10.5 Fission  (Page 4/9)

Should an atomic bomb really be called nuclear bomb?

Why does a chain reaction occur during a fission reaction?

In what way is an atomic nucleus like a liquid drop?

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 $n+{}^{238}\text{U}\to {}^{96}\text{S}\text{r}+{}^{140}\text{X}\text{e}+3n$ , given $m\left({}^{96}\text{S}\text{r}\right)=95.921750\text{u}$ and $m\left({}^{140}\text{X}\text{e}\right)=139.92164$ .

(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) Calculate the energy released in the neutron-induced fission reaction $n+{}^{235}\text{U}\to {}^{92}\text{K}\text{r}+{}^{142}\text{B}\text{a}+2n$ , given $m\left({}^{92}\text{K}\text{r}\right)=91.926269\text{u}$ and $m\left({}^{142}\text{B}\text{a}\right)=141.916361\text{u}$ . (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 $35.0\text{\%}$ efficiency in converting nuclear power to electrical power.

(a) What is the thermal nuclear power output in megawatts?

(b) How many ${}^{235}\text{U}$ nuclei fission each second, assuming the average fission produces 200 MeV?

(c) What mass of ${}^{235}\text{U}$ is fissioned in 1 year of full-power operation?

Find the total energy released if 1.00 kg of ${}_{92}^{235}\text{U}$ were to undergo fission.