Warm- Up

Take the worksheet and graph the number of minerals produced for each country.

Complete the follow – up questions. This sheet will be turned in.

Homework will be checked and reviewed as well.

TOC:54. Virtual Field Trip Notes55. CONVERSIONS!!

E:\coalvnuclear1.wmv

Coal Fired Power Virtual Field Trip(Your tour through the operation and

environmental impacts of power generation)

Awesome Guides, Inc.Awesome Guides, Inc.

Pen

A surface coal mine of sub- bituminous (4,000 - 6,000 BTU’s) and lignite, giving the coal a brown tint. This large surface coal mine uses draglines and shovels. Coal is not processed, it is simply crushed and screened, then sold to generating plants. Bituminous (12,500 BTU’s) coal has almost no sulfur, which makes it appealing to coal burning power plants.

Coal is moved via large coal trains

Coal is a fossil fuel formed from the decomposition of organic materials that have been subjected to geologic heat and pressure over millions of years. Coal is a nonrenewable resource because it cannot be replenished within a human time frame.

When coal arrives at the power plant large amounts are stored on site in the “coal yard”.

Coal is piled up in the “coal yard” and transferred to the boiler as needed.

Pulverizer The coal is pulverized (or crushed) to a fine powder, then mixed with air and blown into the boiler or furnace for combustion.

Enclosed conveyer belts carry coal to the pulverizer!

Boiler

Heated water turns into steam in the boiler.

Smoke rising from the cooling towers above is 98+% water vapor. Regulations require the control of emissions.Results of

Burning Coal

Mercury/Mercury CompoundsMercury/Mercury Compounds

Nuclear Power Plant Virtual Field Trip(A guide to the operations of nuclear power)

by: Awesome Guides, Inc.

2003

Pen

There are 103 plants with operating licenses!

Nuclear Power Plants in the United States

Nuclear Energy Provides 20% of the Energy for the

U.S.

(Specific for Power Generation)

Underground mining involving blasting hard rock ore is called 'stopes'. Mined material is brought to the surface by trucks, or containers called 'skips‘.

Underground Mining

In Situ Situ LeachinLeachinggMethodMethod

Uranium EnrichmentNaturally occurring uranium ore contains uranium-235 and uranium-238 isotopes. Only the uranium-235 isotope is fissionable. Uranium ore contains only 0.7% of the fissile isotope U-235.  Enrichment processes increase the concentration of U-235 to about 3.5%. Uranium enrichment is a critical step in transforming natural uranium into nuclear energy fuel. Enrichment is the process of increasing the concentration of U-235 while decreasing the concentration of U-238.

• Radioactivity is the spontaneous emission of energy from unstable atoms.• Atoms are found in all natural

matter. There are stable atoms, which remain the same forever, and unstable atoms, which break down or 'decay' into new atoms. These unstable atoms are said to be 'radioactive', because they emit radioactivity from the nucleus as they decay.

What is Radioactivity?

Water movement in a nuclear power plant!

The characteristic blue glow in the water surrounding the core of a nuclear reactor….called the Cerenkov radiation!

Radioactive wastes are a major environmental concern of nuclear power.  Most nuclear waste is low-level, i.e. ordinary trash, tools, protective clothing, wiping cloths and disposable items that have been contaminated with small amounts of radioactive dust or particles.  These materials are subject to special regulation that govern their storage so they will not come in contact with the outside environment.

Long range plans for nuclear wastes!

CONVERSIONS!!

• THIS WILL ALL BE DONE ONE THE BOARD.