A lil update...

Hi everyone!

It's been a while since the last update huh...

Today, i came across an article while reading The Star newspaper...

An article titled Your 10 Questions For Tan Sri Leo Moggie...

The first question asked by one of the readers is about nuclear...
Are you ready for nuclear in Malaysia?
Hmm...

Q: Is Malaysia really ready for nuclear power? The citizenry are concerned over the prospect of having a nuclear plant in their backyard and much of it has to do with trust, or lack of it. Amirul, Klang.

A: It would need a full article to give a satisfactory answer to this question. 

Suffice to say there are compelling reasons to include nuclear power in our energy mix in the future. Gas and coal will be increasingly expensive. Coal will also face objections from environmentalists. Hydro power has its own challenges. Renewable energy attracts a lot of excitement but it can at best only complement conventional sources. Nuclear is clean. It is comparatively cheaper in the long run. 

It is important to address public concerns openly, with reliable information. Many of these concerns are associated with the spectre of the Chernobyl accident in April 1986. Chernobyl should be put in perspective. The accident was the result of a flawed reactor design. The technology of reactor design has advanced since then and there has not been any incident of that nature since Chernobyl. 

Because of concerns with climate change and global warming, there is now renewed worldwide interest in nuclear power. A total of 440 nuclear power plant reactors are now operating in 30 countries, which provides about 15% of the world's electricity. About 53 nuclear plants are under construction and will be commissioned in the next five years. There is expertise worldwide in plant design and safety, in managing spent fuel and in handling radioactive waste. Even some countries in the Middle East are looking at nuclear. The United Arab Emirates is now building one. Countries in our region are also looking at building nuclear power plants. 

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is always ready to offer advice to countries starting a nuclear power programme for the first time and I know our relevant government agencies are in touch with IAEA. There is in fact already some experience on nuclear technology in this country. 

At TNB, a lot of preparatory work has been done in anticipation of developing a nuclear power plant. We have completed a desk study identifying potential sites. A preliminary feasibility study, in association with Korean Power Company was completed in June 2010. We have a Nuclear Energy Unit and are building up our staffing capacity. 

While there is still much work to be done, to achieve the commissioning of the first unit in 2021, Malaysia is managing the process of deploying the use of nuclear power in a considered way, including getting public acceptance from an early stage.

Source: The Star

Every picture tells a story...

From left: Aizat, Hafiz

Why so serious?

From left: Hafiz, Aizat

"A good snapshot stops a moment from running away." - Eudora Welty

Nuclear for peace. :)

Front - end nuclear fuel cycle.

There are studies showing that Uranium resources can only last for a few years from now.

To us, this is not true and we disagree with it.

Why?

There are several reasons actually.
First of all, uranium reserves is directly proportional to its spot price.
When the market price for uranium is high, it means that the demand is increase.
When this happens, miners will start to mine more, thus will make known reserves to increase.

Its similar to the oil and gas industry.
I still remember when i was a little boy, i keep hearing people saying that fossil fuel is depleting and it will only last for a few years.
Now, its still the same. Yet people are still using fossil fuel as if it is going to last for the next 1000 years.
Numbers of new oil well is explored as demand increase.

Nuclear industry is not as famous as the oil and gas industry.
Mainly because people are scared of the word Nuclear.
Try to think if all the country in this world are generating electricity using nuclear, we believe that known uranium reserves will increase from time to time as more effort will be put on uranium exploration.

As for now, public awareness about nuclear must be put in our to-do list.
Go Green! Go Nuclear!

Green is Hijau

A short video from us...

A video worth a thousand words...

:)

Uranium Mining

Something has to start from somewhere...

So does the story of Nuclear...

And the story begins with - Mining.

Mining as we all know is the extraction of minerals or other geological materials from the earth.

In the case of uranium mining, the minerals extracted  = uranium ore.

Basically, there are several ways uranium can be mined.

This includes:-

- Open surface or Open pit mining.

- Underground mining.

- In-situ leaching.

Why several ways?
Well, it all depends on factors such as:-
- Depth.
- Size of the ore body.
- Type of rock formation which the ore is found.

In short:-
- Open pit mining is the conventional type.
- Underground mining is the least safe of all three methods.
- In-situ leaching is less costly to build and operate. It also has a number of advantages over the other two mining types.

But again, mining technique depends on the condition in which the ore is found.

Open pit mining
- Google image -

Underground mining
- Google image -

In situ leaching
- Google image -

Something to ponder 2

This is Part 2 of our previous entry

Type of Power Plant	Fuel for 1,000 MWe for 1 year
Solar	100 KM2 area
Wind	3,000 WIND TURBINES of 1 MWe
Biomass	30,000 KM2 of plantation area
Bioalcohol	16,100 KM2 of corn
Biogas	800 MILLION chicken

- Info from Malaysian Nuclear Agency (Nuclear Malaysia) -

D day

11/10/10

The radioactive day i would say.. :)

Its our Nuclear subject test!

Many topics to cover..and lots of things to memorize.

The questions given was a bit tough though...

Personally, i didn't manage to answer all the question.. :(

Luckily, we were given tips for the test.

Thanks to our lecturers for the useful tips.

It really helps!

We were also allowed to bring a piece of cheat sheet*.  :)

Whatever it is, past is past..

Strive for better tomorrow!

*cheat sheet* - A piece of A4 paper which we can write anything and bring it to the test.

P/s : Sir, please give us good grades... :)

The famous equation

E = mc2

So, what is this famous equation by Einstein is all about?

Well, the equation says that matter (m) and energy (E) are two forms of the same thing.

The speed of light (c) which is constant, is an enormous number.

So basically, Einstein's equation shows that a very tiny amount of matter is the same as a huge amount of energy.

The equation is a direct result of Einstein's work on the special theory of relativity.

Something to ponder...

Type of Power Plant	Fuel for 1,000 MWe for 1 year
Coal	2 MILLION TONNES of coal
Fuel Oil	1.96 BILLION GALLONS of oil
Natural Gas (Combined Cycle)	87.6 BILLION SCF of gas
Nuclear (fission)	30 TONNES of uranium
Thermonuclear (fusion)	0.6 TONNE of tritium/hydrogen

-Info by Malaysian Nuclear Agency (Nuclear Malaysia)-

Control Rods

As the name says, Control Rod is a control device that is use to provide precise and adjustable control of reactivity in the reactor core.

When reactivity is controlled, the power output is also controlled.

Basically, control rods function by absorbing neutrons from generating another nuclear reaction.

Nuclear reaction or fission generates heat.

If the heat generated is not controlled, overheating will occur.

This will make the the reactor components such as the fuel rods melt.



Control rods also function as a safety device.

In the event of emergengy, control rods can be release completely to shut down the reactor.

Control rods materials:-

• Silver, Ag
• Indium, In
• Cadmium, Cd
• Boron, B
• Hafnium, Hf

In a more proper way of writing, the purpose of control rods includes:-

1. Coarse control and/or to remove reactivity in relatively large amounts - Shim rods.
2. Fine control and to maintain desired power or temperature - Regulating rods.
3. Provides fast shut down in the event of unsafe and emergency condition - Safety rods.



Image from Google

-Click for larger view-





Image from Google
-Click for larger view-



 



   







 

Image from Google
-Click for larger view-



Again, we can see that Nuclear Reactor is full of safety features!

:)







Reactor Safety Systems and Why Is A Reactor Safe?

Okay..lets talk about safety.

The most important aspect of a Nuclear Reactor.

What is Nuclear Reactor?

Nuclear Reactor is an engineering device, in which nuclear fuel and structural material are arranged such that a self-sustained fission chain reaction can occur in a controlled manner.

New and advanced reactors are designed with safety in mind, including the development and application of Passive Safety Systems as far as possible.

It requires no operator intervention in the event of major malfunction.

Passive Safety Systems depends only on physical phenomena such as pressure differentials, convection, gravity or the natural response of materials to high temperatures to slow or shut down the reaction, not on the functioning of electrical or mechanical operation on command systems.

Other safety provisions includes a series of physical barriers between the radioactive reactor core and the environment, the provisions of multiple safety systems, each with backup and designed to accommodate human error.

The barriers in a typical plant are:

1. Fuel container within the reactor, generally thousands of sealed metal tubes, rods, or plates, fabricated to the highest quality standards.
2. Closed loop of water which transport the fission energy away from the reactor. Water is converted to steam by fission.  The steam passes through a turbine-generator, is condensed and the water eventually returned to the reactor to be reheated.  Note that while this loop serves to generate steam, it also serves to cool the reactor, keeping it in thermal equilibrium.  Should one or more fuel elements fail, mechanically or due to overheating, the fission fragments would be contained in the closed cooling water loop.
3. Most reactors (except the Chernobyl type) have a third barrier, called a containment building.  It is a large steel lined, concrete structure completely enclosing the reactor and it’s cooling loops.  It is designed to completely contain all of the coolant should a major failure leak occur in the cooling loops, and all of the water flashed to steam.  So even if fission fragments were released into the cooling loop and the loop leaked, fission fragments would be held in the containment building.

So, Is a Reactor safe?

The answer is simply Yes!

P/s:- It should be emphasize that a commercial type Nuclear Reactor simply cannot under any circumstances explode like a Nuclear Bomb. :)

Reactivity Coefficients

The title sounds too technical?

Hmm.. it is just a title after all..

This blog is designed to be fun!

Turning technicals into something that is easy to be digest by the majorities.

Ever heard of Chernobyl accident?
Chernobyl Power Plant located in Ukraine (Soviet Union at that time) was hit by disaster in 1986.
One of the reactor exploded and cause major catastrophe.
The accident is said to be caused by the combinations of the design and operating characteristics of the reactor and human error.
Yeah, human do make mistake.

Chernobyl reactor have a feature known as Positive Reactivity Feedback.
When the output power increase, the temperature and multiplication factor increase.
In short, Positive Reactivity Feedback Effect enhances the effect that produced it and is destabilizing.

The RBMK reactor design used at chernobyl is a pressurized water cooled reactor which uses boiling water as the coolant and using graphite as its moderator.
It is very different from most other power reactors in the world, as it is derived from a design that produce both plutonium and power generation.
When the coolant water temperature increase, the boiling increase, which creates voids.
In RBMK reactor, the void coefficient is positive thus making it less stable.
As the accident showed, positive void coefficient is fairly unsafe.
Major modifications have been made to RBMK reactors to solve these problems.
The last unit of reactor at Chernobyl were still used until the year 2000.

As for now, there is nothing to worry about.
The flawed design characteristics of the RBMK reactor is seen as one of several cause of Chernobyl accident.
Those were 1970s design reactors after all. :)

Reactors design nowadays is far more safer!

Difference between a Nuclear Reactor and a Nuclear Bomb

Image from Google

Image from Google

 You know the difference? 

Alright, the main difference between both of them is the rate of energy it released.

In a nuclear reactor, energy is released at a controllable rate. 

While in a nuclear weapon, energy is released at a very high and uncontrollable rate.

Or in other words, in a nuclear reactor, the nuclear chain reaction is kept at a level to be just barely self-sustaining. In a bomb, the chain reaction accelerates rapidly until the energy produces causes the assembly to fly apart.


Do you know?
Today, as the main nuclear arsenals are being dismantled and a comprehensive test ban treaty is in sight, commercial nuclear power provides 14 percent of the world's electricity. Several factors suggest that nuclear power has a much larger role to play in supplying the world's future energy needs.

References:-

• http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2001-05/988836248.Ph.r.html
• http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf52.html
• http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/phy99/phy99554.htm

Nuclear For Peace, Nuclear For Malaysia :)

Assalamualaikum and Salam Sejahtera.

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who accidentally, or purposely come across to read this blog.

This blog is mainly about the Nuclear Power Plant Development in Malaysia.

Whether you like it or not, Malaysia is in need for a larger generating capacity Power Plant.

As fossil fuels are depleting, building a Power Plant that rely on fossil fuel is not an intellect idea. And it also emits huge amount of toxic and hazardous emission.

Renewable Energy? Well, Nuclear is a renewable energy actually. :)

Why? hmm, I can't tell everything in this very first post right?

So, to know more, remember to bookmark this blog and remember to read it daily.

Once again, Thank You.

;)

P/s: kindly click on the Like! button if you find this entry interesting. Your help and kind attention is highly appreciated.