Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / There are a number of nuclear reactor types. It will be a purpose of this thesis to examine both a power reactor and a research reactor to determine what inherent measures, as well as applied measures, safety controls, and techniques are used in attempting to make nuclear reactor operations safe. Whereas nuclear reactors are extremely expensive and applicable to only a limited number of industries, radioisotopes, the unstable form of various elements, offers to a much larger industrial family a useful, inexpensive, and simple tool. A second purpose of this thesis will be to observe, describe, and evaluate the use and application of radioisotopes as they are currently being employed in industry, with particular reference to safety features. / 2031-01-01

Due to the advancement of global warming internationally, increasing emphasis is being placed on the environmental accountability of everyone from countries to processes. This study presents novel research on the environmental impacts and economic trade-offs for a processes co-producing electricity, methanol, dimethyl ether (DME) and Fischer Tropsch (FT) fuels from different feedstock ratios of biomass, natural gas, and nuclear hydrogen generated through a CuCl cycle are analyzed for operation in Canada to produce transportation fuels. This study also considers the use of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), the location of the plant in either Ontario and Alberta, and the input ratio of the feedstocks. This combination of carbonless heat and a “carbon neutral” biomass feedstock would contribute to the net reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In Part I of this work, the model for this BGNTL process was developed. This work expands on the model and evaluates the economics and environmental impacts this plant would have in both Ontario and Alberta based on their local costs, resource availability, and current electricity grid contributions. The analysis investigates the effectiveness of the emission reduction of the products and processes when compared to their cost. It is shown that an increase in the ratio of biomass to natural gas in feedstock, the use of a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), and the production of additional electricity while reducing the emissions of the process, increases the cost of CO2e avoided. The results show that the BGNTL concept can be an economically attractive way of reducing net transportation sector GHG emissions in both Ontario and Alberta in meaningful quantities. Optimal cases for both biofuel and FT fuel production contain a single output fuel production process, produce fuels over electricity where possible, and use a gas turbine (GT) for the electricity production that occurs. / Thesis / Master of Engineering (MEngr) / This paper examines a system producing a combination of transportation fuels including diesel, gasoline, methanol (MeOH), dimethyl ether (DME) and electricity from biomass, natural gas and hydrogen. The design of the system units used in the process was done in a previous study, this work expands on the design looking specifically at locating the plant in Ontario and Alberta for their raw resources, electricity grids, and current production methods of fuel. Variations of the plant are compared to each other and current fuel and electricity production with an aim of reducing the cost and emissions created while producing and using the fuels. It is found that increasing the amount of biomass used significantly reduces the emissions but does not create a competitive process due to how expensive it is. Results show that this type of system can decrease transportation sector emissions with a similar additional cost as other current alternatives.

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The nuclear power plant has given new direction to power generation. It offers a new source of heat. The heat can now come from the fission of atomic fuel and not from the burning of fossil fuel. Safety and protection from the possible hazards of radioactivity generated by nuclear power plants is a completely new and untested area. Emergency systems and over designed construction are only part of what has to be done to make absolutely certain such accidents, if they occur, will be contained allowing no harmful radioactivity to reach the environment. Handling of radioactive wastes is very critical in a nuclear power plant. These wastes have to be stored in protective containers and transported to predetermined storage sites. At these sites the containers of radioactive wastes are lowered into large salt mines. Licensing and regulation of nuclear power plants during construction and operation is the responsibility of the Atomic Energy Commission. The five member federal panel has issues strict requirements that must be met in each step in the process of obtaining permits and licenses, construction, and generation.

In this thesis, nuclear power plants and their role in sustaining peace or threatening it are described and, to some extent, analysed. Nuclear energy contributes to the economic development of the country it is built in by providing electricity with relatively inexpensive prices than that of other kinds of energy. However, the construction costs of nuclear power plants are very expensive and it is a potential threat for human health and the environment. Different arguments on how nuclear power plants might contribute to peace or threaten it are analysed. The analysis is done through Johan Galtung’s articles “Violence, Peace, and Peace Research” and “Cultural Violence”, as well as by recalling few known nuclear accidents as example, mainly the one happened at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Cooperation of different stakeholders at national, regional, and international level is among the most important tools to minimise the possibility of nuclear threat to peace. Nuclear waste and the uncertainties in best practices for the safe management is most probably the most severe problem that future generations will have to face.

The position of the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) in the 1950s on the genetic hazards of fallout and radiation was a distortion of the views of geneticists from both sides of the classical/balance controversy, an intrascientific dispute among geneticists. In their attempt to demonstrate the harmlessness of test fallout, AEC officials argued that low levels of radiation were at worst genetically insignificant, and at best genetically beneficial. These arguments ran counter to the prevailing views of geneticists and represented a misleading attempt to deflect public and scientific criticism of the AEC’s atomic testing policies. Among the factors contributing to the distortion of views on genetic effects among the general public and government officials were the AEC’s unwavering commitment to atmospheric atomic testing; the failure to include geneticists in policy-making positions within the AEC and governmental radiation policy committees; confusion over the genetic effects to populations, as opposed to individuals; and the sharp polarization within the genetics community that resulted from the theoretical disagreements embodied in the classical/balance controversy, a dispute over the nature of genetic variation and evolutionary natural selection. / Master of Science

A Sigma Pile was constructed to serve as a laboratory facility at V.P.I. Reproducible foil positions are possible with the positioning plates installed on the pile. Withdrawal of the two outer blocks in each foil channel is facilitated by a coupling mechanism. Five source positions permit operation with reduced harmonics. The neutron distribution in the pile was proven to be symmetric by horizontal and vertical traverses. By means of a diffusion length measurement, which gave an "L” of 54.5 ± 2 cm, and a Fermi Age measurement, which gave a "r” of 357 ± 5 cm², the parameters of the pile were shown to be in good agreement with published data on graphite. / Master of Science

Technology to recover uranium from seawater may act as a potential backstop on the production cost of uranium in a growing international nuclear industry. Convincing proof of the existence of an effective expected upper limit on the resource price would have a strong effect on decisions relating to deployment of uranium resource consuming reactor technologies. This evaluation proceeds from a review of backstop technologies to detailed analyses of the production cost of uranium extraction via an amidoxime braid adsorbent system developed by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA). An independent cost assessment of the braid adsorbent system is developed to reflect a project implemented in the United States. The cost assessment is evaluated as a life cycle discounted cash flow model to account for the time value of money and time-dependent performance parameters. In addition, the cost assessment includes uncertainty propagation to provide a probabilistic range of uranium production costs for the braid adsorbent system. Results reveal that uncertainty in adsorbent performance (specifically, adsorption capacity, kg U/tonne adsorbent) is the dominant contributor to overall uncertainty in uranium production costs. Further sensitivity analyses reveal adsorbent capacity, degradation and production costs as key system cost drivers. Optimization of adsorbent performance via alternate production or elution pathways provides an opportunity to significantly reduce uranium production costs. Finally, quantification of uncertainty in production costs is a primary policy objective of the analysis. Continuing investment in this technology as a viable backstop requires the ability to assess cost and benefits while incorporating risk. / text

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