ENERGY 303 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Nuclear Power Plant, Nuclear Fission Product, Nuclear Weapon
Document Summary
Fission chain reaction: fission creates neutrons that cause more fission, so with enough 235u to intercept neutrons, an explosive chain reaction results . Fuel rods: pack uo2 fuel into small pellets, pack into long fuel rods, assemble together to drop into reactor core. A small portion (~10%) comes from radioactive decay of fission products, as you will explore in lab. Southern california"s (former) nuclear plant: power from typical coal or gas-fired power plant 300 mw, nuclear power plant 1gw = 1000mw (per reactor) Other kinds of nuclear reactor design: pretty much all of them use uranium dioxide, different ways of absorbing the neutrons, different levels of safety. Meltdown : avoiding leaks or radioactive releases, getting the fuel. The nuclear fuel cycle: mining (it occurs naturally in rocks!, refining, enrichment, power generation, reprocessing. In-situ leaching reserves natural deposition process by using an oxidizing fluid. Global u resources are all around the world: australia, kazakhstan, Canada, us: yellow cake to fuel pellets.
