Magic of the Atomseries was produc

oh now power it's all around us we depend on it we enjoy it power for daily tasks taken for granted drops of light swelling into shimmering oceans power everyone asking for more of it and there will be more of us so asking power today comes from various sources the movement of water the burning of fossil fuels coal gas oil but there are some areas of the world where water power is scarce and the world's supply of fossil fuels laid down under the earth's crust millions of years ago although still vast is not inexhaustible as supplies of these fossil fuels also needed by an expanding chemical industry grows smaller what will be the key fuel for the future what will be our major source of power it will be the atom the harnessing of nuclear energy already a source of energy capable of supplying the power needs of more than a million american families to meet an ever-growing demand for power a demand which is doubling every 10 years we will be depending more and more on this abundant and potent source of energy on atomic power production what is atomic power how is this nuclear electricity produced in all but one respect its production is no different from that of conventional power in both cases the first step is the creation of great amounts of heat the heat is converted into steam and then into electricity but in using atomic power we substitute the heat source the heat conventionally created by the burning of coal gas or oil is in this case generated by the atom the heart of an atomic furnace or reactor is the core consisting of a number of nuclear fuel elements the purpose of the fuel elements like the fuel in a stove is the production of heat how do these fuel elements produce heat the nuclear fuel is usually a mixture of a larger amount of uranium 238 and a smaller proportion of uranium-235 in a working reactor the radioactive uranium 235 atoms throw off tiny particles called neutrons now if one of those neutron bullets happens to hit another uranium-235 atom it may split or fission this atom in several fragments part of this splitting atom turns into pure energy as heat in this release of energy atomic power is born the breaking atom may throw out two or three of its own neutron bullets each of which may in turn hit and split still another atom of uranium-235 thus we obtain a constantly increasing number of fissions called a chain reaction it is the reactor's function to initiate speed up slow down and stop such a chain reaction to give us a steady and controlled release of power in the form of heat how is that accomplished the fuel elements making up the core are located inside the reactor vessel around it is a heavy shield of concrete or metal to protect the personnel from radiation next we fill up the spaces between the fuel elements with water or any other material that will do a job called moderating the moderator slows down the swiftly traveling neutron bullets to speeds at which they have the best chance of splitting atoms water was selected as a moderator in this simplified illustration because it also does such a good job as a coolant carrying off the heat created in the reactor core now with the water in place and the fuel elements correctly positioned the reactor gives us heat but it would produce this heat much faster than we wish except for one thing we also insert in the core a number of control rods they are normally filled with materials like boron that will absorb many of the increasing number of neutron bullets and subdue the chain reaction as soon as we begin to pull the rods out of the core the chain reaction will increase the position of the rods therefore controls the amount of heat generated by the atomic furnace we have a controlled chain reaction many different types of reactors have been devised to use the tiny atom for the generation of large amounts of power one of the important variations is the way the heat from the core is guided to the turbo generator producing electricity the boiling water reactor employs a direct and in principle simple method of this heat to power transfer a major operating installation of this type is located south of chicago as the name boiling water reactor indicates the heat generated in the reactor core forms steam in the reactor vessel the steam goes directly to the turbo generator and is returned to the reactor vessel after condensation similar boiling water reactors can be found at elk river in minnesota and at humboldt bay in california the pressurized water reactor differs from the boiling water reactor in the fact that the water is pressurized this prevents boiling and therefore the water will not turn into steam even though it gets extremely hot the pressurized water is also circulated through a heat exchanger that transfers the heat to a completely separate second circuit in this second stage the water does boil and produces steam this atomic power station located at the ohio river near pittsburgh this one at roe massachusetts and this one at indian point near new york city operate in this manner in a pressurized water reactor heavier and thicker equipment is needed to sustain a greater pressure but in another type of reactor the use of liquid metals as a coolant for example sodium makes it possible to obtain high operating temperatures at lower nominal operating pressures such a liquid metal cooled reactor was constructed at alum nebraska sodium is made temporarily radioactive and it is mainly for this reason that those reactors use a three loop system the primary sodium coolant transfers its heat to a secondary sodium stream which is non-radioactive the secondary circuit transfers its heat to a steam water loop linked with the turbo generator at this plant at piqua ohio heat is removed from the reactor core by an organic coolant one which is non-corrosive and permits the use of lower cost construction material such as carbon steel and aluminum the organic chemical with its high boiling point permits operating under substantially lower pressures than the water-cooled reactors this atomic power plant in michigan is named after enrico fermi the man who headed the team of scientists that achieved the first controlled chain reaction in 1942 this is a breeder type of reactor it is a prototype of reactors which will breed that is produce more fissionable material than they will burn they will do this by using fissionable material in the core to convert other potential nuclear fuel surrounding the core into a fissionable state some of this new fissionable material will be burned in place the rest will be extracted for future use this breeding principle holds the key to the efficient use of our atomic fuel resources of uranium and thorium great amounts of research and testing go into the designing and construction of power reactors to make them efficient and above all to make them safe special test reactors are operated and in some cases their cores are purposely destroyed to gain knowledge of operating characteristics and when the power reactor is built it is following the most exacting specifications and under the most thorough supervision the degree and care that went into the design and construction is continued in operation and maintenance highly trained engineers operate the plant their skill and knowledge applied to equipment that although rugged in construction is highly responsive in operation clean silent efficient and safe nuclear power plants such as these are beginning to rise across the country soon they will be as familiar as site as our conventional power plants what is the future of atomic power in addition to existing facilities there are many new atomic power plants in development and in construction bigger and more efficient objective produce more power at reasonable costs to meet the growing need for energy and the promise of this new power becomes reality through the magic of the atom you