NUCLEAR ENERGY WASTE

In this project your group will investigate the issues related to waste management if south east Queensland electricity were produced by nuclear energy.

The first step is to work out the amount of electricity (in kWh) that south east Queensland uses in a year. In Energex’s management plan (see web site) you will find two graphs showing the peak demand in summer and winter. These graphs show the energy supplied over 24hours. To calculate the kWh used in those 24 hours you will need to find the area under the graphs. You can choose to do this in several ways, by estimating an approximate function and integrating or by assuming that every hour uses a constant wattage and find the area of a rectangle for each step. Be careful with your units as the graphs are in MWs, not kW. Use these graphs to estimate the kWh of electricity that south east Queensland uses in a year.

The second step is to use your estimate of a year’s electricity usage to calculate the amount of uranium waste produced if that electricity were provided by nuclear energy. You can calculate the amount of nuclear waste produced using the nuclear fuel cycle web site listed below. However, only a small percentage of nuclear waste is high-level radioactive waste. Determine what this percentage is and calculate the amount of high-level radioactive waste that would be produced in a year. Finally calculate the time it would take to safely return this uranium to the environment and explain how it might be stored in the meantime.

Energex Management Plan

http://www.energex.com.au/pdf/network/Annual_Network_Management_Plan_summary.pdf

Uranium Information Site

http://www.uic.com.au/

The nuclear fuel cycle

http://www.uraniumsa.org/

Developed by Susan Worsley and Sam Kault.

http://www.maths.uq.edu.au