admin answers:

Uranium is a very heavy metal which can be used as an abundant source of concentrated energy.
Uranium occurs in most rocks in concentrations of 2 to 4 parts per million and is as common in the Earth’s crust as tin, tungsten and molybdenum. Uranium occurs in seawater, and can be recovered from the oceans.
Uranium was discovered in 1789 by Martin Klaproth, a German chemist, in the mineral called pitchblende. It was named after the planet Uranus, which had been discovered eight years earlier.
Uranium was apparently formed in supernova about 6.6 billion years ago. While it is not common in the solar system, today its slow radioactive decay provides the main source of heat inside the Earth, causing convection and continental drift.
The high density of uranium means that it also finds uses in the keels of yachts and as counterweights for aircraft control surfaces, as well as for radiation shielding.
Uranium has a melting point is 1132°C. The chemical symbol for uranium is U.

Uranium is widespread in many rocks, and even in seawater. However, like other metals, it is seldom sufficiently concentrated to be economically recoverable. Where it is, we speak of an orebody. In defining what is ore, assumptions are made about the cost of mining and the market price of the metal. Uranium reserves are therefore calculated as tonnes recoverable up to a certain cost.

Australia’s reasonably assured resources and inferred resources of uranium are 1,673,000 tonnes of uranium recoverable at up to US$130/kg U (well under the market ‘spot’ price), Kazakhstan’s are 651,000 tonnes of uranium and Canada’s are 485,000 tU. Australia’s resources in this category are almost one third of the world’s total, Kazakhstan’s are 12%, Canada’s 9%.

Several countries have significant uranium resources. Apart from the top three, they are in order: Russia, South Africa, Namibia, Brazil, Niger, USA, China, Jordan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and India. Other countries have smaller deposits which could be mined if needed.

Kazakhstan is the world’s top uranium producer, followed by Canada and then Australia as the main suppliers of uranium to world markets – now over 50,000 tU per year.

Plutonium-238 has a half-life of 88 years and emits alpha particles. It is a heat source in radioisotope thermoelectric generators, which are used to power some spacecraft. Plutonium-240 has a high rate of spontaneous fission, raising the neutron flux of any sample it is in. The presence of plutonium-240 limits a sample’s usability for weapons or reactor fuel, and determines its grade. Plutonium isotopes are expensive and inconvenient to separate, so particular isotopes are usually manufactured in specialized reactors.

Plutonium was first synthesized in 1940 by a team led by Glenn T. Seaborg and Edwin McMillan at the University of California, Berkeley laboratory by bombarding uranium-238 with deuterons. Trace amounts of plutonium were subsequently discovered in nature. Producing plutonium in useful quantities for the first time was a major part of the Manhattan Project during World War II, which developed the first atomic bombs. The first nuclear test, “Trinity” (July 1945), and the second atomic bomb used to destroy a city (Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945), “Fat Man”, both had cores of plutonium-239. Human radiation experiments studying plutonium were conducted without informed consent, and a number of criticality accidents, some lethal, occurred during and after the war. Disposal of plutonium waste from nuclear power plants and dismantled nuclear weapons built during the Cold War is a nuclear-proliferation and environmental concern. Other sources of plutonium in the environment are fallout from numerous above-ground nuclear tests (now banned).

admin answers:

St. Joseph’s Center deals with Power Supplies. We are happy when focus is given to environment friendly Power Units.
In this regard, one can consider Solar Energy panels (actually called photovoltaic cells) that generate up to 1000 watts of energy per meter squared in sunlight.
Wind turbine generators are useful in open areas of land that have no other use. They generate useful energy that can be stored in lead acid accumulators in remote areas.
Hydroelectric power generators have been the standard source of clean, env. Friendly power for many years. A single dam with a hydel unit can suppy many cities with power.
Tapping power from waves and tide that comes in at the sea shore is another useful source of energy that is being studied today. The British are working on a project in this field.
Movement is a source of power. In the Automatic Wrist Watch, the movement of the hand is converted into a winding force that keeps the watch wound and working throughout the day.
Bacteria convert decaying matter into useful gases that can be used for cooking. In my electronic project for SJRTC in Rajagiri College in Ernakulam of Kerala, India, I was pleased to find natural gas was being used in the hostel mess stoves to prepare meals for us. The natural gas is produced when bacteria ferment the decaying organic materials in an nonaerobic condition.

These are standard and time tested methods of power supply which is non-conventional.

admin answers:

If you can get past the hurdle of having sufficient wind and any local codes or ordinances then it is certainly possible for you to have a wind generator. You can store the electricity in batteries and use a inverter to make AC power for your use.

Unfortunately it probably won’t provide the kind of relief you are hoping for. If you want to look further you could try some websites similar to this one:

http://www.mikeswindmillshop.com/wgenerators.html

admin answers:

Yeah, but it would be a bit costly. You’d need a transfer switch and a fairly large gas or diesel powered generator. But the size of the generator would depend on the type of things you would need to keep running; ie – fridge, deepfreeze, furnace/electric heat, computers. You could also look into a large UPS (Uninterruptable Power Source), its essential just a big bank of car batteries, that , once the power goes out, kicks in and continues to keep your stuff running until the batteries die out. Obviouslt the more batteries the longer tiem you have before it dies too. At least with a generator you could last for as long as you’ve got fuel. It really depends on a lot of things. But these are definately a couple of common options. Also if your living in a more remote area, you may want to consider using an alternate form of power, like a wind generator, or Solar panels. Both could provide simple power for a few key items. Anyways, hope this helps.

Later