Ch. 16 / 17 Flashcards
Advanced light-water reactors (ALWRs)
Have passive safety features that make explosions or the release of radioactive emissions impossible.
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)
Large oil reserve in Alaska
Bitumen
A combustible organic material that is heavy and sticky with a high sulfur content.
Breeder nuclear fission reactor
Generates more nuclear fuel than is consumed by changing uranium-238 into plutonium-239. Uranium reserves would last thousands of years.
Chernobyl
Site of a nuclear power accident in 1986 that spread radioactive clouds throughout Europe. Has caused cancer, billions in property damage, environmental refugees, and mental problems.
Coal
Solid fossil fuel that is the remains of plants subjected to heat and pressure.
Coal bed methane gas
Found above coal beds, can create a lot of water with salt in it, but produces less carbon dioxide and burns cleanly.
Coal gasification
Can be used to remove Carbon dioxide from emissions, but is expensive and Carbon dioxide is not regulated as an air pollutant in the US.
Coal liquefaction
Turned coal into methanol or synthetic gasoline.
Containment vessel
Has concrete walls that surround the reactor core. Keeps radioactive materials from escaping into the environment, and protects the core from external threats.
High temperature gas cooled reactors (HTGCs)
Can decompose water to create hydrogen, and are most of the ALWRs.
Kerogen
A solid combustible mixture of hydrocarbons that is a supply of heavy oil.
Light water reactors (LWRs)
Produce most of the world’s nuclear-generated energy.
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)
When propane and butane are liquefied, stored in pressurized tanks, rest is dried and pumped for distribution.
Methane hydrate
Methane trapped in lattice structure of water molecules, found in permafrost and ocean bottom. Very expensive to extract, and can increase global warming, but is found in abundance.
Moderator
Neutron absorbing material that slows down the neutron emitting process while keeping the chain reaction going.
Natural gas
Mixture of gases, mostly methane, heavier hydrocarbons, and toxic hydrogen sulfide.
Net energy ratio
Ratio of useful energy produced to the total energy used to produce it.
Nuclear fission
Neutrons split the nuclei of atoms like uranium-235 and plutonium-239 and release energy mostly as high-temperature heat as a result of the chain reaction.
Nuclear Fusion
Two isotopes of light elements like hydrogen are forced together at high temps until they fuse to form a heavier nucleus, which releases energy. Research is now focused on D-T reaction, or deuterium and tritium.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
Tasked with protecting public health and safety if nuclear energy.
Oil sand / tar sand
Mixture of clay, sand, water, and bitumen. Found mostly in Alberta, Canada.
Control rods
Moved in and out of the reactor core to absorb neutrons, thereby regulating the rate of fission and amount of power produced.
Petroleum / Crude / Conventional / light oil
Thick gooey liquid consisting of hundreds of combustible hydrocarbons with small amounts if sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Usually found alongside natural gas.
Conventional natural gas
Found above most crude oil, and is usually burned off, wasting energy and releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Coolant
Usually water that circulates through the reactor’s core to remove heat to keep fuel rods and other materials from melting and to produce energetic steam. Heat is transferred to nearby bodies of water or the troposphere.
Core
Contains tens of thousands of fuel rods that have fuel pellets. They contain a lot of energy.
Decommissioned
Nuclear power plant retirement that is the last step of the nuclear power fuel cycle. Can be done by storing the radioactive material in a storage facility, install a barrier and full time security around the plant, or store the plant in a tomb that must be seen for thousands of years.
Dirty bombs
Consists of an explosive like dynamite mixed with a small amount of radioactive material.
Fuel assembly
Consists of about 100 fuel rods and is packed with others in the core of the nuclear reactor.
Heavy crude oil
What remains after the oil is extracted, and is too expensive to recover. Could be removed by flushing with steam or water.
High level radioactive wastes
Must be stored for 10,000 -240,000 years.
Oil shales
Oily rocks that contain kerogen.
Pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR)
Proposed by Farrington Daniels after WW2. Reduces chances of a runaway chain reaction by encapsulating uranium fuels in tiny ceramic spheres.
Petrochemicals
Products of oil distillation that are used are used as raw materials in products.
Pressurized water reactors
When liquid water is used in reactors.
Refinery
Where crude oil is transported and separated into different components with different boiling points.
Shale oil
A distillate that comes from heating oil shales in a large container.
Synthetic natural gas (SNG)
When solid coal is gasified. Has environmental impact, high water use, is more expensive than coal, and has lower air pollution than coal.
Three Mile Island
Site if nuclear plant accident in 1979 that caused investors to lose money in Pennsylvania.
Uranium oxide fuel
Contains 3% fissionable uranium-235 that is in the fuel pellets of the core.
Water filled pools / dry casks
Fuel rod assemblies are stored outside in here, where they are vulnerable to acts of terrorism.
Active solar heating
Absorbs energy by pumping heat absorbing fluid through special collectors mounted on the roof or on special racks.
Biodiesel
Diesel fuel made by combining alcohol with vegetable oil from soybeans rapeseed sunflowers palm plants and fats.
Biomass
A source of energy from plants and animal wastes that can be burned or converted into biofuels.
Biomass plantations
Grow fast growing trees, shrubs, perennial grasses, and water hyacinths, which can deplete soil nutrients and degrade biodiversity.
Cellulosic ethanol
Uses bacteria to convert cellulose into starch that can be fermented by others to produce ethanol.
Central receiver system / power tower
Central tower that redirects heat to solar panels.
Energy efficiency
Unit of work for every unit of energy used
Energy efficient diesel car
Emit air pollution and have lower fuel economies but are 45% of European new cars.
Ethanol
Can be made from fermentation and distillation of sugars in plants like sugarcane, corn, and switchgrass.
Gasohol
Gasoline mixed with ethanol that can be burned in conventional gasoline engines.
Geothermal energy
Heat stored in soil, underground rocks, and fluids in the earth’s mantle.
Geothermal heat pump (GHP)
Can heat or cool a house by circulating antifreeze or water that takes heat from the ground and transfers it to the house. Also transfers heat to the ground in the summer.
Green / living roofs
Used on top of conventional houses that can store water and are helpful somehow.
Incandescent light bulb
Wastes most energy as heat.
Heliostats
Mirrors that focus the sun’s rays in the central receiver system.
Hot water
Hydrothermal energy that is trapped in fractured or porous rock at various places in the crust.
Hybrid car
Energy efficient gasoline-electric invented by Ferdinand Porsche in 1900. Has a gasoline and electric motor. Extra gasoline energy can be pumped to the electric motor.
Internal combustion engine
Motor vehicles with this waste 94% of fuel.
Methanol
Usually made from natural gas, but can be produced expensively from carbon dioxide coal biomass wood waste agricultural waste sewage sludge and garbage.
Micro hydrogenerators
Backpack sized that can be placed in a stream to produce energy without any environmental impact.
Cogeneration / Combined heat and Power (CHP)
Two useful energy are produced from the same fuel source, used mostly in western Europe and somewhat in the US and China.
Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE)
Government mandates that determines the fuel economy of a company.
Dry steam
Water vapor with no droplets.
Earth tubes
A fan passes partially dehumidified air into a house from the cool earth.
Nuclear power plant
Wastes most of its energy for space and water heating, radioactive disposal, and plant retirement.
Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC)
Power plants at the bottom of the ocean, way too expensive.
Passive solar heating system
Absorbs and stores heat without pumps or fans to distribute the heat.
Photovoltaic (PV) / solar cells
Thin wafers of purified silicon with some gallium and cadmium that allow them to function as semiconductors.
Plug in hybrids
Second battery that can be plugged in or charged at night.
Sewer power
Heat from raw sewage is used to heat buildings in Finland.
Solar cookers
Can concentrate sunlight to cook food, and reduce time needed to collect fuelwood.
Solar thermal plant
Sunlight is focused on oil filled pipes running through curved solar collectors.
Strawbale houses
Walls of these superinsulated houses are made by stacking compacted bales of low cost straw and then covering the bales with plaster or adobe.
Superinsulated house
Can use outside heat to heat the inside, and a heat exchanger prevents indoor air pollution.
Switchgrass
A tall grass in North American that grows faster and needs less fertilizer than corn. It will most likely produce most ethanol.
Wet steam
A mixture of steam and water droplets.
