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The Nuclear Industry

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Handbook of Industrial Chemistry and Biotechnology

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Abstract

The objective of the nuclear industry is to produce energy in the forms of heat from either fission reactions or radioactive decay and radiation from radioactive decay or by accelerator methods. For fission heat applications, the nuclear fuel has a very high specific energy content that currently has two principal uses, for military explosives and for electricity generation, mainly in light water reactors (LWRs) operating between 250 and 350 °C. While higher-temperature reactors, mainly high-temperature gas and sodium reactors have been available for over 60 years, they have been shown to not be economically competitive with LWRs. For radiation applications, the emissions from radioactive decay of unstable nuclides are employed in research, medicine, and industry for diagnostic and measurement purposes. Radioactive decay heat is also employed to generate electricity from thermoelectric generators for low-power applications in space or remote terrestrial locations. Radiation produced from accelerator-based sources is used for geologic investigation (e.g., identifying oil deposits), materials modification, and contrast imaging of dense media (e.g., security inspections in commercial shipping). Fuel from the first atomic pile is shown in Fig. 1.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, Cranberry, PA, USA

    Edward Lahoda

  2. BASF Corporation, Florham Park, NJ, USA

    Keith Task

Authors
  1. Edward Lahoda
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  2. Keith Task
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Jupiter, Florida, USA

    James A. Kent

  2. Grand Island, New York, USA

    Tilak V. Bommaraju

  3. Kingsport, Tennessee, USA

    Scott D. Barnicki

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Lahoda, E., Task, K. (2017). The Nuclear Industry. In: Kent, J., Bommaraju, T., Barnicki, S. (eds) Handbook of Industrial Chemistry and Biotechnology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52287-6_18

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