Table Of ContentOther Pergamon Titles of Interest
ASHLEY et al.
Energy and the Environment—A Risk-Benefit Approach
CEC
Pulsed Fusion Reactors
HOWE
Advanced Converters and Near Breeders
KALLFELZ and KARAM
Advanced Reactors: Physics, Design and Economics
KARAM and MORGAN
Energy and the Environment—Cost-Benefit Analysis
Environmental Impact of Nuclear Power Plants
LEWINS
Nuclear Reactor Kinetics and Control
MCVEIGH
Sun Power: An Introduction to the Applications of Solar Energy
MASSIMO
The Physics of High-Temperature Reactors
MURRAY
Nuclear Energy
RUST and WEAVER
Nuclear Power Safety
SILVENNOINEN
Reactor Core Fuel Management
SIMON
Energy Resources
WILLIAMS
Random Processes in Nuclear Reactors
Reactor Noise—SMORN II
ZALESKI
Nuclear Energy Maturity—12-volume set
Pergamon Related Journals
Annals of Nuclear Energy
Progress in Nuclear Energy
Fission, Fusion and the
Energy Crisis
S. E. HUNT
Ph.D., F.Inst.P., F.I.Nuc.E.
Member of the Electricity Supply Research Council
Professor of Physics at the University
of Aston in Birmingham, England
SECOND EDITION
P E R G A M ON P R E SS
Oxford - New York • Toronto - Sydney · Paris - Frankfurt
UK Pergamon Press Ltd., Headington Hill Hall,
Oxford OX3 0BW, England
USA Pergamon Press Inc., Maxwell House,
Fairview Park, Elmsford, New York 10523, USA
CANADA Pergamon of Canada, Suite 104, 150 Consumers
Road, Willowdale, Ontario M2J 1P9, Canada
AUSTRALIA Pergamon Press (Aust.) Pty. Ltd.,
P.O. Box 544, Potts Point, NSW 2011, Australia
FRANCE Pergamon Press SARL, 24 rue des Ecoles,
75240 Paris, Cedex 05, France
FEDERAL REPUBLIC Pergamon Press GmbH, 6242 Kronberg-Taunus,
OF GERMANY Pferdstrasse 1, Federal Republic of Germany
Copyright © 1980 S. E. Hunt
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means:
electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without permission in writing from
the publishers
First edition 1973
Second edition 1980
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Hunt, Stanley Ernest
Fission, fusion and the energy crisis. - 2nd ed.
1. Atomic power
I. Title
621.48 TK9145 79-40529
ISBN 0-08-024734-2 (Hardcover)
ISBN 0-08-024733-4 (Flexicover)
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
William Clowes (Beccles) Limited
Beccles and London
Preface to the Second Edition
SINCE the appearance of the first edition in 1974 the importance of the
breeder reactor to the efficient use of the nuclear fuel reserves has
become much more widely recognised, and with it the debate on the
possible danger of the 'plutonium economy', briefly anticipated in the
first edition, has become widespread. The second edition has been
enlarged to examine these issues in more detail.
Despite the growing realisation that fissile fuel reserves are
extremely limited in the absence of a substantial breeder-reactor pro-
gramme, many countries are putting forward ambitious programmes
based mainly on slightly enriched 'burner' reactors. The chapter on
national programmes has been up-dated to include this, and the
possible consequences of the policy, previously discussed in an
appendix in later printings of the first edition, are now examined in
the main text of the book.
Since 1974 some progress has been made in the development of
renewable energy sources, notably solar energy and wave power, and
these are discussed in more detail than previously, as are recent
developments in the nuclear fusion research leading to the decision to
site the JET project in the United Kingdom fusion laboratories at
Culham. In this context reports from Princeton on a similar ap-
paratus, P.L.T., are encouraging.
Whilst the potential value of these new energy sources should not be
under-estimated, the global choice for the twenty-first century appears
to remain between the development of the fast-breeder reactor, a more
speedy exploitation of fossil fuel reserves or a 'levelling down' of per
capita fuel consumption and with it general living standards.
In the author's view the latter possibility is not realistic in our
present highly competitive society, and the second, if feasible, would
vii
viii Preface to the Second Edition
represent a greater environmental and social hazard than would the
development of the fast breeder. The recent American ban on fuel
reprocessing and their rejection of the fast breeder is, therefore,
particularly disturbing.
Preface to the First Edition
IT IS now some twenty years since nuclear power was hailed as the
panacea of most, if not all, of the material problems besetting
mankind. Present lay opinion is that this early promise has not been
fulfilled, and it would be pointless to argue that the development of
nuclear power has not experienced its fair share of difficulty and
disappointment. There have, however, also been solid achievements
and on occasions spectacular advances in this field over the past
twenty years, and it seems appropriate to review the situation at this
stage, when nuclear power is finally becoming competitive on a strictly
economic basis and the availability of other fuels in the long term is
rightly becoming a cause for concern.
Recent politically motivated restrictions in the supply of these fuels
merely introduce in the mid-seventies a situation which was inevitable
by the mid-eighties. Almost all the developed and some of the
developing countries are now planning very significant expansions in
their nuclear-power programmes, and the relevant question is no
longer whether to build nuclear-power stations, but which type to
choose from the many competitive designs available.
There is a clear conflict between the short-term exploitation and
long-term development of nuclear power which should influence the
choice of fission-reactor type, and an estimate of the probable out-
come of the fusion-research programme is a very significant factor in
this context.
This book is intended, to a large extent, for the undergraduate
student and seeks to emphasise the inter-relationships of the scientific,
technological, economic and ecological aspects of nuclear power. In
the opinion of the author, so strong are these relationships that it is
misleading, if not impossible, to study one of these factors without
appreciable reference to the others.
ix
χ Preface to the First Edition
The approach is descriptive, and by including the relevant basic
atomic and nuclear physics as introductory material it is hoped that
this book will also serve as an understandable survey of the present
nuclear-power situation for the non-scientist. It is one of the author's
more optimistic aims that it should be instrumental in persuading the
arts graduate to take an increasing interest in this field, which has pro-
found social as well as scientific importance. One must agree that the
social consequences of technological development must be the subject
of careful examination, but this cannot be done without some
appreciation of the basic principles of the technology itself.
With the lay reader in mind, the use of technical jargon has been
reduced to a minimum, but where it is necessary to introduce technical
terms this is done with suitable explanation, and a Glossary of Terms
is provided.
In the interests of clarity and brevity, the temptation to quote
references in support of established scientific fact has been resisted.
The factual material is widely accepted by reactor scientists. The
interpretation and forward projections may be slightly more con-
troversial, but the author feels them to be strongly supported by the
evidence at present available.
Some ideas have been stolen from other people and in these cases
sources are quoted wherever possible.
Acknowledgements to the Second Edition
THE author would like to express his renewed thanks to Mrs. I. Neal
(née Templeton) for typing the extensive modifications incorporated
in the second edition and to Mr. G. Smith for numerous modifications
to the figures.
Thanks are also due to Dr. P. N. Cooper for his permission to use
several illustrations.
xi
Acknowledgements to the First Edition
THE author is indebted to Mrs. R. Finch for her care and occasional
inspiration in converting his manuscript into a legible form, to Miss I.
Templeton for her invaluable secretarial assistance and also to Miss
F. A. Schofield and Mr. G. Smith for their work in producing the
figures.
He would also like to thank colleagues at Aston and elsewhere for
many useful discussions and in particular Professor J. Fremlin, Dr.
P. N. Cooper, Dr. A. J. Cox and Mr. G. Williams for helpful
comments on the manuscript.
Finally he would like to thank his wife and daughters for their
assistance and tolerance throughout the rather prolonged gestation
period of this book.
xii
THE ACCIDENT RECORD THAT PROVES NUCLEAR POWER
IS SAFER'
Letter published in The Guardian, 11th April, 1979
Sir,
Harrisburg
The Pressurised Water Reactor (P.W.R.) is generally regarded as presenting a greater
hazard than other reactor types because of its higher heat output per unit volume. Some
seven per cent of this heat is due to the activity of the fission products and cannot be
'switched off by shutting the reactor down. Consequently the danger of core melting
when the coolant is lost due to mechanical fault or human error, or a combination of
the two which appears to have been the case at Harrisburg, is greater for P.W.R.'s. than
other thermal reactors. It is largely for this reason that the United Kingdom has so far
opted in favour of its own gas cooled systems Magnox followed by A.G.R., and rightly
so in my view.
Yet it must be appreciated that over 50,000 megawatts of P.W.R. and related B.W.R.
stations are at present operating in the United States, and that these reactor types have
types have been widely adopted throughout the world. So far there has not been a single
fatality due to reactor malfunction, a safety record which is far superior to that of other
methods of electricity generation. The reason lies in the extreme care in design and
duplication of safety mechanisms which is a feature of all acceptable reactor design and
strangely lacking elsewhere. At Harrisburg, for example, major mistakes appear to have
been made and main components proved to be faulty yet these did not, in the event,
result in a major release of activity.
In contrast three weeks ago, in the U.K., ten miners were killed reportedly due to a
faulty air circulation system, and the annual casualties due to underground mining
accidents amount to some sixty per year in this country alone. Disablement due to
pneumoconiosis far exceeds this and if one is looking for an unquantified but major
hazard, death of the general population due to 'bronchitis' accentuated by sulphur
dioxide and other fumes from conventional coal and oil power stations far exceeds any
which are likely to occcur from the by product of nuclear stations, including the long
term disposal of radioactive waste by present and planned processes.
Sympathetic as one may be to the conservationist view, it is clear that the
maintenance of our present living standards and the legitimate aspirations of developing
nations for improved ones, depends critically on the availability of energy sources, with
nuclear power and coal as the only proven long term alternatives. All objective
assessments of the comparative hazards involved, when the full fuel cycle is considered
in each case, are markedly in favour of nuclear power.
Yours faithfully,
PROFESSOR S. E. HUNT
Head of Department of Physics,
The University of Aston in Birmingham
xi'ri
