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Can an improperly operated nuclear power plant explode like a nuclear weapon?
Wiki User
∙ 11y ago
Nuclear reactors can not explode like a nuclear bomb. A lot of bad things can happen, but that is not one of them.
Nonnuclear Explosion:
First, it is useful to distinguish "normal" explosion from nuclear bomb. (We'll get to the bomb part shortly.)
Explosions of many kinds can occur and they can occur at nuclear power plants and reactors just as anywhere else. It is not odd to have a steam powered explosion at a power plant whether it is nuclear or coal or gas because all of these types of power plants are converting heat into mechnical energy through a trubine or similar machine and the turbine generates electricity. The heat creates steam at high pressure and a mechanical failure can result in an explosion.
An explosion of the sort caused by excess heat or mechanical failure counts as one resulting from mismanagement.
Explosions can be caused by humans too. A human can place a regular bomb at a nuclear power plant or a human can fire a missile at a power plant and then the power plant, nuclear or not, explodes.
Nuclear Bomb Explosions:
The principle behind a nuclear bomb is the idea of the chain reaction. Nuclear fission is the process of a large nucleus, like uranium, breaking apart into smaller pieces and releasing energy in the process. When one nucleus decays, it causes other nuclei to decay and they in turn cause more. Such is a chain reaction, it feeds itself and the process grows and results in an explosion as long as there is enough fuel. That last part is the key because you can't make a nuclear bomb explode (or any bomb) if you run out of fuel.
Now, we get to the part about "weapons grade" nuclear material. A nuclear weapon requires a high concentration of fissionable material of the proper type and enough of it and a way to keep it in place long enough for the chain reaction to produce enough energy to be a bomb.
Nuclear reactors are not built with weapons grade material. That is essential. Further, the elaborate process of containment to hold the bomb material in place requires special engineering and that is not in a nuclear reactor. The quantity of material required for a bomb is very very large unless it is highly purified and it is not so purified in nuclear reactors.
No mismanaged nuclear plant, no nuclear plant accident of any kind, can cause a massive nuclear explosion like the blast of a nuclear weapon.
Nuclear Powered (non-bomb) Explosions:
Though a reactor can't explode like a nuclear bomb, the explosions that can occur are extremely dangerous and can spew radioactive materials widely, they are just not nuclear bomb explosions. Usually the explosions allow the radioactive core of reacting material to overheat and the radioactive material from several separate areas may combine and further heat, enhancing the ongoing nuclear chain reactions. It is not possible to go through explanations of the various scenarios, but under the worst conditions, the heated material explodes like a regular bomb and spreads itself over a large area destroying everything nearby. It is not nearly as large as a true nuclear bomb which can level a city. What is does do is spead a lot of radioactive material around. The process does not even have to explode to do that, it can just heat up enough to vaporize radioactive materials that are then released.
All of the examples of nuclear reactor disasters fall into the category on non-bomb disasters. All were and will be the type that creates and disperses harmful radioactive material and that is the core of the problem.
Final Note:
Though no sane design of a nuclear reactor could explode like a nuclear bomb, the process of making the materials the reactor uses is a process that could potentially make weapons grade material. Further, the used fuel can serve as a starting material for bomb making. In that case, it is not the reactor but the treatment of material before or after that can be directed towards a weapon.
The subject gets very complicated and this little description could not provide a person with enough information to say they understand it. More reading is recommended.
Wiki User
∙ 11y ago
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Can a nuclear reactor be used as a nuclear weapon?
No. LLNL even tested several Uranium-Hydride bombs in the 1950s. Even though their computer models said the devices should explode, none gave a nuclear yield. One could use the waste from the reactor as a Radiological Weapon, but the reactor itself is not useful as a weapon.
Can a Cookie induced nuclear power plant explode like a nuclear weapon?
Yes. But it'd probably require some sort of typo while attempting to put the system in standby before going to lunch.
How many rads does a nuclear weapon produce?
That would vary from weapon to weapon.
Can nuclear weapon explode if nuclear tipped missile is intercepted in air by the anti ballistic missile?
Maybe. If ABM was nuclear itself, it will probably cause fratricide in the warhead causing it to dud. If ABM is conventional it might detonate conventional explosives in warhead. Whether this produces yield or not depends on how safe the warhead was designed against one point detonation nuclear yield.
What weapon is stronger than a nuke?
A tactical nuke is actually the one thats stronger than nuclear bomb nuke well a nuclear factory is not a weapon its stronger than it but its not a weapon
Did chernobyl explode like a bomb?
It did explode, but this was due to a surge in steam pressure which blew off the top of the reactor, it was not a nuclear explosion as in a nuclear weapon.
Can a nuclear reactor be used as a nuclear weapon?
No. LLNL even tested several Uranium-Hydride bombs in the 1950s. Even though their computer models said the devices should explode, none gave a nuclear yield. One could use the waste from the reactor as a Radiological Weapon, but the reactor itself is not useful as a weapon.
Can a power plant can explode like a nuclear weapon?
No, a nuclear weapon needs a specific geometry to detonate, and it has to be held in this position by very high explosives to keep it in this shape. In a nuclear reactor, if the reactor core goes critical then the force of the expanding coolant will blow the reactor apart, preventing a nuclear blast.
What is the meaning of nuclear weapon?
The meaning of the word nuclear weapon, is a weapon that has a nuclear warhead on it.
Can a Cookie induced nuclear power plant explode like a nuclear weapon?
Yes. But it'd probably require some sort of typo while attempting to put the system in standby before going to lunch.
Can an improperly managed nuclear plant explode like a nuclear weapon?
No. A nuclear weapon requires a critical amount of highly enriched fuel to be rapidly brought together to cause a sudden explosion. Nuclear plants use low enriched fuel which could never cause a nuclear explosion, and this fuel is dispersed through the reactor in any case so it could not suddenly come together. Any nuclear plant explosions (like Chernobyl) are caused by the presence of high pressure steam and water circuits, not the fact of it being a nuclear plant, though certainly if there is an explosion of a pressure circuit and hence a loss of coolant, and disruption of the nuclear reactor, radioactivity may escape from the plant. This is the chief preoccupation of designers and operators, to keep the plant safe and prevent this ever happening.
What is a nuclear weapon in wich enormous energy is released by nuclear fission?
This nuclear weapon is called an atomic bomb or a nuclear bomb
What is an atomic weapon?
An atomic weapon is an alternative name for a nuclear weapon, a weapon which derives its energy from the nuclear reactions of either fusion or fission.
Which one has the ability to destroy entire cities and impair electronic communications systems?
Nuclear weapon detonations
Is an bomb or a nuclear weapon more powerful?
If by "bomb" you mean a conventional explosive weapon, then the nuclear weapon is more powerful.
How does the energy released by an earthquake compare to the energy of a nuclear weapon?
* Earthquake Richter 5.0 = 32 kilotons nuclear weapon, like was used at Nagasaki * Earthquake Richter 6.0 = 1 megaton nuclear weapon * Earthquake Richter 7.0 = 32 megaton nuclear weapon * Earthquake Richter 7.1 = 50 megaton nuclear weapon, Tsar Bomba, the largest nuclear weapon ever tested * Earthquake Richter 8.0 = 1 gigaton nuclear weapon, much larger than anything ever made
What is a nuclear weapon made of?
nuclear chemicals such as plutonium
