC WEIGHT Nuclear energy: creator of all elements
(Tarantula Nebula) Supernova SN 1987a 4.5 billion years ago …
… home.… home. Jumping ahead a few billion years… Nuclear energy still powers our planet 18961896--1898 …1898 … Discovery of radioactivity Nobel Prize in Physics, 1903 (Curies + Becquerel)
HHenrienri Becquerel (1852 - 1908)
Marie and Pierre Curie (1867 - 1934) (1859 - 1906) 18981898--1907907 ……1 McGill University Describes radioactivity, half-life Coins “alpha”, “beta”, “gamma” Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1908 1910 …1910 … Nuclear structure of atoms 1919 …1919 … First artificial transmutation: 1144N + 4He 17O + p Ernest Rutherford ((18711871 - 1937)
Otto Hahn, 26 yrs. old (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1944)
Ernest Rutherford
McGill University, 1905 “If it were ever possible to control at will the rate of disintegration of the radio-elements, an enormous amount of energy could be obtained from a small amount of matter”
Ernest Rutherford, 1904 1930 …1930 … Gilbert Labine ((18901890 - 1977)
Discovery of uranium at Great Bear Lake
Port Hope refinery, 1933 1932 …1932 …
John Cockroft (1897 - 1967) Ernest Walton (1903 - 1995)
Cockroft and Walton’s 1932 accelerator
FirstFirst to “split the atom”: 7Li + p 4He + 4He
Nobel Prize in Physics: 1951
John Cockroft, Ernest Rutherford, Ernest Walton 1932 …1932 … James Chadwick (1891 - 1974)
Discovers the neutron, 1932
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1935
Start of the Neutron Transmutation Bandwagon… England (Rutherford) France (Joliot-Curie) Italy (Fermi) Germany (Meitner, Hahn)
UraniumUranium ? 1934: the new frontier ? (Fermi)
# protons # HydrogenHydrogen # neutrons “The energy produced by the breaking down of the atom is a very poor kind of thing. Anyone who expects a source of power from the transformation of these atoms is talking moonshine”
Sir Ernest Rutherford, 1933 (1871 -1937) 1939 …1939 … January: FISSION! (Hahn, Strassmann, Meitner, Frisch)
Berlin, Germany
Lise Meitner Otto Hahn HH Why?Why?Why?Why? LESSLESS STABLESTABLE HeHe
UraniumUranium--235235 LiLi
CesiumCesium--143143 BB StrontiumStrontium--9090 44HeHe CC HgHg RaRa LuLu MgMg SmSm OO CaCa MoMo TeTe MORE FeFe ZnZn KrKr
STABLESTABLE ENERGY ENERGY “POTENTIAL” “POTENTIAL”
00 5050 100100 150150 200200 ATOMIC WEIGHT 1939 …1939 … January: FISSION! (Hahn, Strassmann, Meitner, Frisch) September: WAR! (Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo)
Berlin, Germany
Lise Meitner Otto Hahn 1940 …1940 … Have heavy water, will travel
Lew Kowarski Hans von Halban
Frédéric Joliot-Curie
Paris, France 19411941--42 2 ……4 George Laurence (1905 - 1987) World’s first large-scale fission experiments in graphite (National Research Council)
100 Sussex Drive, Ottawa Aug. 17, 1942 … “Okay, let’s go!”
C.D. Howe CCdn.dn. Wartime Minister of Munitions & Supply
G.C. Laurence, C.D. Howe, C.D. Howe C.J. Mackenzie, J.D. Cockroft (1886 – 1960) Aug., 1945 Dec. 2, 1942 … Enrico Fermi (1901 - 1954) First self-sustaining nuclear fission chain reaction
Nobel Prize in Physics: 1938
Chicago: December 2, 1942 1943 …1943 … “Montreal Group” (NRC, at U. of Montreal)
John Cockroft
George Laurence 1944 …1944 … Chalk River Laboratories
John Cockroft 1945 …1945 … ZEEP: first self-sustaining ffissionission reactor outside the U.S.A.
Lew Kowarski
Chalk River: September 5, 1945 Canada in 1945:
• Second largest nuclear infrastructure on the planet • Atomic bomb knowledge • World experts on heavy-water reactor • Uranium supplies • World’s most powerful research reactor (NRX) under construction
… WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE…? Canada’s Choice: Peaceful Applications of Nuclear Energy
NRX (1947) NRU (1957)
A Mecca for nuclear research 1951 …1951 … COBALT CANCER THERAPY “The Atom Bomb That Saves Lives” Maclean’s Magazine, 1952
UUniversityniversity of Western Ontario University of Saskatchewan
FIRST PATIENT: 27 Oct, 1951 FFIRSTIRST PATIENT: 8 Nov, 1951 1952 …1952 …
Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. 1950’s …1950’s … Triple Axis Spectrometer, 1958
Bertram Brockhouse NNobelobel Prize in Physics, 1994
Tandem Accelerator, 1959
Ted Ted LitherlandLitherland,, Allan Bromley, Harry Gove Dec. 12, 1952 … NRX Accident
Partial meltdown of core
Demonstrated that a major reactor accident need not be a disaster
Taught many lessons about reactor safety, and made Canada world leader in this area
George Laurence:
1956: Chair of Reactor Safety Advisory Committee
1961-1970: 2nd President of Atomic Energy Control Board 1957 …1957 … International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Canada instrumental in establishing IAEA
Follows Eisenhower’s 1953 “Atoms for Peace” speech 1957 …1957 … National Research UUniversalniversal (NRU)
• Neutron beams
• Fuel development
• Materials irradiation
• Isotope production 1959 …1959 … McMaster Nuclear Reactor
• Neutron beams
• Isotope production
• Education 1962 …1962 … Nuclear Power Demonstration RRolphton,olphton, Ontario: June 4, 1962
Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.
Ontario Hydro-Electric Power Commission
Canadian General Electric Wilfrid Bennett (W.B.) Lewis (1908(1908 - 1987)
• ChalkChalk River’s scientific leader, 1946-1973 • The driving force behind the application of nuclear science to electricity production. • Canada decides to build its program on its attained expertise: W.B.W.B. LewisLewis:: naturalnatural--uraniumu ranium fuel and heavyheavy-- ““FatherFather of CANDUCANDU”” waterwater moderator. AECL and Power Plant Design
•1958:1958:11958: 958:1958: AECL creates Nuclear Power Plant Division in Toronto, later moves to Mississauga
(Later renamed Power Projects, then Engineering Company, then AECL CANDU, then AECL Sheridan Park), then …
•11966: 966:1966: First plant project of Power Division starts up (“first critical”): Douglas Point
Douglas Point Pickering, Ontario (1971-73, 1983-86) Darlington, Ontario (1990-93)
Nuclear Power Demonstration (NPD), Ontario (1962) Bruce, Ontario (1977-79, 1985-87) CANDU in Douglas Point, Canada Ontario (1966)
Gentilly 1 and 2, Quebec (1971, 1983) Pt. Lepreau, New Brunswick (1983) Wolsong, South Korea (1982, 1997-99)
Embalse, Argentina (1984) Qinshan, China (2002-03) Cernavoda, Romania CANDU (1996, 2007, …?) around the world
Kanupp, Pakistan (1972)
Rajasthan, India (1973, 1982) CANDU:CANDU: “CANada Deuterium Uranium”
Nuclear fission
“Fast” UraniumUranium Neutrons “Slow” 235235 Neutron
<1 eV ~~10103 m/s
>1 MeV HeatHeat Fission ~107 m/s Products What does heavy water do?do? Heavy WaterHeavy Water Fast Slow Neutrons Neutrons
Uranium 235 Fission Products CONTROL RODS
URANIUM HEAVY WATER (coolant) FUEL
HEAVY WATER (moderator) “CalandriaCalandria” UOUO22 FuelFuel PelletsPellets
Fuel Pellet: 10 of these provide one home’s electricity for a year
Nuclear
Fossil CANDU SpentSpent--Fuel On--SiteOnFuel Site Storage: waterwater--filledfilled bays (short term) CANDU SpentSpent--Fuel On--SiteOnFuel Site Storage: Modular aboveabove--ground airground air--cooledcooled concrete bunkers (long term) One Proposal for CANDU SpentSpent--FuelFuel LongLong--TermTerm Management: deepdeep--geologicalgeological emplacement CANDU Safety
1.1. BuildBuild a robust system (tolerant of mechanical failure or human error), and operate with highlyhighly--trainedtrained personnel, butbut::
2.2. Assume that accidents will happen;
3.3. Build systems to prevent and control them, with multiple backups;
4.4. Test these systems frequently;
5.5. Improve these systems based on operational experience. CANDU Safety “Defense“Defense--inin--Depth”Depth” 1.1. RobustRobust fuel highhigh--temperature,temperature, ceramic fuel contains waste products 2.2. 2 independent reactor control systems 3.3. 3 independent ways to shut down reactor control system + 2 shutdown systems (fail(fail--safe)safe) 4.4. Many independent ways to cool reactor main cooling, auxiliary cooling, shutdown cooling, emergency water system, emergency core cooling system, plus 2 large sources of water around core (prevents core melt) 5.5. Containment leakleak--tighttight reinforced concrete, negative pressure, walls 0.7 ––1.5 m thick1.5 thick 6.6. Exclusion zone + environmental monitoring CANDU Safety
Multiple layers of inherent & engineered safety = reliability
Environmental Case for Nuclear Power ((1)1) waste stream
Electricity for 1 CANDU Reactor 1010--ft cube ofofft 1 million people spent fuel per year
•• All toxics containedcontained in solid, easilyeasily--managedmanaged spent fuel •• Low volume: All spent fuel generated since 1962 would cover a ssocceroccer field to a height of a player … (1/2 the volume of garbage generated daily by City of Toronto) •• LongLong--term term management approved June 2007 based on rrecommendationecommendation of Nuclear Waste Management Organization: “Adaptive Phased Management” Environmental Case for Nuclear Power (2) resource utilization
1 CANDU Electricity for 100 fuel bundle == homes for 1 year (50 cm long, 23 kg) Environmental Case for Nuclear Power ((3)3) clean air
1 CANDU 400 tonnes 60,000 gal60,000 gal 10 million ft33 fuel bundle ======coalcoal oiloil natural gas (50 cm long, 23 kg) 1000 tonnes CO2 600 tonnes CO2 1 tonnetonneparticulatesparticulates 1 tonnetonneacid gasacid gas 8 tonnes acid gas
•• Each year nuclear power in Canada avoids over 60 million tonnes CO22,, 0.5 million tonnes acid gases, 100,000 tonnes particulates, and up to 1000 deaths from respiratory illness A Canadian Gift to the World: Cancer Therapy and Nuclear Medicine Chalk River Laboratories
Canada’s Nuclear Laboratory NRU Research Reactor (AECL Chalk River) ONTARIO: Refurbishment, new-build
NEW BRUNSWICK: Refurbishment, new-build
QUEBEC: Refurbishment
ALBERTA, SASKATCHEWAN: The NEW NUCLEAR FRONTIER?
NUCLEAR NORTH OF 60? Perceptions are changing? It’s still about good people
NPD design team (CAPD), Peterborough, 1955
doing good work Thank you!
“Canadian Nuclear FAQ”: www.nuclearfaq.ca