Centralight

When asked if he'd be fearful if he learned that there were plans to build a nuclear power plant within 10 miles of his home, Morgan says there's something that would concern him more. "I'd rather have it be a nuclear power plant than a coal-burning power plant," he says. "Coal is such a dirty fuel, and it causes so much pollution. There's no such thing as clean coal." materials for nuclear energy produces harmful CO2 to global warming and ozone smog. emissions that contribute "We need a solution for taking care of the environment from the cradle to the grave, but we don't have that," Rohrer says. Van Miller, a faculty member in the CMU management program, has written research papers related to uranium waste disposal. "What you want to do with sustainability is you don't want to rob future generations of the resources we have now," says Miller, who is involved in the newly developed international business and sustainable development academic program at CMU. "The problem I see with nuclear energy is what are we going to do with the waste." The Clean Air Task Force commissioned in 2000 and 2004 comprehensive studies of health impacts caused by fine particle air pollution from the approximately 500 coal-fired power plants in the nation. Both studies found that emissions from the U.S. power sector cause tens of thousands of premature deaths each year and hundreds of thousands of heart attacks, asthma attacks, emergency room visits, hospital admissions and lost workdays. School of Health Sciences faculty member Salma Haidar, who has an extensive background in epidemiology, agrees with Morgan in that she says coal-fired plants have a major impact on the environment and people's health. "The waste produced by coal is more radioactive than that generated by nuclear power plants," Haidar says. "In fact, the fly ash emitted by burning coal for electricity carries 100 times more radiation into the surrounding environment than a nuclear power plant producing the same amount of energy." But just because a nuclear plant produces energy in a cleaner manner than that of a carbon dioxide-emitting coal-burning power plant doesn't mean it isn't harming the environment throughout the energy production process. Rohrer points out that mining and processing uranium and transporting Science at the core To simulate a turbine that generates electricity, CMU Physics Professor Joe Finck held a pinwheel in his left hand and spun the end with his right finger. Heat, he says, is what produces the pressure and steam to make the turbine spin. "It doesn't take much to power a nuclear power plant," Finck says. In a nuclear reactor, such heat is produced through a controlled fission reaction of a radioactive element like uranium. This is done by bombarding the uranium with neutrons to initiate nuclear fission reactions. A byproduct of these reactions is more neutrons, which can trigger more fission reactions and more neutrons – a chain reaction. Control rods are used in nuclear power plants to absorb the neutrons available so that the fission process does not run away. Water also is needed to remove the useful heat from the core and to cool the core and prevent a meltdown. This explains why most nuclear power plants are built near oceans, lakes and rivers. Even when a nuclear power plant functions as it should, there always is the concern of where to effectively store the nuclear waste of spent control rods, Rohrer says. Rohrer questioned the sustainability of nuclear power in that it is dependent on uranium, which may be limited in supply. But Morgan says while high-grade and easily minable uranium may not be readily available in the long term, there still will be plenty of uranium available. "There is a lot of lower-grade uranium out there," Morgan says. "And just like gold, people will find it whenever there's an economic benefit." Despite the risks involved with nuclear power, Rohrer says this energy source isn't going anywhere. "It accounts for more than 30 percent of all energy, and we don't really have anything readily available to replace that," he says. Along with continued sustainable resource discussions, energy-related conversations will indirectly focus on nuclear reactions for years to come. "Nuclear power provides all of our energy," says Finck, crediting the nuclear reactions taking place on the sun that provides Earth with light and heat and causes wind and makes waves. The sunshine also is essential for photosynthesis in plants that eventually decay and become fossil fuels. • centralight summer '11 17

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