EES 0836 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Control Rod, Nuclear Reaction, Spontaneous Fission
3 Apr 2016
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Interestingly, it was so 3 billion years ago. Now probability of wandering neutron hitting 235u is sufficiently high to keep reaction crawling forward: enrichment is hard to do: a huge technical roadblock to nuclear ambitions, nuclear fission reactors. Gamma rays from excited states of daughter nuclei. Energetic electrons from beta-decay of daughters: the net result: lots of banging around. Generates heat locally (kinetic energy of tiny particles) For every gram of 235u, get 65 billion joules, or about 16 million. Compare to gasoline at roughly 10 kcal per gram kilocalories: a tank of gas could be replaced by a 1-mm pellet of 235u, enrichment, natural uranium is 99. 27% 238u, and only 0. 72% 235u. Lots of surface area is good: also need to slow down neutrons. 235u: 2 reactors brought online in 1983, 1984. Older decommissioned reactor retired in 1992 after 25 years of service: 1. 1 gw each; pwr type, no cooling towers:
