By Ms.

Bhavya Tottempudi August 11th 2010 IARE

Nuclear Fission Basics

Radioactive decay doesnt provide much power as evidenced by

RTGs For high thrust applications, the only practical form of nuclear energy is fission. Energy released through fission of a single Uranium nucleus is about 200 MeV and the rate of fission (number of nuclei undergoing fission) can be very high. The energy released in the fission-fragment velocity is very quickly converted into heat, as the fragments slow down in the Uranium.
So during controlled fission reaction , the Uranium becomes very hot. To prevent the Uranium from melting, it is cooled by passing some

coolant in the neighboring area. This coolant gets heated up, which can then be harnessed for various uses. For a rocket engine, the cooling of the Uranium is accomplished using propellant, which passes through the reactor and out through a nozzle

Nuclear Fission Basics (2)

There are 2 isotopes of Uranium found naturally: U-238

and U-235 (0.72% of total) U-235 is the preferred isotope because of the complex way neutrons interact with these heavy nuclei.
In addition to causing fission, neutrons can be scattered,

elastically or inelastically, or it can be absorbed without causing fission The probability of these different interactions depends in a complex way on the energy of the neutron and which isotope it encounters as it scatters through the uranium.

U-238 is capable of fission