AN ASSIGNMENT ON

THE PROS AND CONS OF HAVING NUCLEAR POWER IN NIGERIA

AND NET USEFUL ENERGY

BY

UMANA, ISRAEL JONATHAN

13/EG/PE/513

PETROLEUM ENGINEERING

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

UNIVERSITY OF UYO, UYO

SUBMITTED

TO THE

LECTURER-IN-CHARGE

MR. OFFIONG I. AKPANIKA

PEE 326: ALTERNATE HYDROCARBON SOURCES

13TH JUNE, 2016

PROS AND CONS OF HAVING NUCLEAR POWER IN NIGERIA
INTRODUCTION

What do we mean by “Nuclear Energy?”

Nuclear energy can be defined as the energy in the nucleus or core, of an atom. Energy
is what holds the nucleus together. There is a huge amount of power in an atoms dense
nucleus. In fact, the power that holds the nucleus together is officially called the “strong force”.
Nuclear energy can be used to create electricity but it must first be released from the atom. In
nuclear fission atoms are split to release the energy.

Nuclear power can be defined as the use of nuclear reactors that release nuclear energy
to generate heat, which most frequently is then used in steam turbines to produce electricity in
a nuclear power plant. The term includes nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion.
Presently, the nuclear fission of elements in the actinide series of the periodic table produce
the vast majority of nuclear energy in the direct service of humankind, with nuclear decay
processes, primarily in the form of geothermal energy, and radioisotope thermoelectric
generators.

A nuclear reactor power plant is a series of machines that can control nuclear fission to
produce electricity. The fuel that nuclear reactors use to produce nuclear fission is pellets of the
element uranium. In a nuclear reactor, atoms of uranium are forced to break apart. As they
split, the atoms release tiny particles called fission products. Fission products cause other
uranium atoms to split, starting a chain reaction. The energy released from this chain reaction
creates heat.

DIAGRAMS OF NUCLEAR REACTORS:

Fig. 1 fig. 2
THE ADVENT OF NUCLEAR ENERGY

The world has so far discovered the negative impacts black gold (petroleum) can have on
the climate, consequent upon that research in that area has increased. This has lead to the setting
up of an international committee on climate change which will look further in to the facts and
ascertain the effects caused as well as give recommendations on the way forward.

The renewable sources of energy being considered internationally include solar, wind and
nuclear. Several factors such as availability, capability of power generation and cost
effectiveness are the main factors considered. Other factors such as the risk and sustainability are
taken as secondary by some countries. The availability of all of these sources of energy in certain
countries, made cost effectiveness to be the core factor that is considered, thus leaving other
factors. Nigeria being one of the blessed countries in the world in terms of both human and
natural resources has begun the journey to nuclear power generation. Thus we discuss here the
factors that will provide for the development of a sustainable nuclear power in Nigeria.

THE PROS AND CONS OF HAVING NUCLEAR POWER IN NIGERIA

The pros and cons can also be viewed as advantages and disadvantages of having
nuclear power in the country

THE PROS / ADVANTAGES OF NUCLEAR ENERGY

1. PRICE AND LOW OPERATING COSTS

Nuclear power produces very inexpensive electricity. The cost of the uranium, which is
utilized as a fuel in this process, is low. Also, even though the expense of setting up nuclear
power plants is moderately high, the expense of running them is quite low. The normal life of
nuclear reactor is anywhere from 40-60 years, depending on how often it is used and how it is
being used. These variables, when consolidated, make the expense of delivering power low.
Even if the cost of uranium goes up the impact on the cost of power will be that much lower. The
initial construction costs of nuclear power plants are large. On top of this, when the power plants
first have been built, we are left with the costs to enrich and process the nuclear fuel (e.g.
uranium), control and get rid of nuclear waste, as well as the maintenance of the plant. The
reason this is under advantages is that nuclear energy is cost-competitive. Generating electricity
in nuclear reactors is cheaper than electricity generating from oil, gas and coal, not to speak of
the renewable energy sources. Right now nuclear power is the cheapest source of power. It is at
1.8 cents per kw/hr. Coal is at 2.1 kw/hr which is still cheaper than natural gas which is 3.5
kw/hr.

2. LOW POLLUTION:

The most harmful of all the greenhouse gasses to the environment is carbon dioxide. Coal
and natural gas plants release a lot of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Nuclear energy plants
do not release any carbon dioxide at all. Nuclear power also has a lot fewer greenhouse
emissions. ” There is no unfavorable impact on water, land or any territories because of the
utilization of nuclear power, except in times where transportation is utilized. It is in most cases
more beneficial, in terms of the climate crisis, to replace other energy harnessing methods we use
today with nuclear power. The environmental effects of nuclear power are relatively light
compared to those. However, nuclear waste is potential harmful for both humans and the
environment.

3. SAFETY:

Technical experts agree that the new designs and technologies used in
nuclear power make it so safe that the possibility of having a nuclear meltdown is
technically impossible.

4. MORE PROFICIENT THAN FOSSIL FUELS:

Another advantage is the required amount of fuel: less fuel offers more energy. It
represents a significant save on raw materials but also in transport, handling and extraction of
nuclear fuel. The cost of nuclear fuel (overall uranium) is 20% of the cost of energy generated.
The other primary point of interest of utilizing nuclear energy is that it is more compelling and
more proficient than other energy sources. A number of nuclear energy innovations have made it
a much more feasible choice than others. They have high energy density as compared to fossil
fuels. The amount of fuel required by nuclear power plant is comparatively less than what is
required by other power plants as energy released by nuclear fission is approximately ten million
times greater than the amount of energy released by fossil fuel atom. It is estimated the amount
of energy released in a nuclear fission reaction is ten million times greater than the amount
released in burning a fossil fuel atom (e.g. oil and gas). Therefore, the amount of fuel required in
a nuclear power plant is much smaller compared to those of other types of power plants.

THE CONS OF HAVING NUCLEAR POWER IN NIGERIA

While the advantages of nuclear energy seem to be many, there are also plenty of
negative effects of nuclear energy. The following are the most important ones which are
enumerated below:
1. Nuclear accidents
2. Radioactive waste disposal
3. Uranium is finite
4. Hot target for militants

1. NUCLEAR ACCIDENTS
The radioactive waste produced can pose serious health effects on the lives of
people as well as the environment. The Chernobyl accident that occurred on 26 April
1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine was the worst nuclear accident in
the history. Its harmful effects on humans and ecology can still be seen today. Then
there was another accident that happened in Fukushima in Japan. Although the
casualties were not that high, but it
caused serious environmental concerns. Just last year, on March 18, a major nuclear
crisis happened again in Japan. While the casualties were not as high as with the
Chernobyl accident, the environmental effects were disastrous. History shows that we
can never really protect us 100% against these disasters and at such, accidents do
happen.

2. RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL

As a rule, a nuclear power plant creates 20 metric tons of nuclear fuel per year,
and with that comes a lot of nuclear waste. When you consider each nuclear plant on
Earth, you will find that that number jumps to approximately 2,000 metric tons a year.
The greater part of this waste transmits radiation and high temperature, implying that it
will inevitably consume any compartment that holds it. It can also cause damage to
living things in and
around the plants.

3. URANIUM IS FINITE
Just like other sources of fuel, uranium is also finite and exists in few of the
countries. It is pretty expensive to mine, refine and transport uranium. It produces
considerable amount of waste during all these activities and can result in environmental
contamination and serous health effects, if not handled properly.

4. HOT TARGETS FOR MILITANT

There is also worry that the new technologies will fall into the wrong hands
and could be used as nuclear weapons to be potentially used against us.
Considering a more local problem, what will happen if something goes wrong in a
nuclear power plant? The New York Times states: “The safety problem in conventional
 nuclear power plants is that, if things start to go wrong, emergency cooling systems
and human operators have to act correctly to prevent a catastrophic meltdown. That
makes nuclear power a cruel and unforgiving technology that cannot tolerate
equipment failures or human mistakes.” Radiation is also a health hazard
surrounding nuclear energy. It is very dangerous, and it seems that every stage, from
acquiring radioactive elements to dumping the waste, has its risks. See the radiation
page for more information on that topic. Nuclear energy has immense power. Today,
nuclear energy is used to make weapons. If these weapons go into the wrong hands,
that could be the end of this world. Nuclear power plants are prime target for activities.
Little lax in security can be brutal for humankind.

CONCLUSION
Nigeria no doubt is one of the countries that can divest to nuclear energy because of
the abundance of Uranium, but the main issue that may jeopardize the project is the
implementation of the regulatory and safety issues and the containment of other risks as
earlier mentioned. There is the need for the country to strengthen its environmental agency in
a way that the agency will have autonomy so that it will be able to monitor, identify and
provide measures on deteriorating conditions before they result in environmental hazards.
The country should establish a health and safety commission that will be able to
establish and implement safety practices & risk management measures. It is not certain if the
general public has been made aware of the pros and cons of the project. Thus, it is necessary in
the interest of peace to educate the public on the plan. The government should also strengthen
its security system so that it will not be used in any way for destructive purpose.
The government should promote research that is aimed at exploring the viability of other
renewable energy sources (solar and wind) which are better (environmentally benign) than
nuclear energy. Nigeria can join the group of nations that have divested to nuclear power, but
that should be done with extreme caution as it is better to have a more expensive renewable
source (solar and wind) that are environmentally benign than to have the nuclear type which is
associated with other environmental problems that some generations yet unborn will have to
manage.
 NET USEFUL ENERGY
Net useful energy also known as net energy gain(NEG), can be defined as a concept used
in energy economics that refers to the difference between the energy expended to harvest an
energy source and the amount of energy gained from that harvest.[1]
The net energy gain, which can be expressed in joules, differs from the
net financial gain that may result from the energy harvesting process, in
that various sources of energy (e.g. natural gas, coal, etc.) can be priced
differently for the same amount of energy.

CALCULATION OF NET ENERGY GAIN (NEG)

A net energy gain is achieved by expending less energy acquiring a
source of energy than is contained in the source to be consumed. That
is
NEG = ENERGYconsumable - ENERGYExpended

Factors to consider when calculating
energy is used and acquired, and the
the energy. It is also possible to
infinite number of externalities and
during the energy harvesting process.
NEG is the type of energy, the way
methods used to store or transport
overcomplicate the equation by an
inefficiencies that may be present

SOURCES OF ENERGY
The definition of an energy source is not rigorous. Anything that can
provide energy to anything else can qualify. Wood in a stove is full of
potential thermal energy; in a car, mechanical energy is acquired from
the combustion of gasoline, and the combustion of coal is converted
from thermal to mechanical, and then to electrical energy.
Examples of energy sources include:
 Fossil fuels
 Nuclear fuels (e.g., uranium and plutonium)
 Radiation from the sun
 Mechanical energy from wind, rivers, tides, etc.
  Bio-fuels derived from biomass, in turn having consumed soil
nutrients during growth.
 Heat from within the earth (geothermal energy)
The term net energy gain can be used in slightly different ways:

BIOFUELS

Net energy gain of biofuels has been a particular source of controversy

for ethanol derived from corn (bioethanol). The actual net energy of
biofuel production is highly dependent on both the bio source that is
converted into energy, how it is grown and harvested (and in particular
the use of petroleum-derived fertilizer), and how efficient the process of
conversion to usable energy is. Details on this can be found in the
Ethanol fuel energy balance article. Similar considerations also apply to
biodiesel and other fuels.

NON-SUSTAINABLES
The usual definition of net energy gain compares the energy required to
extract energy (that is, to find it, remove it from the ground, refine it, and
ship it to the energy user) with the amount of energy produced and
transmitted to a user from some (typically underground) energy
resource. To better understand this, assume an economy has a certain
amount of finite oil reserves that are still underground, unextracted. To
get to that energy, some of the extracted oil needs to be consumed in
the extraction process to run the engines driving the pumps, therefore
after extraction the net energy produced will be less than the amount of
energy in the ground before extraction, because some had to be used
up. The extraction energy can be viewed in one of two ways: profitable
extractable (NEG>0) or nonprofitable extractable (NEG<0). For instance,
in the Athabasca Oil Sands, the highly diffuse nature of the tar sands
and low price of crude oil rendered them uneconomical to mine until the
late 1950s (NEG<0). Since then, the price of oil has risen and a new
steam extraction technique has been developed, allowing the sands to
become the largest oil provider in Alberta (NEG>0).