Nuclear Fusion Controlled Nuclear Power Discussion Questions

Does fusion produce radioactive nuclear waste the same way fission does.

Nuclear weapons research india negara maju. Your physics questions answered. We are still at an experimental stage as far as nuclear fusion reactions are concerned. The breakthrough institute recently compiled some of the tough questions it is frequently asked about nuclear power by fellow environmentalists.

In the last few years there have been a number of nuclear power plants that have started closing because it is no longer profitable for the energy companies that own them to continue operating them. To maintain a sustained controlled reaction for every 2 or 3 neutrons released only one must be allowed to strike another uranium nucleus. Applications of nuclear fusion.

Nuclear fission power plants have the disadvantage of generating unstable nuclei. If this ratio is less than one then the reaction will die out. In cases where the interacting nuclei belong to elements with low atomic numbers eg hydrogen atomic number 1 or its isotopes deuterium and tritium substantial amounts of energy are released.

Some of these are radioactive for millions of years. The vast energy potential of nuclear fusion was first exploited in thermonuclear. Using controlled nuclear fusion for a source of virtually unlimited power that is pollution free has been a dream of physicists since einsteins day but many had written the process off as.

But no one has ever been able to harness the power of burning plasma in a controlled reaction here on. In a series of new papers mit researchers provide evidence that plans to develop a next generation compact nuclear fusion reactor called sparc should be viable reports henry fountain for the new york timesthe research confirms that the design were working on is very likely to work says martin greenwald deputy director for mits plasma science and fusion center. The answers originally published at btis energy and climate illustrate that if were serious about climate change and alleviating global poverty we need nuclear power on a large scale.

In addition to fission a second possible method for obtaining energy from nuclear reactions lies in the fusing together of two light nuclei to form a heavier nucleusas we see when discussing figure 1 from mass energy relationships such a process results in nucleons which are more firmly bonded to each other and hence lower in potential energy. No combustion occurs in nuclear power fission or fusion so there is no air pollution. If it is greater than one it will grow uncontrolled an atomic explosion.

As nuclear power plants age they not only become more dangerous and prone to safety problems they also become extraordinarily expensive to operate. The fusion reactors will not produce high level nuclear wastes like their fission counterparts so disposal will be less of a problem. Fusion on the other hand does not create any long lived radioactive nuclear waste.

This is particularly true if text2. Nuclear fusion process by which nuclear reactions between light elements form heavier elements up to iron.