The per capita consumption of electrical energy in Ireland is approximately
20kWh
daily. If this were provided by fission of U-235 yielding
190MeV
of useful energy per each atom undergoing fission, with
(2)/(3)
of the heat wasted, how much natural uranium in grams would each person use per day? (Note: abundance of U-235 is
0.711%
by weight - i.e. natural uranium contains
0.711%U-235
) Assume the daily
20kWh
of electricity from part (a) were provided by deuterium fusion reaction
2_(1)^(2)H->_(2)^(4)He+23.8MeV
with
(2)/(3)
of the heat wasted. How much water
(H_(2)O)
in grams would have to be processed in order to extract enough deuterium
(H-2)
for each person use per day? (Note: abundance of
H-2
is
0.0115%
by weight - i.e. natural hydrogen contains
0.0115%
deuterium). Suppose the
20kWh
of electricity form part (a) were produced by a power plant burning natural gas with
(2)/(3)
of heat wasted. Natural gas is, essentially, methane,
CH_(4)
, and its higher heat of combustion is
55.6M(J)/(k)g
. The methane combustion reaction is
CH_(4)+2O_(2)->CO_(2)+2H_(2)O+ energy
Calculate the theoretical daily amount of natural gas combusted and the daily amount of
CO_(2)
emitted to generate the
20kWh
of electricity.