These temperatures are ten times that found at the core of the Sun, but are needed for the process as it is impossible to create the gravitational pressure within the Sun instead. This plasma is a superheated, ionised gas that needs to be contained by strong magnetic fields as it can reach temperatures of 100,000,000☌ or more.
When subjected to high heat and pressure electrons are forced away from the deuterium atoms to create a plasma.
While still being developed, a fusion reactor (known as a tokamak) uses a gas – usually a hydrogen isotope that can be extracted from seawater called deuterium. This process occurs naturally in the centre of stars like the Sun and creates no long-term radioactive waste or greenhouse gases.įusion power plants operate in a similar manner to fission plants, using the heat generated by the atomic reaction to heat water, produce steam, drive turbines and generate electricity, but it has been a challenge to create the required conditions in a fusion reactor without consuming more energy than is produced. Nuclear fusion is the process of combining atomic nuclei rather than splitting them (as with fission) to produce energy. For example, uranium-235 atoms split into nuclei of krypton and barium along with three extra neutrons that create fission chain reactions by hitting other uranium-235 atoms. Neutrons are then fired at the uranium atoms, causing them to split and release more neutrons that hit other atoms, creating a chain reaction that splits more atoms, releasing energy as heat and radiation. The process of splitting an atom at a power plant involves placing uranium in sealed metal cylinders inside a steel reactor vessel. As the process uses uranium rather than fossil fuels to generate the heat, there are no carbon emissions with the nuclear fission process. This energy is released as heat and radiation, with the heat being used by a nuclear power plant to boil water into steam to turn a turbine and drive generators to produce electricity. Nuclear fission involves the splitting of atoms to release the binding energy of the atomic nuclei. National Structural Integrity Research Centre.Structural Integrity Research Foundation.No new orders for nuclear power plants have been placed in the US since the mid 1970s. Nuclear electricity generation became unpopular in the United States after the accident at Three Mile Island in 1979. Coal provides about 55% of the country's electricity, natural gas (9%), oil (6%), and hydropower (9%). nuclear energy program is the world's largest with 108 operating plants with 100, 000 MW capacity, providing some 20% of the country's electricity in 1989. 130 more were in design or construction stages. This is usually done in a Boiling Water Reactor ( BWR) or a Pressurized Water Reactor ( PWR), but there are other options such as the fast breeder reactor.Īt the end of 1989 there were 416 nuclear fission power plants operating worldwide, producing about 17% of the worlds electricity. The heat from the nuclear fission is used to: Nuclear fusion: the combining of light nuclei.Ĭurrent uses of nuclear energy must rely on nuclear fission, a less-than-ideal energy source, since nuclear fusion has yet to be harnessed for electricity generation. A fractionof the mass can be converted to energy by: Nuclear fission: the breaking up of heavy nuclei. However, direct mass conversion is not possible on a large scale. citizen per year(used as a reference unit ) would require: To supply the yearly average of 5 x 10 11 joules per U.S. * This amount will be used as a comparison unit when discussingĮnergy production by nuclear fission and nuclear fusion. citizens for one year, or the needs of a city of one million for over two months. So one kilogram of mass conversion could supply the needs of about 180,000 U.S. citizen for one year is about 1 US year* = 5 x 10 11 Joules The yield from converting one kilogram is E=(1 kg)(3 x 10 8) 2= 9 x 10 16 joules Mass can be converted into energy with a yield governed by the Einstein relationship: E=mc 2 Energy from Nuclear Processes Energy a la Einstein
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