Geography
Fission Energy
Fission energy is a type of nuclear energy that is produced by splitting the nucleus of an atom into two smaller nuclei. This process releases a large amount of energy in the form of heat, which can be used to generate electricity. Fission energy is a non-renewable source of energy and has potential environmental risks associated with it.
Written by Perlego with AI-assistance
Related key terms
1 of 5
7 Key excerpts on "Fission Energy"
eBook - PDF- John R Fanchi(Author)
- 2010(Publication Date)
- World Scientific(Publisher)
98 CHAPTER 5 NUCLEAR ENERGY Fossil fuels were the dominant energy source in the 20 th century. Concern that the supply of fossil fuels is limited and fossil fuel combustion produces greenhouse gases is motivating the search for other sources of energy. One energy source that is receiving renewed interest is nuclear Fission Energy. Nuclear fission is the process in which a large, unstable nucleus splits into two smaller fragments. Energy from nuclear fission ge-nerates heat, which is typically used to generate electric power. Energy consumed by the United States in 2008 included over 8% nuclear Fission Energy in 2008 (Appendix B). World energy consumption included almost 6% nuclear Fission Energy in 2006 (Appendix C). Nuclear energy can be provided when large nuclei split into smaller fragments in the nuclear fission process. Energy can also be provided by combining, or fusing, two small nuclei into a single larger nucleus in the nuclear fusion process. Nuclear fusion reactions are the source of energy supplied by the sun. Both nuclear fission and nuclear fusion reactions release large amounts of energy. Significant quantities of energy need to be controlled. Some of the energy is waste heat and needs to be dissipated. Some of the energy is useful energy and needs to be transformed into a more use-ful form. Decay products from the fission process can be highly radioactive for long periods of time and need to be disposed in an envi-ronmentally acceptable manner. On the other hand, the byproducts of the fusion process are relatively safe. The purpose of this chapter is to dis-cuss the history of nuclear energy, the role of nuclear energy in the current energy mix, and the potential value of nuclear energy in a future energy mix. We begin by presenting the history of nuclear energy. Nuclear Energy 99 5.1 H ISTORY OF N UCLEAR E NERGY Nuclear energy became an important contributor to the global energy mix in the latter half of the 20 th century.
eBook - PDFGlobal Energy Fundamentals
Economics, Politics, and Technology
- Simone Tagliapietra(Author)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
5 Nuclear Energy 5.1 introduction to nuclear energy Nuclear energy is contained in nuclei of atoms, which can be released using two different physical processes: nuclear fission and nuclear fusion. Nuclear fission entails splitting atoms in a reactor, then col- lecting the heat to vaporise water into steam, turn a turbine and generate electricity; this is a well-established technology that has been in use for decades. Nuclear fusion is the process where two atomic nuclei unite to form a common nucleus, hereby releasing a high amount of energy. Nuclear fusion is the source of energy of the sun and of the stars. Research into developing controlled nuclear fusion for civil purposes began in the 1940s and still continues today, but whether or not it will become a commercially viable technology is not yet clear. Major hurdles remain, including the high temperatures (several million Celsius degrees) that need to be reached and maintained. Nuclear energy is used in both military and civil fields. The first nuclear reactors were built during World War II. They were not used to supply electricity but, on the model of the first chain reaction battery built by Enrico Fermi in Chicago, to obtain technical information on the parameters that regulate nuclear reactions and to analyse the principles of operation, experiment with different reactor models, and produce material for bombs. Nuclear bombs can be built in two ways: by enrich- ing the uranium to produce uncontrolled fission in a pure quantity of uranium, along the path leading to the launch of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima; or through the use of reactors to produce plutonium. Each reactor operating on uranium fuel creates plutonium as a by-product. Once the fuel used is taken from a reactor, plutonium 97 can be extracted through a specific chemical process. In the huge reactors built during World War II in the United States for the Manhattan project 1 , the energy produced by fission was treated simply as waste.
eBook - ePubEnergy 2000
An Overview of the World's Energy Resources in the Decades to Come
- Heinz Knoepfel(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Taylor & Francis(Publisher)
CHAPTER 3Nuclear Fission Energy
Nuclear energy, one of the two fundamental energy sources that drive the evolution of the universe, represents the stage of energy development nearest to the present time and perhaps the most complex one. The public’s reaction to nuclear energy is still partly conditioned by its advent in a military context, and by incomprehension. It remains a fact that, for the broad public, the atomic mushroom has for years been the symbol of the destructive power of certain scientific and technological discoveries. Will nuclear energy resume its forward march and sooner or later become one of man’s predominant energy sources, as has so often been predicted in the past?3.1 THE FISSION SOURCENuclear electricity todayIn spite of all discussions, nuclear energy is already used on a wide scale. At the end of 1984, there were 344 nuclear reactors for electricity production in service in 24 countries, providing an installed electronuclear capacity of 220 GWe (billion watts of electric power); another 210 reactors, either under construction (180) or on firm order, will about double the existing capacity. In 1984 the world produced more than 13% of its electricity from nuclear energy (13.5% in the United States and 23.6% in the European Community), and with the reactors presently under construction, the share will increase to about 17% in 1990.Wrong projectionProjections for the year 2 000 made in 1981 indicate that the total installed electronuclear capacity will be about 500 GWe for the OECD countries (including essentially the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Turkey, Australia, Japan). This figure is about a quarter of what was predicted as recently as 5 years earlier (and may be too high once again), and clearly demonstrates the slowdown of the application of nuclear energy in the last few years. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, has announced plans for a joint nuclear program with its Comecon partners. In addition to the already operational 16 GWe, the program aims to install some 30 GWe of new capacity by 1990. China plans to have up to 15 GWe of nuclear power in service by the end of the century.
- David Halliday, Jearl Walker, Patrick Keleher, Paul Lasky, John Long, Judith Dawes, Julius Orwa, Ajay Mahato, Peter Huf, Warren Stannard, Amanda Edgar, Liam Lyons, Dipesh Bhattarai(Authors)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
• Fission can be understood in terms of the collective model, in which a nucleus is likened to a charged liquid drop carrying a certain excitation energy. • A potential barrier must be tunnelled through if fssion is to occur. Fissionability depends on the relationship between the barrier height E b and the excitation energy E n transferred to the nucleus in the neutron capture. Why study physics? For decades, after World War II, Australia, New Zealand and Pacific nations protested against extensive atmospheric nuclear testing conducted by the United States, Britain and France in the Pacific Ocean. Wind and ocean currents spread the radioactive fallout to inhabited islands. Later, underground nuclear testing fractured the base of fragile atolls, leading to contamination of the marine environment. Today, adverse health and environmental impacts are the legacies of these nuclear testing programs. Pdf_Folio:1067 Let’s now turn to a central concern of physics and certain types of engineering: can we get useful energy from nuclear sources, as people have done for thousands of years from atomic sources by burning materials like wood and coal? As you already know, the answer is yes, but there are major differences between the two energy sources. When we get energy from wood and coal by burning them, we are tinkering with atoms of carbon and oxygen, rearranging their outer electrons into more stable combinations. When we get energy from uranium in a nuclear reactor, we are again burning a fuel, but now we are tinkering with the uranium nucleus, rearranging its nucleons into more stable combinations. Electrons are held in atoms by the electromagnetic Coulomb force, and it takes only a few electron-volts to pull one of them out. On the other hand, nucleons are held in nuclei by the strong force, and it takes a few million electron-volts to pull one of them out.
- John R. Fanchi, John R. Fanchi, (Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Academic Press(Publisher)
CHAPTER ELEVEN Nuclear Energy The fundamental science underlying nuclear energy was introduced in the previous two chapters. Nuclear energy can be obtained from two principal types of reactions: fission and fusion. Fission is the splitting of one large nucleus into two smaller nuclei; fusion is the joining of two small nuclei into one large nucleus. In both reactions, significant amounts of energy can be released. The historical development of nuclear energy and nuclear energy technology is discussed in this chapter. 1 11.1 HISTORY OF NUCLEAR ENERGY Physicist Leo Szilard conceived of a neutron chain reaction in 1934. Szilard knew that neutrons could interact with radioactive materials to cre-ate more neutrons. If the density of the radioactive material and the number of neutrons were large enough, a chain reaction could occur. Szilard thought of two applications of the neutron chain reaction: a peaceful harnessing of the reaction for the production of consumable energy, and an uncontrolled release of energy (an explosion) for military purposes. Recognizing the potential significance of his concepts, Szilard patented them in an attempt to hinder widespread development of the military capabilities of the neutron chain reaction. This was the first attempt in history to control the proliferation of nuclear technology. Italian physicist Enrico Fermi (1901–1954) and his colleagues in Rome were the first to bombard radioactive material using low-energy (slow) neutrons in 1935. The spatial extent of the nucleus is often expressed in terms of a unit called the fermi , in honor of Enrico Fermi. One fermi is equal to 10 − 15 m, or 1 fm = 10 − 15 m, and is the range of the nuclear force. The correct interpretation of Fermi’s results as a nuclear fission process was provided in 1938 by Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch in Sweden, and Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann in Berlin. Hahn and Strassmann observed that neutrons colliding with uranium could cause the uranium 321
eBook - PDFEnergy Security
Visions from Asia and Europe
- A. Marquina(Author)
- 2008(Publication Date)
- Palgrave Macmillan(Publisher)
15 Nuclear Energy: World Perspectives Eduardo González and José María Martínez-Val The role of nuclear energy in electricity supply Nuclear energy is the technical and economic label to identify a set of activi- ties that transform the energy contained in the atomic nucleus into a useful type of energy, particularly electricity. The potential energy of the inner com- ponents of the atomic nucleus is very large, and it conveys nuclear radiation and nuclear reactions. The main reaction exploited so far is fission, which is usually induced by a free neutron. In one fission, about 0.1 per cent of the reacting mass disappears, and it is converted into heat. This is a much higher value than the corresponding level of chemical reactions. In fact, it is about 1 million times higher. This is why nuclear energy is so powerful, but it is also a cause for concern. To minimize the risks, nuclear reactors are designed and operated so that temperature and pressure values do not exceed the allowed levels. Nuclear energy for electricity generation was started in the late 1950s, and evolved very fast in the first two decades. This fast early deployment was slowed down by a set of factors, particularly social and political attitudes. Accidents, such as TMI-2 (Harrisburg, USA, 1979) and Chernobyl-4 (former Soviet Union, 1986), were at the very root of social and political concern. Additionally, nuclear waste was also considered to be too complex a prob- lem from social and political viewpoints. Last, but not least, proliferation of nuclear weapons was another fundamental issue for nuclear foes. However, despite these social concerns, it must be stated that the actual facts are very different. First, nuclear accidents in the Western world (including TMI-2) have not had any relevant impact on people and the environment.
No longer available |Learn more- (Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Academic Studio(Publisher)
When a relatively large fissile atomic nucleus (usually uranium-235 or plutonium-239) absorbs a neutron, a fission of the atom often results. Fission splits the atom into two or more smaller nuclei with kinetic energy (known as fission products) and also releases gamma radiation and free neutrons. A portion of these neutrons may later be absorbed by other fissile atoms and create more fissions, which release more neutrons, and so on. This nuclear chain reaction can be controlled by using neutron poisons and neutron moderators to change the portion of neutrons that will go on to cause more fissions. Nuclear reactors generally have automatic and manual systems to shut the fission reaction down if unsafe conditions are detected. A cooling system removes heat from the reactor core and transports it to another area of the plant, where the thermal energy can be harnessed to produce electricity or to do other useful work. Typically the hot coolant will be used as a heat source for a boiler, and the pressurized steam from that boiler will power one or more steam turbine driven electrical generators. There are many different reactor designs, utilizing different fuels and coolants and incur-porating different control schemes. Some of these designs have been engineered to meet a specific need. Reactors for nuclear submarines and large naval ships, for example, commonly use highly enriched uranium as a fuel. This fuel choice increases the reactor's power density and extends the usable life of the nuclear fuel load, but is more expensive and a greater risk to nuclear proliferation than some of the other nuclear fuels. ________________________ WORLD TECHNOLOGIES ________________________ A number of new designs for nuclear power generation, collectively known as the Generation IV reactors, are the subject of active research and may be used for practical power generation in the future.
Index pages curate the most relevant extracts from our library of academic textbooks. They’ve been created using an in-house natural language model (NLM), each adding context and meaning to key research topics.
