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Electricity from Nuclear Fission |
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Nuclear power plants account for about 17 percent of the worlds power
according to the International Atomic Energy Commission. In the US
alone, there are 45 reactor sites each housing one or more nuclear
reactors. In a nuclear reactor, enriched Uranium, which is Uranium-238 with a high concentration of Uranium-235, undergoes a process know as Induced Nuclear Fission. Nuclear Fission occurs when an atom of a fissionable material is struck by a neutron and splits into two lighter atoms, releasing a massive amount of heat and gamma radiation. The heat is used to boil water, producing steam used to turn a generator. The reason this is called a chain reaction |
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| is because when the Uranium nucleus splits, it produces more neutrons which in turn fission more Uranium. The process is only controlled with the introduction of a moderator, such as graphite, and control rods. Control rods are generally made from cadmium steel because of it's high heat resistance. The control rod is then coated with Hafnium or Silver-Indium-Cadmium (Ag-In-Cd) to absorb free neutrons. | ||||
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This is the Byron nuclear power plant in Illinois. This plant has two
reactors, one capable of producing 1,194 Megawatts and the other 1,162
Megawatts. The cooling towers in the background are not releasing smoke.
The fog coming out is merely condensed water vapor from cooling the
return steam from the turbines. This steam is not coming out of
the nuclear reactor. There are several heat exchangers in between the
reactor water and the cooling water. Once cooled, the water is
circulated back through the reactor to be heater to steam again.
Nuclear power plants are generally refueled every 18 months, which means that there is no need to transport massive amounts of fuel, as there is with coal. |
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| While nuclear power is "cleaner" than coal fired power plants, it still leaves us with a waste problem that is potentially devastating. Though nuclear plants don't produce smoke or ashes at the time of power generation, they do leave us with radioactive waste that will be here for thousands of years. Questions of how to best dispose of this waste are becoming more and more pressing as plants produce more and more waste with each passing year. Potential answers range from storing the waste in underground caverns, such as Yucca Mountain in Nevada, to launching the waste in to space. By the end of 2003, there will be approximately 85,000 metric tons of nuclear waste. This waste will exist for millions of years, so the only intelligent solution would be to find an alternative source of power. | ||||
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