Everything+Nuclear



On this page you will see everything about nuclear power, radiation, and nuclear waste!!!

Nuclear power is one of the greenest forms of energy. Through the whole time of nuclear power only two plants have ever had major melt downs



Nuclear power is the harnessing of radiation to evaporate water and then use the steam to turn a turbine.

Coolants used in reactors are: Low-pressure liquid coolants allow all their heat to be delivered at high temperatures, since the temperature drop in heat exchangers is less than with gas coolants. Also, with a good margin between operating and boiling temperatures, passive cooling for decay heat is readily achieved.
 * Water** must be maintained at very high pressure (1000-2200 psi) to allow it to function above 100ºC, as in present reactors. This has a major influence on reactor engineering.
 * Helium** must be used at similar pressure (1000-2000 psi) to maintain sufficient density for efficient operation.
 * Carbon dioxide** was used in early British reactors and their AGRs. It is denser than helium and thus likely to give better thermal conversion efficiency. There is now interest in supercritical CO2.
 * Sodium,** as normally used in fast neutron reactors, melts at 98ºC and boils at 883ºC at atmospheric pressure, so despite the need to keep it dry the engineering required to contain it is relatively modest. However, normally water/steam is used in the secondary circuit to drive a turbine at lower thermal efficiency than the Brayton cycle.
 * Lead** or lead-bismuth are capable of higher temperature operation. They are transparent to neutrons, aiding efficiency, and do not react with water. However, they are corrosive of fuel cladding and steels. Pb melts at 327ºC and boils at 1737ºC. In 1998 Russia declassified a lot of research information derived from its experience with submarine reactors, and US interest in using Pb/Pb-Bi for small reactors has increased subsequently.
 * Molten fluoride salt** boils at 1400ºC at atmospheric pressure, so allows several options for use of the heat, including using helium in a secondary Brayton cycle with thermal efficiencies of 48% at 750°C to 59% at 1000°C.

=Process:= 1. First the raw uranium is mined from the ground. The top uranium producing countries are Canada, Australia, Kazakhstan, Russia and Namibia. 2. The metal is then enriched to make it radioactive enough to evaporate the water. 3. The enriched Uranium is the put in the reactor. 4. The radiation heats the water to steam which turns the turbine creating Watch the movies below to see the rest of the process.

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Radiation

Nuclear waste is the byproduct of nuclear power stations.

Works Cited