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If all electrical power were produced by nuclear fission of U-235, Earth’s known reserves of uranium would be depleted in less than a century. However, Earth’s supply of fissionable material can be expanded considerably using a breeder reactor . A breeder reactor operates for the first time using the fission of U-235 as just described for the pressurized water reactor. But in addition to producing energy, some of the fast neutrons originating from the fission of U-235 are absorbed by U-238, resulting in the production of Pu-239 via the set of reactions
The Pu-239 is itself highly fissionable and can therefore be used as a nuclear fuel in place of U-235. Since of naturally occurring uranium is the U-238 isotope, the use of breeder reactors should increase our supply of nuclear fuel by roughly a factor of 100. Breeder reactors are now in operation in Great Britain, France, and Russia. Breeder reactors also have drawbacks. First, breeder reactors produce plutonium, which can, if leaked into the environment, produce serious public health problems. Second, plutonium can be used to build bombs, thus increasing significantly the risk of nuclear proliferation.
Thus, the total energy released is
Check Your Understanding Which has a larger energy yield per fission reaction, a large or small sample of pure
the same
Should an atomic bomb really be called nuclear bomb?
Yes. An atomic bomb is a fission bomb, and a fission bomb occurs by splitting the nucleus of atom.
Why does a chain reaction occur during a fission reaction?
In what way is an atomic nucleus like a liquid drop?
Short-range forces between nucleons in a nucleus are analogous to the forces between water molecules in a water droplet. In particular, the forces between nucleons at the surface of the nucleus produce a surface tension similar to that of a water droplet.
A large power reactor that has been in operation for some months is turned off, but residual activity in the core still produces 150 MW of power. If the average energy per decay of the fission products is 1.00 MeV, what is the core activity?
(a) Calculate the energy released in the neutron-induced fission , given and .
(b) This result is about 6 MeV greater than the result for spontaneous fission. Why?
(c) Confirm that the total number of nucleons and total charge are conserved in this reaction.
a. 177.1 MeV; b. This value is approximately equal to the average BEN for heavy nuclei. c.
(a) Calculate the energy released in the neutron-induced fission reaction , given and . (b) Confirm that the total number of nucleons and total charge are conserved in this reaction.
The electrical power output of a large nuclear reactor facility is 900 MW. It has a efficiency in converting nuclear power to electrical power.
(a) What is the thermal nuclear power output in megawatts?
(b) How many nuclei fission each second, assuming the average fission produces 200 MeV?
(c) What mass of is fissioned in 1 year of full-power operation?
a. ; b. ; c. 991 kg
Find the total energy released if 1.00 kg of were to undergo fission.
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