TECHNOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF THE PHILIPPINES

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

PROJECT
IN
PCHM1

“HOW DOES NUCLEAR ENERGY WORK”

( FUSION & FISION )

SUBMITTED BY:MICAH S. GAYRAMA, BSCHE

SUBMITTED TO:ENGR. FREFE RUPINTA
SUBMITTED ON: MAY 22, 2010
How Does Nuclear Energy Works ( Fission Process )

Nuclear Energy generally is produced from either Uranium or Plutonium. Plutonium is

another Radioactive material but the process is basically the same. And the process called
Fission. Fission is something that happens in biological spheres that is a cell divided into two.
And the suggestion is that our atom of uranium235, actually splits into two and when it does that
it produces by products which are full of energy and produce a huge amount of heat. So this is
the first point that the process produces massive amounts of energy. Neutrons are around all the
time and when neutron come in contact with uranium235 uranium splits apart, and when the
uranium235 splits apart it spits out neutron as well. And these neutrons can hit other uranium235
atoms and then can split up two and they also produce neutrons and see how many they are
producing. This process takes ten to the minus nine ( 10-9 ) seconds, that’s one thousand
millionth of a second. And you can imagine these processes each time you are getting a doubling
of the numbers involved. You get a huge amount of energy very, very quickly. Instantaneously
almost, so you get a massive explosion. An explosion is simply a large amount of energy being
created at in a very short time. And it can’t all sit together in one little heap it has to move. So
this is how nuclear energy works. It works from this process to stop this happening, This would
be the normal process and normally most of these neutrons just disappears into the air and don’t
do any harm. However, if each of these neutrons produces yet another reaction, then we get
awful lot of energy produced at once and awful lot of heat. So in a nuclear reactor what we try
and do is bring the uranium235 nuclei atoms close together so that the neutrons don’t have a
chance to escape. So if you have a big piece of uranium then the neutron formed inside are
almost certain to hit another uranium atom. That’s one thing but in a reactor we also have to have
something to slow down these neutrons because actually even if the neutrons hits a uranium235
atom it doesn’t necessarily work in this way. Actually sometimes you just get absorbed and it
turns into something else, so sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. So what we have to do
within the nuclear reactor is we slow down the neutrons. And we put the material like heavy
water in between to slow them down. In a bomb we don’t, we just make sure that they’re so
close together that it all happens at once and then we get a huge bang. So this is basically how
nuclear energy works.
 How Nuclear Energy Works

We require for generation of Nuclear Energy, one of the two substance, either Uranium
or Plutonium. Uranium is naturally occurring, Plutonium is not, and plutonium is the result of a
working nuclear power station. It comes out as a byproduct. Inside the nuclear power station,
there is a core of what we call reactor. This is called a nuclear reactor. And the reactor has core
and the core contains fuel rods. Fuel Rods containing uranium normally has uranium oxide but it
doesn’t actually matter. It’s the uranium which is active. And these are the rods of uranium
within the core. Also in the core we need a thing called a moderator, this is to make the reactor
work. Without the moderator, the uranium will not undergo this nuclear reaction, and the whole
thing won’t work. In addiction we have things called control rods which can be pushed into the
nuclear reactor when its working and shut it down. And they do that by controlling the reaction
in the core. All a nuclear power station does. On a nuclear reactor does, is produce heat, what we
then have to do is take the heat away and once we’ve taken it away and turn in into steam, which
can drive a turbine, which drives a generator. This is exactly the same as in a conventional power
station. Unlike most means of generating heat, the nuclear is very economical on the amount of
fuel needed. For example, here twenty-eight tons for a year of working, whereas a power station
—a coal power station would need two thousand tons a week, this needs only twenty eight tons a
year. So we don’t have large transportation of large amounts of fuel. But the fuel is a fossil fuel
—it is not renewable. It has a very dangerous byproducts which have to be stored for long
periods of time. But remember there’s only very small amount of this fuel needed. So here we
have basically the same device as in conventional power station where you burn coals or gas, but
the material is more dangerous. At the same time it can be built well outside a town. It can be
built where it isn’t going to do any harm to the local population. So here we have how nuclear
energy is generated.
 How Does Nuclear Energy Works ( Fusion Process)

Fusion is the act of fusing; the state of being fused; a melting by heat; the uniting of
various elements into a whole as if by melting together; something formed by fusing. Phys. The
combining of the nuclei of atoms under intense heat to release nuclear energy.
Fusion is the opposite of Fission. It creates nuclear energy by combining atoms. Unlike
Fission, Fusion can generate energy from un-radioactive materials such as hydrogen. Fusion is
known to deal with many light atoms instead of Fission which deal with very heavy atoms such
as uranium. The first fusion reactor is located in Russia, and it is in process of research for it to
work as a power plant.
Fusion happens most likely at space, where stars and gasses for different things every
second. Such example is that light nuclei form and bind together to make a heavier one. This
happens everyday at the Sun, where millions of small nuclei bind together to form heavier ones,
and create massive amounts of heat by doing so. There are several reasons why we cannot use
fusion as a mass energy producer. First it is very hard to heart the gasses to great temperatures to
start the fusion process. Also the process requires a certain amount of reacting nuclei for a long
time to produce enough energy to be converted. But since we cannot keep the process long
enough the conversion from heat to electricity is very hard.
The only known heat source which can produce massively is called plasma. Even plasma
is not hot enough for fusion because it cools rapidly. Plasma is able to be contained at a magnetic
field to prevent any reaction with the region or the material walls. This method was researched
by the Russians at a spiral shaped reactor which gave the best results, the tokamak. This contains
plasma at a magnetic field to control the plasma from any disasters. And produces extreme heat
and pressure inside the reactor. This forces the atomic nuclei to bind together, and when this
process is taken place, the temperature at the tokamak reaches three times that of the Sun's core.
Although fusion has been in research for many years after fission, it has not yet created
popularity. Scientists keep on looking for a way to make fusion a possible energy source as
nuclear energy. Now fusion can create very small amounts of energy by using light elements, but
later on scientists believe they could find a way to make this as a "mass productor" of energy.
The fact that this energy source produces less than it consumes, as our knowledge tells us. It will
take a few years for it to be completely revealed. The good side of this is that it creates no
dangerous hazardous materials which can harm the Earth today. Because it uses un-radioactive
elements, it does not cause danger to the public, and if the research is done correctly, we won't
have to worry about nuclear waste in a few years. The reason that this energy isn't as efficient as
fusion is because fission requires a great amount of energy to start off the process which is still
not to be found at earth. It is easily happened at space because there are great amounts of
energies out there, such as the Sun; but it is very hard to find such thing at Earth. Today we use
this power to make smaller things than power plants, such as bombs (thermonuclear bombs).
REACTION:

Can we imagine a world without electricity? Nuclear energy is so much help in every
country, generating energy that gives us electricity which every one of us needed, but it comes
with a very dangerous effect if not handled correctly.
Nuclear power is the most dangerous way of boiling water ever invented, people die and
injured by coal, gas and oil per megawatt generated. Many people are afraid or anti nuclear
energy but peaceful nuclear power is harmless if rules are observed and being followed strictly,
also radioactive materials are thrown in to the atmosphere everyday by coal burning plants.
I think it should be research more and studied very well by our renowned scientist and
physicist around the world, because even if it is true that nuclear energy is very helpful
generating energy that gives us electricity we should not forget or took it for granted that if
mishandled it can create a great damage to every one of us.