Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by nuclear fission of uranium and plutonium in nuclear power plants. Nuclear decay processes are used in niche applications such as radioisotope thermoelectric generators in some space probes such as Voyager 2. Generating electricity from fusion power remains the focus of international research.
Civilian nuclear power supplied 2,586 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity in 2019, equivalent to about 10% of global electricity generation, and was the second-largest low-carbon power source after hydroelectricity. As of January 2021, there are 442 civilian fission reactors in the world, with a combined electrical capacity of 392 gigawatt (GW). There are also 53 nuclear power reactors under construction and 98 reactors planned, with a combined capacity of 60 GW and 103 GW, respectively. The United States has the largest fleet of nuclear reactors, generating over 800 TWh zero-emissions electricity per year with an average capacity factor of 92%. Most reactors under construction are generation III reactors in Asia.
Nuclear power has one of the lowest levels of fatalities per unit of energy generated compared to other energy sources. Coal, petroleum, natural gas and hydroelectricity each have caused more fatalities per unit of energy due to air pollution and accidents. Since its commercialization in the 1970s, nuclear power has prevented about 1.84 million air pollution-related deaths and the emission of about 64 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent that would have otherwise resulted from the burning of fossil fuels.
Accidents in nuclear power plants include the Chernobyl disaster in the Soviet Union in 1986, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011, and the more contained Three Mile Island accident in the United States in 1979.
There is a debate about nuclear power. Proponents, such as the World Nuclear Association and Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy, contend that nuclear power is a safe, sustainable energy source that reduces carbon emissions. Nuclear power opponents, such as Greenpeace and NIRS, contend that nuclear power poses many threats to people and the environment.
It is my understanding there are two alternative paths to a bomb, one which the North Koreans have possessed for over 30+ years which is a graphite moderated natural uranium fuel reactor.
A 3rd path is the possibility of doping Thorium to produce short lived 233-protactinium and separate this...
So, I have a Bachelor's degree in Electronics and Communications (outside of US) and I wanted to pursue work in nuclear fusion so I had applied for an MS in nuclear engineering in the US. I have gotten admission in the University of Florida.
Anyway, I was sharing this information elsewhere on...
There seems to be a lot of conflicting research on nuclear winter theory, especially since the 1990s. Carl Sagan famously predicted that the Kuwaiti oil well fires from Operation Desert Storm would result in a small global winter, but the effects turned out to be more localized and less severe...
Hi! I have a question about nuclear fission. Here is the problem:
238_U (B/A = 7.6 MeV/n) is divided into two 119_Pd ( B/A = 8.5 MeV/n). How much energy will be released?
I was thinking since the 119_Pd has larger B/A (binding energy per nucleus), energy is needed for this reaction to happen...
I am applying for master's degree programme in Nuclear Engineering for this year and considering universities from the following countries: Russia, Korea, Japan, China
I have a B.Sc. (Hons) in Nuclear Science degree which I've got it in 2009.
Could anyone recommend me any good graduate school...
Looking at the Wikipedia page for the Lande g-factor, I'm a bit confused. I thought that g_I\approx5.585, that of the proton, but then there is the line saying that
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land%C3%A9_g-factor
It makes sense that the nuclear and Bohr magnetons would differ by the mass...
Pronouncing a nuclear reaction like
as "one,zero,neutron + 235,92,uranium yields 141,56,barium + 92,36,krypton + 3,1,0,neutron" is awkward. How is it pronounced by physicists in practice?
I had read a few helpful forums on the pros and cons of going for a masters vs. phd in nuclear engineering. However, I am still confused about one thing. I am considering pursuing a career in reactor design (fission or fusion, will likely make another post to discuss this). Here are my...
I'm new to this so please correct me if I'm doing this wrong. I'm curious to know about what practical uses are there for nuclear fusion other than a green power source.? I've already seen a few readings and a video from a Michel fellow about how it works, and it's fascinating stuff I'm not much...
Hi all,
I have been accepted to a few schools for nuclear engineering (masters and phd programs) and wanted an opinion on which school has the best groups for nuclear materials research? I have been accepted into the following programs:
University of Michigan
Texas A&M University
Berkeley...
Are anti-nucs dancing in the streets? Westinghouse the nuclear power branch of Toshiba has filed for bankruptcy leaving two unfinished power plants in the US and propose projects in the UK and India in limbo...
What is the nuclear binding energy of N-14 in joules per mole of nuclei?
The mass deficit is 0.11278. Atomic mass is 14.00307. Total mass is 14.11585.
I keep getting stuck after converting and substituting it into the equation.
First I converted the mass deficit into kilograms. 0.11278 =1.1278 ×...
http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/249809/why-only-light-nuclei-are-able-to-undergo-nuclear-fusion-not-heavy-nuclei
Can anyone please explain me - what is similar between
Nuclear fission & Nuclear fusion?
Why are only light nuclei able to undergo nuclear fusion, not heavy nuclei?
I am a...
Trojan Nuclear Power Plant was located 12 miles north of St. Helens, Oregon. St. Helens, Oregon, is only 39 miles away from Mount St. Helens, which had a major volcanic eruption in 1980. The heaviest ash fell to the northwest of the volcano in Washington and to some extents Idaho, which...
Hi all,
I would like to know what's the kind of work a mechanical engineer has to perform when being part of the team encharged of building a fusion or a generic nuclear reactor. I find many areas in mechanical engineering attractive, but I believe that fusion reactors have great potential in...
I have read an article talking about material research in fusion. One part in the context is divided into three aspects about the material capable of using in a fusion power reactor. Material selection in the first wall and plasma-facing components are two of the aspects. But it does not mention...
I think I got this right, I just want a second opinion to know if my concepts are correct
1. Homework Statement
20Na decays to an excited state of 20Ne through the emission of positrons of maximum kinetic energy 5.55 MeV. The excited state decays by ##\alpha## emission to the ground state of...
I browsed this forum a while ago and saw that several people recommend Lamarsh's Introduction to Nuclear Engineering as an intro to this field. I have read about half of this book and really don't like it. Some of the equations are derived in confusing/roundabout ways. For example, many formulas...
Homework Statement
In an experiment carried out with a beam of thermal neutrons it is found that on traversing a 2mm thick foil of 197Au, some 70% of the neutrons are removed. What is the total thermal neutron cross-section for this isotope of gold? Comment on the result of the cross-section...
How should I go about using equation 8.18? Link can be found below. In the book, an example is used where
Th-220 --> C-12 + Po-208 with a Q value of 32.1 MeV is used, and it is said to yield
t1/2 = 2.3x106 but for the life of me I cannot reproduce this result. This is what I did:
Going from...
Nuclear reactors are licensed with a fixed service life in all countries. This is despite the fact that reactors have widely varying ages (some plants have taken decades to complete), varying use cycles (not all plants run at 90%+ capacity factor, some are even mothballed), and undergo power...
Homework Statement
Hello guys, I was using mcnp code SERPENT, and while defining materials i encountered a problem. The problem is that for example: if I'm given that i have a 3.5 percent enriched U-235. how do i find the rest of the mass percents of U-234, U-238, O2. Now since i know mass...
Homework Statement
Using the Semi-empirical Mass Formula show that for fixed odd atomic mass
number, A, the most stable isobar has a neutron to proton ratio given by
N/Z = 1 + aCA2/3/(2aA)
Homework Equations
B(A,Z) = aV A − aS A2/3 − aCZ2A-1/3 − aA(Z − N)2/A + pairing term
The Attempt at a...
Nuclei of unstable isotopes spontaneously fission in a way that is measured in half-life.
So for a particular nucleus at a given time, it is a probability of some amount, thus is a QM fluctuation?
Then what is going on in reactors which in effect modify the nucleus half life by introducing extra...
I was researching on radioactive elements and found out that polonium is the most radioactive element and the most radioactive isotope of polonium (out of 33!) is polonium 210. So I was wondering why it isn't used in nuclear plants and bombs. I know that if a slow neutron was to hit uranium 235...
Hi everyone!
I'm an italian undergraduate in physics and one of my course is called "Basics of Energy Physics". For the exam you have to write a brief composition based on one of the topic of the course. I've chosen the nuclear energy, because this will probably be my main interest in my post...
There is an episode of Star Trek where Kirk and Spock use a mortar with a nuclear explosive head against an alien threat.
At the time I had thought that it was an interesting device, but completely futuristic. But, as I have learned, it does seem that in this instance, Star Trek had copied from...
Hi guys.
I am a mechanical engineering student working on finishing my junior year. I have always been interested in nuclear engineering (and slightly regret not doing my undergrad in it) and am looking to obtain a master's in it and go work. I am in the U.S. so there are plenty of really good...
There are approximately 15 000 nuclear weapons on the planet. The largest one as far as I am aware is the Tsar Bomba, which packs a punch of (rounding here) 100 megatons of TNT.
So if all of them were Tsar Bombas, we'd be looking at 15 000*100 megatons TNT = 1 500 000 000 000 tons TNT. Source...
good morning,
I'd like to know if exsists a classical explanation and, of course, qualitative about the nuclear fission / fusion reactions.
I would like to explain the development of external energy to considering only nuclear forces system
in terms of internal mechanical energy and the fact...
I have a glass of water at room temperature. The electromagnetic force is at play between the electrons and nucleus of the atoms, the strong nuclear force is at play holding the nucleus together, the force of gravity weak as it may be is at play between the various particles - electrons, quarks...
Hi, is it hard to study Neutron diffusion / nuclear theory from Introduction og nuclear engineering Lamarsh without a teacher ? , noticing that I will be taking Nuclear theory course on the next semester.
Hello
Let's suppose a beta-decay. The mother nucleus is dM heavier than the daughter nucleus.
What happen if the excitation energy does not match any combination of excited states in the daughter nucleus?
Example: the daughter nucleus has 100keV of excitation energy, but the first exited...
I can't really explain my query fully in the space of a title but after hearing an explanation about how nuclear bombs work there is one thing I don't understand - the fissile material is in the centre, around that is the neutron deflector and around that the conventional explosives (this is...
Fusion energy is very efficient and clean,but it's very hard to achieve it.That's why I think that instead of wasting energy on starting the fusion reaction we could use nuclear fission to start the fusion reaction.
It's a simple concept:just let more neutrons in the fission reaction.
This will...
I was watching an explanation (found here: youtu.be/yTkojROg-t8 ) on nuclear fission.
In the video, he described the process of fission to happen one a random neutron smashes into a uranium nucleus. This causes the necleus to split into krpyton and barium, taking part of the nucleon and...
Last night I watched History channel 10-hours "Doomsday 10 Ways the World will End".. the others are far out like Gamma Ray Burst, Black Holes, Rogue Planet, Killer Asteroid, Nuclear War, etc. and I can only feel entertained but when I watched the Solar Storm part. I got alarmed. This has...
Hello Dears
I am Mechanical Engineering Technology and I am thinking to get Master degree in Nuclear Engineering/ Nuclear Mechanical Engineering. So, is it possible to do that and in which university?
Thank you
Hi, do large nuclear power design companies ask for high GPA/Average ? companies like terrapower Westinghouse...? Is a successful engineering career linked with high gpa/average ?
As if we don't have enough to worry about already, I hate to think where this is leading us.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/22/politics/donald-trump-strengthen-expand-nuclear-capability/index.html
(CNN)President-elect Donald Trump signaled Thursday that he will look to "strengthen and expand" the...
Hello,
It seems everybody knows that iodine-131 is produced in nuclear reactors, but so far, I couldn't find any example of nuclear reactions starting with U-235 and leading to I-131...!
Directly, undirectly, going through other fission products, going through beta decay... Nothing. I mean...
This is my final year at high school and i don't know which college is better for study.
i love physics and chemistry especially nuclear subjects
So i have lots of questions like what I'll study and the applications of it , where I'll work and which one is deeply focus on nuclear stuff...
Homework Statement
A beam of ##^{50}##Ti nuclei impinged on a ##0.5 mg/cm^2## thick ##^{208}##Pb target in an experiment lasting 176 hours. During that time a total of ##3260 \; ^{257}##Rf nuclei were detected. The beam intensity was throughout the experiment constant at ##6.6\mu A##. Each...
Hello everyone,
I was wondering if anyone here knows about the current job prospects for someone with a Ph.D. in experimental nuclear physics. Jobs more so out in industry I guess is what I'm wondering.
Any information would be great. I've done some searches on google and see some listings...
I was reading about the new pebble bed gas-cooled reactor China is building and was looking into how the fuel design reduces the risk of meltdown. Apparently this is largely due to something called "Doppler Broadening" and this somehow affects neutron absorption. I don't see how this works and...