ATOMS JOIN TOGETHER TO FORM SERIES

It is cooled down in a separate structure called a cooling tower. The steam powering the turbines and generators is ultimately recycled. They can be built in urban or rural areas, and do not radically alter the environment around them. They do not pollute the air or release greenhouse gases. Nuclear power plants produce renewable, clean energy. For these reasons, most nuclear power plants are located in the developed world. Building nuclear reactors requires a high level of technology, and only the countries that have signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty can get the uranium or plutonium that is required. The first nuclear power plant designed to provide energy to a community was established in Obninsk, Russia, in 1954. The Experimental Breeder Reactor began powering itself in 1951. The first nuclear reactor to produce electricity was located near Arco, Idaho. Nuclear Energy and People Nuclear energy produces electricity that can be used to power homes, schools, businesses, and hospitals. This reduces the amount of mining, extracting, and processing that needs to be done. Complex processes allow some uranium and plutonium to be re-enriched or recycled. A typical nuclear reactor uses about 200 tons of uranium every year. The treaty promotes the peaceful use of nuclear fuel, as well as limiting the spread of nuclear weapons.

Because nuclear fuel can be used to create nuclear weapons as well as nuclear reactors, only nations that are part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) are allowed to import uranium or plutonium, another nuclear fuel. It must also be processed before it can be used. Once uranium is mined, it must be extracted from other minerals. gets uranium from Australia, Canada, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Uzbekistan. U-235 makes up less than one percent of the uranium in the world.Īlthough some of the uranium the United States uses is mined in this country, most is imported. However, the specific type of uranium used to produce nuclear energy, called U-235, is rare. Uranium is also a very common element, found in rocks all over the world. That's because uranium atoms split apart relatively easily.

Nuclear Food: Uranium Uranium is the fuel most widely used to produce nuclear energy. Nations such as Lithuania, France, and Slovakia create almost all of their electricity from nuclear power plants. The United States has more than 100 reactors, although it creates most of its electricity from fossil fuels and hydroelectric energy. As of 2011, about 15 percent of the world's electricity is generated by nuclear power plants. Removing the rods will allow a stronger chain reaction and create more electricity. The more rods of nuclear poison that are present during the chain reaction, the slower and more controlled the reaction will be. Nuclear poisons are materials, such as a type of the element xenon, that absorb some of the fission products created by nuclear fission. Rods of material called nuclear poison can adjust how much electricity is produced. The turbines drive generators, or engines that create electricity. The steam turns turbines, or wheels turned by a flowing current. The cooling agent, heated by nuclear fission, produces steam. A cooling agent is usually water, but some nuclear reactors use liquid metal or molten salt. The heat created by nuclear fission warms the reactor's cooling agent. The energy released from this chain reaction creates heat. Fission products cause other uranium atoms to split, starting a chain reaction. As they split, the atoms release tiny particles called fission products. In a nuclear reactor, atoms of uranium are forced to break apart. The fuel that nuclear reactors use to produce nuclear fission is pellets of the element uranium.

ATOMS JOIN TOGETHER TO FORM SERIES

A nuclear reactor, or power plant, is a series of machines that can control nuclear fission to produce electricity.

In the process of nuclear fission, atoms are split to release that energy. In fact, the power that holds the nucleus together is officially called the ' strong force.' Nuclear energy can be used to create electricity, but it must first be released from the atom.

There is a huge amount of energy in an atom's dense nucleus. Atoms are tiny units that make up all matter in the universe, and energy is what holds the nucleus together. Nuclear energy is the energy in the nucleus, or core, of an atom.

Atoms join together to form