We're sorry but this page doesn't work properly without JavaScript enabled. Please enable it to continue.
Feedback

Megatons to Megawatts

Formal Metadata

Title
Megatons to Megawatts
Subtitle
Military warheads as a source of nuclear fuel
Title of Series
Number of Parts
254
Author
License
CC Attribution 4.0 International:
You are free to use, adapt and copy, distribute and transmit the work or content in adapted or unchanged form for any legal purpose as long as the work is attributed to the author in the manner specified by the author or licensor.
Identifiers
Publisher
Release Date
Language

Content Metadata

Subject Area
Genre
Abstract
Can nuclear warheads be used as energy sources instead of exhausting resources? And if, how does this even work? Concerns during the cold war era mainly focused on the diversion of Uranium intended for commercial nuclear power towards usage in weapons. During the 1990s, these concerns gave way to a focus on the role of military Uranium as a major source of fuel for commercial nuclear power. Can nuclear warheads be used as energy sources instead of exhausting resources? And if, how does this even work? In the late 1980s the United States and countries of the former Soviet Union signed a series of disarmament treaties to reduce the world's nuclear arsenals. Since then, lots of nuclear materials have been converted into fuel for commercial nuclear reactors. Highly-enriched uranium in US and Russian weapons and other military stockpiles amounts to about 1500 tonnes, equivalent to about seven times the annual world Uranium mine production. These existing resources can be used instead of exploiting natural Uranium reserves, which are as limited as all other non-renewable energy sources. Uranium mining is a dirty, polluting, hazardous business which possibly could be stopped altogether if existing resources would be used instead. This talk is a primer in nuclear physics with focus on conversion of weapon grade Uranium and Plutonium into fuel for civil nuclear power plants.
Keywords