Cumberland Kiwanis
Minutes of February 15, 2010
Speaker: Terry Silverberg, Retired Nuclear Power
Engineer
Topic: A Primer on Nuclear Power
Terry Silverberg
Newly-enrolled Cumberland
Kiwanis member Terry Silverberg presented a broad overview of the nuclear power
industry in the U. S. Silverberg
spoke from his experience on a nuclear submarine and 22 years working for
nuclear power plants. With a
series of slides, he took us through the whole process of producing electricity
from nuclear fission. Nuclear
plants produce electricity the same way as coal or gas plants, but the heat for
the turbines comes from atomic reactions rather than burning. When U-235 splits, it releases energy
in the form of heat, which is used to heat water for steam. He showed us a model of a small fuel
rod containing small pellets, each of which would have the energy of 17,000
cubic feet of gas. Addressing the public
fear of explosion, he noted that the low concentration of Uranium present is
far below the 50% need for a bomb.
No worker has ever been killed by radiation in a U. S. plant, although
accidents with fatalities have happened with live steam release, which could
happen in coal or gas plants as well.
One of the main concerns with
nuclear power is storage of spent fuel material. One answer is reprocessing, but that has been held up by
politics in the U. S. Likewise,
the federal storage facility at Yucca Mountain in Nevada is facing political
resistance. One positive note is
the Megatons for Megawatts Program, which converts Soviet warheads to reactor
fuel. About 10% of our nuclear
power comes from this source.
For the future, Silverman
sees the need for more reprocessing.
With the current concerns about greenhouse gases, there is renewed
interest in nuclear power. 30 new plants
are under consideration, 3 license applications have been submitted, and three
new plants broke ground last year.
Many other countries are also building new plants. Because of the employment aspects of new
facilities, many communities are now eager to welcome plants to their areas.