"Conventional-Type" HW

A.

Chernobyl: On April 26, 1986 a series of explosions in one of the reactors in a nuclear power plant in a remote area in Ukraine literally blew the roof off a reactor building. The reactor partially melted down and its graphite moderator caught fire and burned for 10 days. The explosion and the graphite fires released large radioactive clouds that spread all over Ukraine and Belarus. Around 35,000 people had to leave their homes because of the radioactive fallout, and it is estimated that the death toll may be more than 90,000. In some parts of the Ukraine people still cannot eat or drink some of the local water or locally produced or grown food.

Three Mile Island: On March 28, 1979 reactor 2 at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania suffered a partial meltdown. A gradual loss of cooling water to the reactor's heat-producing core led to partial melting of the fuel rod cladding and the uranium fuel, and the release into the environment of a small amount of radioactive material. The Three Mile Island accident caused no injuries or deaths. In addition, experts concluded that the amount of radiation released into the atmosphere was too small to result in direct health effects.

Fukushima: On March 11, 2011 a large earthquake and tsunami struck Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station and knocked out backup power systems that were needed to cool the reactors at the plant, causing three of them to undergo fuel melting, hydrogen explosions, and radioactive releases. Radioactive contamination from the Fukushima plant forced the evacuation of communities up to 25 miles away and affected up to 100,000 residents, although it did not cause any immediate deaths.

B.  General Motors began systematically buying streetcar lines and then shutting them down, leaving millions of Americans without practical public transportation options. General Motor’s motive was to ensure a market for its innovative personal transportation technology. Rather than walk, the idea was, people would hopefully buy Buicks.

C.

Resource	Advantages	Disadvantages
Petroleum	Petroleum is inexpensive It can also be easily transported	Easily disrupts habitats Oil spills such as the Exxon Valdez in 1989 and the BP oil spill in 2010.
Natural Gas	Natural gas can be easily extracted and processed. Yields high net energy Causes less pollution than other fossil fuels	Sulfur dioxide can be released during processing Can contaminate wastewater, brine and land CH4 is more harmful than greenhouse gases
Coal	Large natural supply of coal High net yield of energy Subsidies help create lower prices Stable and nonexplosive	Excavation is dangerous Produces ash, over burden, mercury, sulfur Expensive to produce and transport Expensive to dispose of
Nuclear	Large fuel supply Low environmental impacts( without accidents) Emits 1/6 as much CO2 as coal Moderate land disruption and water pollution( without accidents)	Costs are high Radioactive wastes must be stored safely for thousands of years Low net energy yield Catastrophic accidents can happen Subject to terrorist attacks

D. 

I can make it bigger, if it is too small

E.  In 1985, the DOE announced plans to build a repository for under-ground storage of high-level radioactive wastes from commercial nuclear reactors on federal land in the Yucca mountain desert region. In 2002 congress approved Yucca Mountain as the official site for storing the country’s commercial wastes. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama promised to "lead federal efforts to look for a safe, long-term disposal solution based on objective, scientific analysis. In the meantime, Obama will develop requirements to ensure that the waste stored at current reactor sites is contained using the most advanced dry-cask storage technology available. Barack Obama believes that Yucca Mountain is not an option because it is too expensive, already costing the government over $12 billion and harmful to the people of Nevada.

F. Passive Solar Heating System is a system that captures sunlight directly within a structure and converts it into low temperature heat for space heating or for water for domestic use without the use of mechanical devices.

     

1. Direct Gain
2. Greenhouse, Sunspace, or Attached Solarium
3. Earth Sheltered