Nuclear energy processes

G. A. Akin, H. P. Kackenmastei, R. J. Schiadei, J. W. Stioheckei, and R. E. Tate, ChemicalProcessingPlantEquipment Electromagnetic Separation Process, Oak Ridge, Teimessee, National Nuclear Energy Series, Div. 1, Vol. 12, TlD-5232, U.S. AEG Technical Information Service, 1950. 

The largest consumption of beryUium is in the form of aUoys, principally the copper—beryUium series. The consumption of the pure metal has been quite cycHc in nature depending on specific governmental programs in armaments, nuclear energy, and space. The amount of beryUium extracted from bertrandite has tanged between 200 and 270 metric tons pet year since 1986 (14). SmaU quantities of beryl were also processed during this period. 

Fullwood, R. R. and R.C. Erdmann, 1983, Risks Associated with Nuclear Material Waste Processing, Progress in Nuclear Energy, Pergammon Press Ltd. 

In certain applications it has not always been easy to hnd suitable metallic container materials, particularly in the nuclear-energy industry, where, for certain applications, corrosion resistance of the same order as that required by the fine chemical industry has to be achieved in order to prevent contamination of the process stream. Such difflculties have stimulated the study of corrosion in fused salts and have led to a fairly high degree of understanding of corrosion reactions in these media. 

In the field of nuclear energy, titanium has been used for processing of fuel elements, where this demands use of nitric acid or aqua regia ", and for control-rod mechanism, in which the short half-life of irradiated titanium is of advantage. 

The heart of the nuclear reactor boiler plant system is the reactor core, in which the nuclear fission process takes place. Nuclear fission is the splitting of a nucleus into two or more separate nuclei. Fission is usually by neutron particle bombardment and is accompanied by the release of a very large amount of energy, plus additional neutrons, other particles, and radioactive material. The generation of new neutrons during fission makes possible a chain reaction process and the subsequent... 

At 2000 K there is sufficient energy to make the H2 molecules dissociate, breaking the chemical bond the core density is of order 1026 m-3 and the total diameter of the star is of order 200 AU or about the size of the entire solar system. The temperature rise increases the molecular dissociation, promoting electrons within the hydrogen atoms until ionisation occurs. Finally, at 106 K the bare protons are colliding with sufficient energy to induce nuclear fusion processes and the protostar develops a solar wind. The solar wind constitutes outbursts of material that shake off the dust jacket and the star begins to shine. 

Nuclear fusion processes derive energy from the formation of low-mass nuclei, which have a different binding energy. Fusion of two nuclear particles produces a new nucleus that is lighter in mass than the masses of the two fusing particles. This mass defect is then interchangeable in energy via Einstein s equation E = me2. Specifically, the formation of an He nucleus from two protons and two neutrons would be expected to have mass ... 

R. Atkinson and F. Houtermans apply Gamow s theory of potential barrier penetration by quantum tunnelling to suggest how stars can release nuclear energy by synthesis of hydrogen into helium by an (unspecified) cyclic process. 

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