With the growing need for energy, and the goal to reduce CO2emissions, the safety of nuclear power is much debated. Can nuclear energy contribute to a more sustainable energy future?

1. What is nuclear energy?
What forces are we playing with?
Kristian Fossheim
Opening remarks
ISES Trondheim 2013

2. Electronic energies (”chemical” or photonic) are typically of the order of
1 electron-volt (eV)
Electrons are weakly bound, leading to ”big” atoms!
Protons and neutrons are very strongly bound
Therefore: (Atomic rad.)/(Nuclear rad.)≈ 1000 000

3. Splitting a nucleus typically releases an energy
200 000 000 eV
This is 200 million times more than in a typical
chemical process. Fission: a very fast avalanche
which needs to be controlled by a moderator

4. Nuclear energy generates heat which boils hot
water and drives turbines, generating electricity

5. Is Norway a user of nuclear technology,
or affected by nuclear accidents?
Since the 1950´s Norway has been operating
-One research reactor near Oslo
-One research reactor in Halden
Since 1986 livestock and wildlife in several
regions have been affected by fallout from the
Tsjernobyl disaster in the Soviet Union
Since 1993 Norway has assisted Russia with
cleaning up after defective nuclear
submarines in the Kola peninsula, of which
there are a great number not far from the
Norwegian border. Norway is assisting Russia
with security standards in Russian nuclear
power stations in Kola and St Petersburg

8. Nytt miljø
A simpler design

12. GLOBAL WARMING
Most developed countries are in the early stages of implementing policies to
stabilize and ulti- mately reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the attendant
global warming. The scientific consensus about the risks of further significant
increases in atmospheric greenhouse gas con- centrations grows steadily
stronger and more widely endorsed. This consensus underlies a strong impetus
for governmental actions that prepare the ground for meeting possibly strin-
gent CO2 emission constraints in the decades ahead, specifically global emission
levels com- parable to or below those of today, despite a considerable increase
in energy production and use. Developing countries will need to limit the
growth of greenhouse gas emissions while their energy consumption increases
dramatically. For example, if atmospheric concentration of CO2 is not allowed to
exceed twice its pre-industrial value, then CO2 emissions in the 21st century will
need to be held to half the cumulative total expected under a “business as
usual” trajectory,1 and the annual emission rate would eventually need to fall
well below the 2000 value. While our focus is on global warming because of its
overwhelming international implications, we recognize that reduction in other
emissions from fossil fuel combustion would have impor- tant regional and local
benefits for clean air.

13. Firmalogo