Nuclear fission power plants

Zirconium carbide is a highly refractory compound with excellent properties but, unlike titanium carbide, it has found only limited industrial importance except as coating for atomic-fuel particles (thoria and urania) for nuclear-fission power plants.l " ] This lack of applications may be due to its high price and difficulty in obtaining it free of impurities. 

Nuclear fission power plants were at one time thought to be the answer to diminishing fossil fuels. Although the enriched uranium fuel was also limited, an advanced nuclear reactor called breeders would be able to produce more radioactive fuel, in the form of plutonium, than consumed. This would make plutonium fuel renewable. Although plutonium has been called one of the most toxic elements known, it is similar to other radioactive materials and requires careful handling since it can remain radioactive for thousands of years. 

It is highly improbable that a nuclear fission power plant would ever explode like a nuclear bomb, but a loss of coolant accident could result in a melt down condition. In a melt down, a large amount of radiation can be released at ground-level. A nuclear or conventional chemical or steam explosion could disperse much of the radioactive particles into the atmosphere. This is essentially what happened when the Chernobyl gas explosion occurred in the Soviet Union in 1986. 

Diagram of a nuclear fission power plant. Note that the water in contact with the fuel rods is completely contained and radioactive materials are not involved directly in the generation of electricity. The details of the production of electricity are covered in Chapter 19. 

Is it possible for a nuclear fission power plant to blow up like an atomic bomb ... 

Nearly 443 nuclear fission power plants are in operation around the world, and of these, 103 are located in the United States (Figure 1.10). The American plants were built at a total investment of about 0.5 trillion. Plant construction takes over 10 years, and no new orders have been issued for nuclear power plants for decades. Between 1970 and 1980, some 100 applications were submitted, but all were turned down. During the last 50 years, 253 nuclear... 

There is a trend in the United States toward using coal-fired power plants to generate electricity rather than building new nuclear fission power plants. Is the use of coal-fired power plants without risk Make a list of the risks to society from the use of each type of power plant. 

It is highly unlikely that a nuclear fission power plant would ever explode like a nuclear bomb, but a loss of coolant accident could result in a melt down condition. 

FIGURE 17.16 A typical nuclear fission power plant. 

Polonium is used to eliminate static electricity in industrial processes, such as rolhng out paper, wire, or sheet metal in mills. Polonium is also sometimes used in brushes to remove dust from photographic film and in the manufacturing of spark plugs that make ignition systems in automobiles more efficient, particularly in extremely cold temperatures. It can also be used as a portable, low-level power source and, since polonium is fissionable, used in nuclear weapons and nuclear electric power plants. 

No form of energy production is without risk. Make a list of the risks to society involved in fueling and operating a conventional coal-fired electric power plant, and compare them with the risks of fueling and operating a nuclear fission-powered electric plant. 

The decreased solubility of at higher temperatures can have deleterious effects on fish species that migrate up rivers. Fossil-fueled or nuclear electrical power plants maybe located along those rivers. These power plants run their generators by burning coal, oil, or natural gas, or by the fission of uranium. The heat that is produced converts water into steam, which spins the turbines, which in turn spin the generators. Power plants usually are built next to bodies of water to utilize water in the condensing portion of the cycle. The heated water is returned to the river where it continues to flow downstream. 

Del y for Dec y. Nuclear power plants generate radioactive xenon and krypton as products of the fission reactions. Although these products ate trapped inside the fuel elements, portions can leak out into the coolant (through fuel cladding defects) and can be released to the atmosphere with other gases through an air ejector at the main condenser. 

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. 

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