How to contact me
Here's a study guide for the final exam (Thursday 1:00-3:00 in Thomas Auditorium)
Week 14
How Stuff Works can introduce you to nuclear power
An impetus for reconsidering nuclear energy is the prospect of combating climate change, as discussed in this video.
The video near the top of this page discusses the problem of nuclear waste disposal for a shut-down power plant in California.
Some people feel that new reactor designs will take care of safety problems and reduce nuclear waste.
(The video on that page helpfully describes one such design, the molten salt reactor.)
Although two new U.S. nuclear power plants were approved earlier this decade, cost overruns led one to be canceled with the other barely holding on.
The 2011 Fukushima Daiichi disaster provided some hard safety lessons to the nuclear industry and government regulators.
This video is also safety-related, making the point that risk can be low but is never zero.
Japan went non-nuclear after Fukushima, but lately its government has been turning its reactors back on.
Meanwhile Germany is still working to phase out nuclear power by 2022.
Skeptics question whether Germany can meet its climate goals without using nuclear power.
Optional: Another discussion of molten salt reactors (and here's yet another)
Optional: The startup company featured above recently went belly-up, but a different startup backed by Bill Gates is trying to develop a similar reactor.
Optional: Another discussion of nuclear waste and of reactor safety.
Optional: Passive safety is an approach in which a reactor is built to respond to any potential problem without any active intervention (by pumps, computers, human operators, etc.) required.
Optional: National Geographic did a 2015 story on Germany's efforts to stop using nuclear energy and fossil fuels.
Links from previous weeks are here
Here are the requirements for your final paper
Elementary Physics: Physics of Cars has been brought to you by Chris Magri and The University of Maine at Farmington
Last modified on December 13, 2018
URL: https://sites.google.com/a/maine.edu/magri/home/phy110c