nuclear+fission

=**Nuclear fission.**=   Nuclear fission power generation including waste clean-up, decommissioning, regulation, public acceptability, existing operations, new nuclear build, advanced reactor technology, fuel cycle and geological waste disposal. Nuclear fission takes place when a heavy atomic nucleus, such as uranium, breaks into two or more smaller pieces with the release of some energy. During this process some of the mass of the original atom is converted into energy.    Firstly, the neutron striking the uranium-235 atom to make a uranium-236 atom:    Secondly, the new uranium-236 atom rapidly decays into an atom of Ba-141 (barium), an atom of Kr-92 (krypton) and three neutrons:              <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">  <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The resulting particles and atoms all have kinetic energy. This energy comes from converting a little of the mass of the original atom into energy. When this is done, the amount of energy typically released in the case of U0235 is around 200MeV. (0.00,000,000,003,204 Joules). That is a very tiny amount of energy. However, it is about a million times more energy than is released by the burning of one molecule of petrol (gas) in a car’s engine. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">In further process, more neutrons can produce by chain reactions. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Barium and Kryton, three neutrons are released furing the fission process. These neutrons can hit further U-235 atoms and split them, releasing yet more neutrons. All we have to do is get enough U-235 in one place. If we do that we don't even need to supply the first neutron. Although the half-life of U-235 is a very long time, if we get enough of the atoms together in one place the chances that any //one// of them will undergo //spontaneous// fission is very, very high. The installed nuclear electricity capacity in the EU is 132 GWe, which provides one third of the EU’s generated electricity. It has been demonstrated that Generation-II plants can be safely and economically operated for up to 60 years through the development of improved harmonised plant-life management technologies and. plant licence extension practices (PLIM/PLEX) and that developments in fuel technologies can still lead to improvements in reactor performance. The first Generation-III reactors, which are an evolution of thermal reactors with even further improved safety characteristics and economy, are now being built. Generation || Though uranium is relatively abundant in the Earth's crust and oceans, estimates of natural reserves are always related to the cost of mineral extraction. As the price of uranium increases on world markets, the number of economically exploitable deposits also increases. The most recent estimates identified 5.5 million tons of uranium (MtU) that could be exploited below 130$/kg. The total amount of undiscovered resources (reasonably assured and speculative) available at an extraction cost below 130 $/kgU is estimated at 10.5MtU. Unconventional resources, from which uranium is extracted as a by-product only, e.g. in phosphate production, lie between 7 and 22 MtU, and reserves in sea water are estimated to be 4 000 MtU. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">At a conservative estimate, 25 000 tons of the uranium are required to <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">produce the fuel to generate 1 000 TWhe in an open fuel cycle. The <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">global electricity supplied by nuclear is 2 600 TWhe,which means that <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">the conventional resources below 130$/kgU at the current rate of <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">consumption would last for at least 85 years with the already identified <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">resources (5.5 MtU) and 246 years, if the undiscovered are also included (5.5+10.5MtU). || > energy from the same quantity of uranium than current designs and may also significantly reduce the amount of ultimate radioactive waste for disposal possibility of radiation-releasing [|nuclear accidents], the problems of [|radioactive waste disposal], and the possibility of contributing to [|nuclear weapon proliferation]. || References: [] [] [] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">﻿ [] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">﻿ [] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">﻿ [] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">﻿ [] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">﻿ [] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">﻿ [] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">﻿ [] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Fission in Uranium-235 (typical) **
 * __**Strength**__ || __**weaknesses**__ ||
 * mature low-carbon technology, operating at very high levels of safety.
 * __**Opportunities**__ || __**Threats**__ ||
 * * fast neutron breeder reactors could produce up to 100 times more
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> Nuclear power has primarily been used to produce electricity, but it can also be used for process heat applications || Concerns about the safety of nuclear fission reactors include the