Пособие к учебнику технического английского языка «Nuclear English. Language Skills for a Globalizing Industry»

lowed development costs and ________________ increases the appeal of fission concepts and may one day lead to a flight hardware program. Specifically, my research focuses on nuclear thermal propulsion and looks at how research reactors can be built and utilized to further their development. These nuclear thermal rockets use a ____________fuel. Other topics being investigated include: sub 10kWe reactors, molten salt fuels, nuclear thermal rocket design, multi-megawatt electric propulsion, power conversion studies, a study of alterative isotopes, and terrestrial spin off applications. This work is in conjunction with the Nuclear Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (NCPS) Project under Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate Advanced Exploration Systems, managed out of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). A compilation of _________ computer code, such as MCNP, NJOY, ORGIN and FLUENT, will be utilized in this work. In addition, a number of experimental facilities and research reactors across the country will be surveyed to understand how the facilities can contribute to a cost effective development of advanced nuclear fuels. It is expected that this work will produce a number of analytical tools, design points, and mass models that will assist in the development of a number of space __________ concepts.

Answer the questions:

1.What kind of power sources does the exploration of space necessitate?

2.Why do nuclear fission systems stand out as a promising space technology?

3.What is the goal of the described research?

Read the text about the future type of fuel for spaceships. (available www.nasa.gov, accessed 10.2017)

Put questions to the words in bold.

New and Improved Antimatter Spaceship for Mars Missions (by Bill Steigerwald. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

Most self-respecting starships in science fiction stories use antimatter as fuel for a good reason – it‟s the most potent fuel known. While tons

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of chemical fuel are needed to propel a human mission to Mars, just tens of milligrams of antimatter will do. However, in reality this power comes with a price.

Some antimatter reactions produce blasts of high energy gamma rays. Gamma rays are like x-rays on steroids. They penetrate matter and break apart molecules in cells, so they are not healthy to be around. High-energy gamma rays can also make the engines radioactive by fragmenting atoms of the engine material.

The NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts is funding a team of researchers working on a new design for an antimatter powered spaceship that avoids this nasty side effect by producing gamma rays with much lower energy.

When antimatter meets matter, both annihilate in a flash of energy. This complete conversion to energy is what makes antimatter so powerful. Even the nuclear reactions that power atomic bombs come in a distant second, with only about three percent of their mass converted to energy.

Previous antimatter powered spaceship designs employed antiprotons, which produce high energy gamma rays when they annihilate (destroy completely). The new design will use positrons, which make gamma rays with about 400 times less energy.

The research is a preliminary study to see of the idea is feasible. It looks promising, and funds are available to successfully develop the technology. A positron powered spaceship would have a couple advantages over the existing plans for a human mission to Mars. The mission calls for a nuclear reactor to propel the spaceship to Mars. This is desirable because nuclear propulsion reduces travel time to Mars, increasing safety for the crew by reducing their exposure to cosmic rays. The reactor also provides ample power for the three year mission. But nuclear reactors are complex, so more things could potentially go wrong during the mission.

Also, nuclear reactors are radioactive even after their fuel is used up. After the ship arrives at Mars, the mission plans to direct the reactor into an orbit that will not encounter our planet for at least a million years, when the residual (left over) radiation will be reduced to safe levels.

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Another significant advantage is speed. The mission spacecraft would take astronauts to Mars in about 180 days. The best chemical rocket, like NASA‟s Space Shuttle main engine, reaches the maximum at around 450 seconds, which means a pound of fuel will produce a pound of thrust for 450 seconds. A nuclear or positron reactor can make over 900 seconds. One technical challenge to making a positron spacecraft a reality is the cost to produce the positrons. In space it is created in collisions of high-speed particles called cosmic rays. On Earth it has to be created in particle accelerators, immense machines that smash atoms together. The machines are normally used to discover how the universe works on a deep, fundamental level. These machines can be harnessed as antimatter factories.

A rough estimate to produce the 10 milligrams of positrons needed for a human Mars mission is about 250 million dollars using technology that is current under development. This cost might seem high, but it has to be considered against the extra cost to launch a heavier chemical rocket. Its current launch costs are about 10,000 dollars per pound.

Another challenge is storing enough positrons in a small space. You can‟t just stuff them in a bottle. They annihilate normal matter. They have to be contained with electric and magnetic fields. With a dedicated research and development program, these challenges can be overcome.

Explain in English in your own words the following expressions and terms from the text:

this power comes with a price; gamma rays; a team of researchers; to annihilate in a flash of energy; antiprotons; a preliminary study; the feasible idea; to propel the spaceship; exposure to cosmic rays; ample power; fuel is used up; a pound of fuel will produce a pound of thrust; cosmic rays; machines can be harnessed as; under development; the extra cost; magnetic fields.

Retell the text using the following key words and word combinations:

1. antimatter as fuel; chemical fuel; blasts of high energy gamma rays; to make the engines radioactive; a new design for

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an antimatter; to avoid the nasty side effect; to annihilate in a flash of energy;

2.previous antimatter powered spaceship designs; the new design with the use of positrons, the idea is feasible and promising; advantages of a positron powered spaceship;

3.a nuclear reactor to propel the spaceship; to reduce travel time; to increase safety for the crew; to provide ample power; possible problems;

4.an advantage over a chemical rocket, the technical challenge; antimatter factories; a rough estimated price; another challenge.

UNIT 4 REACTOR MANAGEMENT

Vocabulary activator.

Match the term and its definition. Simulator, fault, outage, contractor, refurbish, uprate

Temporary shutdown of the reactor. Clean up and install new components. A malfunction or defect in a machine.

Machine used to train operators which creates life-like conditions. Person or organization that agrees to carry out work for a fee.

Work which results in a power station being able to produce additional power.

Read the text about Sizewell B power station. Describe shortly the main data about it. (available at www.edfenergy.com, accessed 10.2017)

About Sizewell B

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Sizewell B is a nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast. It is the

UK‟s only Pressurised Water Reactor.

Station Director: Paul Morton

Reactor type: 1 Pressurised Water Reactor Total supply to the national grid: 1198 MW Start of construction: 1988

Start of generation: 1995

Estimated decommissioning date: 2035

People: Approximately 520 full time EDF Energy employees plus over 250 full time contract partners

Next statutory outage Nov-2017

About EDF (Électricité de France) Energy

We're the UK‟s largest producer of low-carbon electricity, the biggest supplier of electricity by volume in Great Britain and the largest supplier to British businesses. Find out more about what we do, how we work and our future direction to 2030.

The Better Plan

Our framework for being a sustainable and responsible energy business.

The Better Plan is an integral part of EDF‟s 2030 vision – to be the efficient, responsible electricity company, and champion of low-carbon growth. We want to deliver Better Lives, Better Experience and Better Energy for all of society.

Our culture

Empowering our people to be a force for good involves us creating an inclusive working environment. One where people can perform at their best and receive the skills and opportunities to achieve great things not only at work, but also in the communities which we serve. We are building the skills for the future and to do just that, we need a culture of inclusion where we can all fulfil our ambitions.

Our vision

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We want to bring affordable, low-carbon energy to everyone and to do that requires both sharp minds and smart ideas to help shape the

UK‟s energy future. With the development of a new nuclear power station on the horizon, our goal is to become the best and most trusted energy supplier for our customers, through a combination of trust, transparency and teamwork. Combining our ambitions will help us to do just that.

Our Better Energy Ambitions

Our mission is to be a successful and responsible long-term energy business, trusted by customers and powering a thriving society and a healthy environment. Our Better Energy Ambitions set out our plan to achieve this.

Challenge details

It is critical that we are effective in embedding nuclear safety considerations in everything that we do. There is an opportunity to use digital technology to support more effective engagement with our supply chain around nuclear safety and to drive better behaviour across our project. We are interested in exploring a wide variety of new technologies that could not only support a more creative approach to engagement but could also help us to set the bar for industry and inform the approach of the other new nuclear projects in EDF Energy‟s pipeline

(Sizewell C and Bradwell B).

Unit 5

TRANSPORT

Vocabulary activator.

1. Match the term and its definition. Leaktight, shipment, cargo, competent authority, vitrified, carrier

Company or organization which transports goods; Goods transported by rail, air, truck

Body given power by the State to regulate the nuclear industry; Fully sealed;

The transportation of goods or a set of goods which are transported together;

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Converted into glass form.

2. Match the terms and the definitions.

Package, packaging, overpack, canister, cask,

Container used for carrying high-level vitrified waste; Container and radioactive contents together; Container into which radioactive contents are inserted; Extra covering around a container;

Container for transporting or storing used fuel.

Read the text on the topic and give a summary of the myths described in the text. Do you agree with the information in the text? Have your attitudes changed after reading the text? Use the highlited vocabulary.

Radioactive Waste - Myths and Realities

(available at www.world-nuclear.org, accessed 12, 2017)

There are a number of pervasive myths regarding both radiation and radioactive waste. Some lead to regulation and actions which are counterproductive to human health and safety. Some of the more commonly expressed views and concerns include:

1. The nuclear industry still has no solution to the 'waste problem'.

2. The transport of this waste poses an unacceptable risk to people and the environment.

3. Plutonium is the most dangerous material in the

world.

4. Nuclear waste is hazardous for tens of thousands of years. This clearly is unprecedented and poses a huge threat to our future generations.

5. Even if put into a geological repository, the waste might emerge and threaten future generations.

6. Nobody knows the true costs of waste management. The costs are so high that nuclear power can never be economic.

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7. The waste should be disposed of into space.

8. Nuclear waste should be transmuted into harmless materials.

9. There is a potential terrorist threat to the large volumes of radioactive waste currently being stored and the risk that this waste could leak or be dispersed as a result of terrorist action.

10. Man-made radiation differs from natural radiation.

1.The nuclear industry still has no solution to the 'waste problem'

Like all industries, the thermal generation of electricity produces waste. Whatever fuel is used, this waste must be managed in ways which safeguard human health and minimise their impact on the environment.

The nuclear industry has developed – and implemented – most of the necessary technologies required for the final disposal of all of the waste it produces. The remaining issue is one of public acceptance, and not of technological feasibility.

The amount of waste produced by the nuclear power industry is small relative to other industrial activities. 97% of the waste produced is classified as lowor intermediate-level waste (LLW or ILW). Such waste has been widely disposed of in near-surface repositories for many years. In France, where fuel is reprocessed, just 0.2% of all radioactive waste by volume is classified as high-level waste (HLW). The amount of HLW produced (including used fuel when this is considered a waste) during nuclear production is small. In providing 11% of the world's electricity, nuclear power stations produce approximately 34,000m3 of HLW annually.

Unlike other industrial toxic wastes, the principal hazard associated with HLW – radioactivity – diminishes with time. At present, interim storage facilities provide an appropriate environment to contain and manage existing waste, and the decay of heat and radioactivity over time provides a strong incentive to store HLW for a period before its final disposal. In fact, after 40 years, the radioactivity of used fuel has

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decreased to about one-thousandth of the level at the point when it was unloaded. Interim storage facilities also allow a country to store its spent fuel until a time when it has generated sufficient quantities to make a repository development economic.

In the long-term, however, appropriate disposal arrangements are required for HLW due to its prolonged radioactivity. The safe, environmentally-sound disposal of HLW is technologically proven, with international scientific consensus on deep geological repositories. Such projects are well advanced in some countries, such as Finland, Sweden, France, and the USA. In fact, in the USA a deep geological waste repository (the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant) is already in operation for the disposal of transuranic waste (long-lived ILW contaminated with military materials such as plutonium). Countries where plans for deep geological repositories have been advanced demonstrate that efforts to resolve political and public acceptance issues at a community and national level can be successful.

Progress is being made to achieve public acceptance, but it is important that governments follow the lead of countries more advanced in the process of long-term disposal of HLW.

Vocabulary: to minimize impact on the environment, final disposal, low-level waste, intermediate-level waste, high-level waste, toxic wastes, hazard, interim storage facilities, spent fuel, prolonged radioactivity, deep geological repository, public acceptance.

2. The transport of this waste poses an unacceptable risk to people and the environment

Hazardous waste is produced by most major industrial processes. Of all hazardous material shipped each year in the USA, radioactive waste accounts for just 5% of the total; and of that 5%, less than 10% relates to nuclear power production.

At least 25,000 shipments of HLW have been made worldwide, covering many millions of kilometres on land and sea. Shipments have been executed virtually without incident and without any harmful radioactivity releases.

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The primary assurance of safety in the transport of nuclear materials is the way in which they are packaged. Packages that store waste during transport are designed to ensure shielding from radiation and containment of waste, even under the most extreme accident conditions. Different packaging standards have been developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) according to the characteristics and potential hazard posed by the different types of nuclear material. HLW shipments are made in robust 125-tonne 'Type B' casks. There has never been an accident in which a Type B transport cask containing radioactive materials has been breached or has leaked. A significant accident in the USA in 1971 demonstrated the integrity of a Type B cask, which was later returned to service.

The safety features built into Type B casks are very significant. For the radioactive material in a large Type B package in sea transit to become exposed, the ship's hold (inside double hulls) would need to rupture, the 25cm thick steel cask would need to rupture, and the stainless steel flask or the fuel rods would need to be broken open. Either borosilicate glass (for reprocessed wastes) or ceramic fuel material would then be exposed, but in either case these materials are very insoluble.

Vocabulary:hazardous waste, shipment of waste, radioactivity release, package, shielding from radiation, containment of waste, robust casks, stainless steel flask, ceramic fuel materials, insoluble materials.

3. Plutonium is the most dangerous material in the world

Plutonium has been stated to be 'the most toxic substance on earth' and so hazardous that 'a speck can kill'.

Comparisons between toxic substances are not straightforward. The effect of plutonium inhalation would be to increase the probability of a cancer developing in several years time, whilst most other strong toxins lead to more immediate death. Best comparisons indicate that, gram for gram, toxins such as ricin, some snake venoms, cyanide, and even caffeine are significantly more toxic than plutonium.

Nevertheless, plutonium is toxic and therefore must be handled in a responsible manner. Its hazard is principally associated with the ionising radiation it emits. However, it is primarily hazardous if inhaled in small particles.

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