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Post by abacus9900 on Sept 20, 2010 18:54:24 GMT 1
How does a nuclear reactor work?
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Post by mak2 on Sept 23, 2010 10:11:24 GMT 1
OK. I'll have a go to get the discussion going.
The energy comes from a controlled chain reaction of nuclear fission.
The fuel is normally uranium or plutonium. The nuclei of these elements are unstable and tend to split into smaller nuclei, a process that produces energy. Fission also produces neutrons that trigger fission in other nuclei. Hence the chain reaction. The speed of the chain reaction is controlled by absorbing some of the neutrons.
Thus nuclear energy is converted to heat, which is removed from the reactor by a coolant and used to generate steam, which drives turbines, which power generators, which produce electricity.
Seemple!**
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Post by abacus9900 on Sept 23, 2010 12:31:06 GMT 1
OK. I'll have a go to get the discussion going. The energy comes from a controlled chain reaction of nuclear fission. The fuel is normally uranium or plutonium. The nuclei of these elements are unstable and tend to split into smaller nuclei, a process that produces energy. Fission also produces neutrons that trigger fission in other nuclei. Hence the chain reaction. The speed of the chain reaction is controlled by absorbing some of the neutrons. Thus nuclear energy is converted to heat, which is removed from the reactor by a coolant and used to generate steam, which drives turbines, which power generators, which produce electricity. Seemple!** Thanks, mak2, that seems a pretty good intro to the subject but I may have more questions for you when I have thought about it a bit.  |
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