Nuclear Energy

Designers try to establish the probability of such an event at less than 10-6 per annum, ie for any one reactor only one such event in 1 million years of operation. However this clearly depends on being able to predict failure rates of critical components such as the pressure vessel. We have an example of a catastrophic failure in the Chernobyl case, and there it is obvious that the designers had not anticipated all the ways that the plant could fail, and the failure rate for that design is too high. It is not being built any more, and in fact that design has not been built anywhere except in the former Soviet bloc.

Some problems with land use include overdevelopment leading to habitat loss, urban sprawl resulting in loss of agricultural land, and deforestation causing environmental degradation and loss of biodiversity. Conflict over land rights and competing land uses can also contribute to social and economic challenges.

They may become important in the future but are not at the moment. This type of reactor has been built as prototypes, but is not in commercial use. The importance is that the present type of reactors in service (mostly PWR and BWR, but also PHWR and AGR) all use Uranium 235 as the fissile material, and this may become scarce in future years, though supplies are probably secure for another 50 years or so. When natural uranium is enriched in U235 there is depleted uranium left behind, this has little 235 but is mostly 238. If this is irradiated in a fast reactor it will produce Plutonium, which can then be used as the feed fuel for that reactor and others, so securing a further supply of nuclear fuel. Water cannot be used in a fast reactor as it moderates or slows the neutrons, and liquid metals (sodium or sodium/potassium) have been experimented with. The concept does work but so far is not commercially attractive. This type of prototype experiment can only be done with government funds and at the moment there is not much activity except design studies. Quite a large prototype was built at Dounreay in Scotland but financial support was rmoved and it is now being de-commissioned. See Wikipedia 'Fast Breeder Reactor'

The Chernobyl Disaster caused a lot of damage to the environment.

Nuclear radiation does not usually affect vegetation much, but over two square miles (five square kilometers) of forest trees were killed outright. There are many square miles of land that are unusable. Animals were killed off in large numbers miles away. Children were not permitted in cities seventy miles (133 km.) away from the plant during the summer for fear they would play outdoors, where they would be exposed to poisons in the soil. Mushrooms grown throughout the Ukraine were too radioactive to eat. Herds of agricultural animals were rendered unfit for any use nearly a thousand miles (1600 km) away. The economic cost of the damage has been estimated as high as a trillion U. S. 1995 dollars. The environmental loss cannot be calculated.

Nuclear fusion, specifically the proton-proton (P-P) chain, is responsible for more than 98% of the Sun's energy. Less than 2% of the Sun's energy is estimated to come from the Carbon-Nitrogen-Oxygen Fusion Cycle, because the Sun is not massive enough to depend on the CNO cycle.

Nuclear meltdown occurs when fuel rods in a nuclear reactor produce too much heat, causing them to melt. This can lead to the release of radioactive materials and poses a significant risk to both the environment and human health. Cooling systems failure is a common cause of nuclear meltdowns.

nuclear power is going to be around for much longer, more fission reactors will be built to compensate in the increase in energy usage and more research is being done to make fusion energy which will replace fission reactors(this is quite a while yet before fusion reactors can be used to produce use usable energy for long periods of time).

Bio-power stations use organic materials like wood, agricultural residues, and other waste to generate electricity or heat through processes such as combustion or gasification. They help reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuels and promote sustainable energy production.

The Three Mile Island accident was caused by a combination of human error and mechanical malfunctions. Operators misread confusing and contradictory instrument readings which led to a partial meltdown in one of the reactors. This accident highlighted the importance of proper training for nuclear plant operators and the need for improved safety systems.

The nuclear reaction that occurs when a uranium nucleus breaks up into fragments is called nuclear fission. It releases a large amount of energy in the form of heat and radiation.

There was no famous disaster (or anything else) at Chernobyl in Russia as there is no such place.

However for the disaster that occurred in Chernobyl in the Ukraine, please see the related question.

Medium-sized stars (like the sun) primarily fuse hydrogen into helium in their cores through the process of nuclear fusion. As the star evolves, it may also produce elements like carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen through additional fusion reactions. These elements are built up in the star's core over its lifetime.

It can come from any source which will provide a reliable supply of cool water, a large river, lake, or the ocean if nearby. Use of salt water may require measures against corrosion. If cooling towers are used, most of the heat rejection will occur in transfer to the air passing up the tower. This takes out some of the cooling water as it gets entrained in the air flow, generally about 5 percent of the water flow is lost so has to be made up. If the plant is on the coast and uses seawater then cooling towers are not necessary as there is an almost limitless heat sink in the ocean.

Energy is released by fusion of elements to heavier elements, i.e. fusion of hydrogen to helium in the sun's core.

I'm not sure what you mean by the 'composition of elements', but the hydrogen that our sun, like billions of other main sequence stars, is fusing right now is the leftover hydrogen from the Big Bang which, in billions of years' time, will eventually run out, and stars will have to fuse heavier elements, going up to iron (which means the universe will, eventually, die).

Bigger stars than the sun do fuse heavier elements, in 'layers', with the heaviest (Fe) in the middle, and the lightest (H) at the surface (look up onion structure star).

The price of uranium varies depending on factors such as market demand, supply, and political conditions. As of September 2021, the price of uranium is approximately $30-32 per pound, which is equivalent to around $66-70 per kilogram.

It's really just a matter of degree, all reactors produce some power. Those used in a power plant will produce perhaps 3000 to 5000 Megawatts thermal. Low power reactors producing a few kilowatts are used for experiments, teaching in universities, and for producing radioisotopes by irradiating samples, but reactors in this sort of power level would not be harnessed to produce electricity, the heat produced if large enough would be removed and rejected to the atmosphere or to a water cooling circuit. This makes them simple to operate and to start and stop as required.

Applications of uranium:

- nuclear fuel for nuclear power reactors

1. Uranium is an alternative to fossil fuels, especially for countries without reserves of coal, petrol, methane.

2. Uranium don't contribute to global warming.

3. Uranium don't release carbon dioxide.

4. In the future uranium can be extracted from the sea water.

- explosive for nuclear weapons

- material for armors and projectiles

- catalyst

- additive for glass and ceramics (to obtain beautiful green or yellow colors)

- toner in photography

- mordant for textiles

- additive for the preparation of biological samples for electron microscopy

- shielding material (depleted uranium)

- ballast (counter weights)

- and other minor applications

To release the energy of a fuel, you need to burn it in the presence of oxygen. This combustion process causes a chemical reaction that converts the potential energy stored in the fuel into heat and other forms of energy.

The speed sensitive governor on the steam turbine operates by detecting changes in speed from the normal 60 Hz (or 50 Hz in Europe and other countries). This is to try to keep grid frequency constant, or more constant than otherwise. Thus if an extra load is suddenly put on the grid, the frequency falls, the turbine governors all see this and respond by opening the steam valves to compensate. The opposite happens if a load is suddenly shed. Sudden drops in frequency can also occur if a generating unit trips out, and the governors then respond to make up the deficit. It's not the complete answer though, and the grid control centre will also get involved and probably ask certain generators to adjust their output. This is why you always need to have some units on line that are not being already run at their maximum possible output.

Atomic energy? If you're talking about chemical energy (from the bonds between atoms) then anything on fire is an example. If you're talking about nuclear energy (from the nucleus in an atom) , that can be found in nuclear power plants or in the sun. There aren't really any everyday examples of nuclear energy because it takes a great deal of energy to manipulate atomic nuclei. Radioactive decay is another example of nuclear energy. So are cosmic rays that strike earth's atmosphere (mostly protons).

No, nuclear power is not a fossil fuel. Fossil fuels are formed from the remains of living organisms over millions of years, while nuclear power is generated by splitting atoms in a process called nuclear fission.

They generate electrical energy from nuclear energy, and then distribute it

through wires to your house, where it can be used to run your lights, your TV,

and your electric can-opener.

You can't. Nuclear energy refers to energy released by splitting or combining the nuclei of atoms. Geothermal energy refers to energy that comes from heat in the earth (geo referring to the earth, and thermal meaning heat). Once you generate heat from either of those sources, the heat is going to be the same.

In a geothermal power plant, heat is obtained from the Earth's natural heat by pumping hot water or steam from underground reservoirs. In fossil-fueled power plants, heat is generated by burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, or natural gas to produce steam that drives turbines. Geothermal power plants produce energy using sustainable and renewable heat sources, while fossil-fueled power plants rely on finite and polluting fossil fuels.

Nuclear, solar and geothermal power all provide electricity without harmful greenhouse gas emissions. If we use them instead of burning fossil fuel (coal, oil and natural gas) then we use less of these non-renewable resources.
True or yes