Nuclear Power – A wonderful source of energy-23

Nuclear Power

Utilizing nuclear reactions to generate electricity is known as nuclear power. Nuclear fission, nuclear decay, and nuclear fusion reactions can all provide nuclear energy.
Currently, nuclear power plants use the fission of uranium and plutonium to generate the great majority of the world’s electricity from nuclear sources.

Applications of nuclear decay processes include radioisotope thermoelectric generators seen in various space probes, including Voyager 2. International research is still concentrated on using fusion power to produce electricity.

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Process of Generating Nuclear Power-

Thermal reactors using enriched uranium in a single fuel cycle are used in the majority of nuclear power plants. Nuclear fission occurs when a neutron strikes the nucleus of an atom made of plutonium or uranium-235 and causes the nucleus to divide into two smaller nuclei. The reaction produces neutrons and energy.

In order to start fresh fission events, which release additional energy and neutrons, the emitted neutrons can strike other uranium or plutonium nuclei. A chain reaction is then started. When the proportion of neutron-absorbing atoms rises to the point that a sustained chain reaction is no longer possible, usually after three years, fuel is removed.

Before being moved to long-term storage, it is next cooled for a number of years in on-site spent fuel pools. Despite its small volume, wasted fuel contains highly radioactive waste.

Although its radioactivity diminishes exponentially with time, it must be kept apart from the biosphere for hundreds of thousands of years; however, newer technologies, such as fast reactors, have the potential to drastically reduce this.

During this process Pu-239 is produced in small amounts in every reactor.

Reprocessing of Waste ( spent fuel)-

Since the used fuel still contains a significant amount of fissionable material, several nations reprocess their spent fuel in order to separate the fissile and fertile components for use in new fuel.

However, this process is more expensive than creating new fuel from uranium that has been mined. Because Pu-239 is the preferred material for nuclear weapons and is produced in small amounts in every reactor, reprocessing is viewed as a risk for the spread of nuclear weapons.

Advantages of Nuclear energy over energy produce by coal, petroleum, natural gas, and hydroelectricity –

Compared to other energy sources, nuclear power generating has one of the lowest rates of deaths per unit of energy produced. Due to air pollution and accidents, coal, petroleum, natural gas, and hydroelectricity have all resulted in more fatalities per unit of energy than other energy sources. Atomic power facilities don’t release any greenhouse emissions.

Disadvantages in the form of accident-

• The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that happened at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant’s No. 4 reactor on April 26, 1986, close to the city of Pripyat in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union.

• Fukushima Daiichi nuclear tragedy in 2011, As Nuclear Power Plant was in Fukushima Daiichi, One of the biggest earthquakes ever recorded, the Thoku earthquake, which created a large tsunami, was the primary factor in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear tragedy in 2011.

Waste material produce during the process-

Radioactive waste, often known as nuclear waste, is created during routine operations at nuclear power plants and other facilities. During plant decommissioning, this kind of garbage is also produced.

Low-level waste and high-level waste are the two main kinds of nuclear waste. The first is less dangerous because it has less radioactivity and contains contaminated goods like garments.

The spent fuel from nuclear reactors, which is extremely radioactive and needs to be cooled before being securely disposed of or reprocessed, makes up the majority of high-level waste.

Disposal of waste.

There are more than 430 locations worldwide where radioactive material is still accumulating, most of which are waste storage facilities at individual reactor sites.

Centralised underground storage facilities that are well-managed, protected, and monitored are advised by experts as being a significant improvement.

International agreement exists regarding the wisdom of keeping nuclear waste in deep geological sites. Other approaches, such as horizontal drillhole disposal into geologically inactive locations, have been proposed with the advent of new technologies.

Breeding -the process of converting non-fissile material into fissile material-

The process of breeding involves transforming non-fissile material into fissile material that can be used as nuclear fuel. The majority of today’s nuclear waste is made up of fertile material, which is a non-fissile substance that can be utilized in this procedure.

In breeder reactors, this breeding process happens spontaneously. Fast-neutron breeder reactors use uranium-238, which makes up 99.3% of all naturally occurring uranium, or thorium, as opposed to light water thermal-neutron reactors, which use uranium-235 (0.7% of all natural uranium).

Thermal-neutron breeder reactors, which employ fission fuel produced from thorium-233 in the thorium fuel cycle, are an alternative to fast-neutron breeders.
In the Earth’s crust, uranium and thorium are about 3.5 times more and 3.5 times less frequent, respectively.

Since India has abundant thorium reserves but limited uranium, its three-stage nuclear power programmed uses a thorium fuel cycle in the third stage.

Breeder reactor construction is underway in China and India.

500 MW Indian Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor has begun.

Nuclear fusion-

Nuclear fusion reactions could produce less radioactive waste than fission and be safer. Though technically highly challenging and having not yet been produced in quantities that could be employed in a working power plant, these reactions seem to have some potential.
Since the 1950s, researchers have been studying fusion power both theoretically and experimentally. Although there is research being done on nuclear fusion, it is unlikely that this technology will be widely used commercially until 2050.