Fission of uranium

Krypton and Xenon from Huclear Power Plants. Both xenon and krypton are products of the fission of uranium and plutonium. These gases are present in the spent fuel rods from nuclear power plants in the ratio 1 Kr 4 Xe. Recovered krypton contains ca 6% of the radioactive isotope Kr-85, with a 10.7 year half-life, but all radioactive xenon isotopes have short half-Hves. 

Neutron-rich lanthanide isotopes occur in the fission of uranium or plutonium and ate separated during the reprocessing of nuclear fuel wastes (see Nuclearreactors). Lanthanide isotopes can be produced by neutron bombardment, by radioactive decay of neighboring atoms, and by nuclear reactions in accelerators where the rate earths ate bombarded with charged particles. The rare-earth content of solid samples can be determined by neutron... 

The isotope molybdenum-99 is produced in large quantity as the precursor to technetium-99y, a radionucleide used in numerous medical imaging procedures such as those of bone and the heart (see Medical imaging technology). The molybdenum-99 is either recovered from the fission of uranium or made from lighter Mo isotopes by neutron capture. Typically, a Mo-99 cow consists of MoO adsorbed on a lead-shielded alumina column. The TcO formed upon the decay of Mo-99 by P-decay, = 66 h, has less affinity for the column and is eluted or milked and either used directly or appropriately chemically derivatized for the particular diagnostic test (100). 

Fission of uranium gives a variety of fission products, including praseodymium, Pr. If the process by which praseodymium is formed gives JPr and three neutrons, what is the other nuclear product ... 

Artificial radioactive atoms are produced either as a by-product of fission of uranium or plutonium atoms in a nuclear reactor or by bombarding stable atoms with particles, such as neutrons or protons, directed at... 

Fission reactions produce vast quantities of energy. For example, when one mole of uranium-235 splits, it releases 2.1 x 10 J. By contrast, when one mole of coal hums, it releases about 3.9 x 10 J. Thus, the comhustion of coal releases about five million times fewer joules of energy per mole than the fission of uranium-235. 

It is found in ores such as monazite, gadohnite, and bastnasite. It was first separated into three elements in 1843 (yttria, erbia, and terbia). Erbium is also produced as a by-product of nuclear fission of uranium. 

Man-made radioactive atoms are produced either as a by-product of fission of uranium atoms in a nuclear reactor or by bombarding stable atoms with particles, such as neutrons, directed at the stable atoms with high velocity. These artificially produced radioactive elements usually decay by emission of particles, such as positive or negative beta particles and one or more high energy photons (gamma rays). Unstable (radioactive) atoms of any element can be produced. 

Krypton was discovered by William Ramsay and M.W. Travers in 1898. The element was named krypton, after the Greek word kryptos which means hidden. Krypton in trace quantities is found in the earth s atmosphere at a concentration level of about 1.14 ppm. The gas also is found in the spent fuel from nuclear reactors, resulting from fission of uranium and plutonium nuclei. Krypton has been found in Mars atmosphere in trace concentration. 

Krypton also may be recovered from spent fuel rods of nuclear power plants. It is produced, along with xenon, in fission of uranium and plutonium. This process, however, is not a major source of krypton, and the recovered gas also contains radioactive Kr-85 isotope. 

The element was discovered in the pitchblende ores by the German chemist M.S. Klaproth in 1789. He named this new element uranium after the planet Uranus which had just been discovered eight years earlier in 1781. The metal was isolated first in 1841 by Pehgot by reducing the anhydrous chloride with potassium. Its radioactivity was discovered by Henry Becquerel in 1896. Then in the 1930 s and 40 s there were several revolutionary discoveries of nuclear properties of uranium. In 1934, Enrico Fermi and co-workers observed the beta radioactivity of uranium, following neutron bombardment and in 1939, Lise Meitner, Otto Hahn, and Fritz Strassmann discovered fission of uranium nucleus when bombarded with thermal neutrons to produce radioactive iso-... 

The approximate mass of uranium that must undergo fission to produce the same energy as 10 kg of coal, calculated Assumed that heat of combustion of coal = 8000 cal g and one fission of uranium releases 200 MeV. 

Modern nuclear power is based on harnessing the energy released in a fission reaction. The development of atomic energy started in the 1930s with the discovery that atoms could be split with neutrons. This discovery laid the foundation for building the first atomic bombs during World War 11. A basic reaction representing the fission of uranium can be represented as ... 

Why a bomb Because fission of uranium produces not only barium and other elements, but neutrons. This was what Szilard s chain reaction needed. 

The first scientific attempts to prepare the elements beyond uranium were performed by Enrico Fermi, Emilio Segre, and co-workers in Rome in 1934, shortly after the existence of the neutron was discovered. This group of investigators irradiated uranium with slow neutrons and found several radioactive products, which were thought to be due to new elements. However, detailed chemical studies by Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman in Berlin showed these species were isotopes of the known elements created by the fission of uranium into two approximately equal parts (see Chap. 11). This discovery of nuclear fission in December of 1938 was thus a by-product of man s quest for the transuranium elements. 

The discovery in 1938-1939 of nuclear fission of uranium, which led ultimately to the discovery of nuclear power, heralded a new, extraordinarily fruitful stage in Ya.B. s scientific activity. His interests were concentrated on the study of the mechanism of fission of heavy nuclei and, what proved particularly important, on the development of a theory of the chain fission reaction of uranium. During 1939-1943 Ya.B. wrote several papers which laid the foundation for this subject and were of fundamental value. We note that four of these papers, written in collaboration with Yu. B. Khariton, were done practically in two years before the war. The papers of this series form the foundation of modern physics of reactors and nuclear power they are widely known and do not require special commentary—a short review of the basic physical results is eloquent enough. 

Nuclear reactors harness the energy from the fission of uranium-235. Nuclear fission occurs when the unstable nucleus of a radioactive isotope splits up, forming smaller atoms and producing a large amount of energy as a result. Scientists believe that the energy comes from the conversion of some of the mass of the isotope. 

In 1945, Marinsky, Glendenin, and Coryell first identified isotopes of element 61, promethium (Pm), which was the last member of the lanthanide series of rare-earth elements to be discovered. Isotopes of this element were obtained both as products of the fission of uranium and as products of several different types of nuclear reactions, most of which involve suitable bombardment of isotopes of neodymium for example ... 

Hiroshima exploded with energy equivalent to about 20,000 tons of TNT.18 But where does all of this energy come from Unlike ordinary chemical reactions, nuclear fission does not involve breaking and forming chemical bonds. Instead, the energy comes from the loss of mass that accompanies the fission reaction. Most, if not all, of the students will be familiar with Einstein s famous equation, E = me2, but few are likely to understand what it means.19 In 1939, Lise Meitner and her nephew Robert Frisch reported their discovery of nuclear fission.20 They realized that the energy that accompanied the fission of uranium nuclei could be accounted for by using Einstein s equation. 

Nuclear power currently provides 17% of the world s electricity. Heat is generated by nuclear fission of uranium-235 or plutonium-239. This heat is then converted to electricity by boiling water and forcing the steam through a turbine. Fission of and Pu occurs when a neutron strikes the nucleus and breaks it apart into smaller nuclei and additional neutrons. One possible fission reaction is ... 

Since the neutron proton ratio for relatively stable nuclei having atomic numbers in the 90 s is greater than the ratio for those having atomic numbers in the 3G , 40 s, or 50 s, the fission of uranium yields products whicli would be too neutron rich for stability unless extra neutrons were emitted also. Some neutrons are indeed ejected (an average of about 2.5 neutrons per fission) thus, in a typical fission ... 

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