Lesson Plan: Nuclear Power Physics
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to describe the advantages and disadvantages of generating electricity from nuclear fission.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- understand the basic energy transformations that take place in a nuclear power station,
- understand the advantages and disadvantages of nuclear power stations:
- how much they cost to build,
- how much they cost to maintain,
- whether they produce any greenhouse gases,
- whether they produce any other polluting material,
- do basic energy and power calculations using in the context of nuclear power plants.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- the different categories of energy,
- the units of energy,
- what electricity is.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- the internal operations of a nuclear reactor,
- the physical process of nuclear fission or fusion,
- energy calculations from binding energy.
