Nuclear Power Plants Use Fission Or Fusion

The 20bn 182bn iter project will replicate the reactions that power the sun and is intended to demonstrate fusion power can be generated on a commercial scale.

Nuclear radiation questions and answers. The steam is used to spin a turbine to produce carbon free electricity. Nuclear fusion promises. Nuclear fission reactions are used in nuclear power reactors since it is easy to control and produces large amounts of energy.

Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions that release nuclear energy to generate heat which most frequently is then used in steam turbines to produce electricity in a nuclear power plantnuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Fusion in contrast occurs when two or more smaller atoms fuse together creating a larger heavier atom. Fusion energy simply is the exact opposite of fission energy which comes from splitting an atom and is widely used to power nuclear plants and weaponsfusion occurs constantly on our sun which.

Fusion processes require fuel and a confined environment with sufficient temperature. Nuclear fusion is a nuclear reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei collide at a very high energy and fuse together into a new nucleus. One of the main drawbacks of nuclear power together with low frequent catastrophic accidents is the disposal of radioactive waste which can remain a danger for long periods more than many thousands of years.

Nuclear fusion and nuclear fission are different types of reactions that release energy due to the presence of high powered atomic bonds between particles found within a nucleus. When uranium 235 atoms bombard with neutrons the heavy nucleus of the uranium splits and produces krypton 94 and barium 139 with the emission of three neutrons. Whether the reaction is exothermic or not it is dependent on the binding energy of resulting nuclei.

The energy released by fission in these reactors heats water into steam. Uranium and plutonium are most commonly used for fission reactions in nuclear power reactors because they are easy to initiate and control. Fission and fusion power plants.

Fusion power is a proposed form of power generation that would generate electricity by using heat from nuclear fusion reactionsin a fusion process two lighter atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus while releasing energy. Presently the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by nuclear fission of uranium. This is the main difference.

In fission an atom is split into two or more smaller lighter atoms. Nuclear fission is a nuclear reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts lighter nuclei.