Nuclear Energy
The Seabrook Saga: A case study
The Facts
Seabrook, New Hampshire
Initial proposal in 1972
Proposed building of nuclear power plant: 2
twin reactors, 7 year construction
$973 million
Why Seabrook?
Perfect location
Could use Atlantic Ocean for cooling
Strong bedrock to hold up factory
Near Boston, could provide millions with
energy
Resistance
Many people opposed the idea
In 1974 the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
began legal action to stop the construction of the
plant
After two years of legal battles ground breaking
started in 1976.
In May of 1977 2000 people demonstrated on the
building site and 1400 were arrested
In 1990 the Nuclear Regulator Commission gave
them the ok to start
So what happened
2 twin reactors One was built
7 year process 14 years once started
$973 million cost (18 total)
$6.45 billion cost
Currently supplies
900,000 homes with
power
900 acre site
Seabrook Facts
Produces 1160 megawatts of power from a few
pounds of Uranium
=1,850,000 gallons of oil
=10,000 tons (20,000,000 lbs) of coal
Converts 33,000 gallons of liquid water into water
vapor every minute
398,000 gal of water flow through a tunnel 19 feet
in diameter, 3 miles long, 100 feet below the
ocean floor
Change in water temperature is 20C
What happens when things go wrong?
Chernobyl, 1979 in Ukraine
Reactor 4 was deliberately shut down for
safety test
Temp rose too quickly, fire and chemical
reactions followed
4,000 ton roof (8 mil pounds) blew off
People affected by Chernobyl
190 people got sick and 31 died from
radiation
150,000 people evacuated
260,000 exposed to life-shortening amounts
of radiation
30,000 people have died as a result
Risks/Benefits
Expensive to build Less need for fossil
Urban myths and scare fuels
tactics No air pollution,
Chernobyl and Three global warming, acid
Mile Island rain
Save money in the
long run
Power plants = Weapons Plants
The uranium in plants could not be easily
used for weapons
Plutonium is the problem
Iran and North Korea are/were stockpiling
Uranium for power plants, but U.N.
inspectors were not allowed into these
plants to see where the excess Pu was going
How radioisotopes make energy
Alpha Decay: 42He
Lowest amount of energy
Same as Helium nucleus
Beta Decay: 0-1
Energy that can be stopped by a cinder block wall
Equal in mass but opposite charge to electron
Gamma Decay: 00
Highest amount of energy
Too much can be deadly
Cosmic radiation---not enough to hurt you