Option C

C.3 Nuclear Fission and Fusion: Core

Man first walked on the moon on July 20, 1969. Recently there has been interest in
returning to the moon . One of the reasons for this is the potential to mine helium-3 as a
future energy source on Earth.
The first hydrogen bomb, tested in 1942 involved the reaction between deuterium and
tritium (known as D-T fusion)

Tritium is radioactive!
Helium-3 is not radioactive and
does not produce radioactive
waste.

Within the nucleus there are two forces

at play:
i. electrostatic forces of repulsion
between protons

ii. strong nuclear forces of

attraction
between nucleons (protons and
[a very short distance
neutrons) this is called binding energy

force, but 100x stronger

than electrostatic force]

In the nucleus, neutrons bind the nucleus

together: binding force.
In light nuclei, the binding force overcomes the
repulsion of positively charged protons, provided
the number of protons and neutrons is about equal.
In heavy nuclei, there needs to be more neutrons
than protons to overcome the repulsion between
protons.
The balance between the binding force and the
electrostatic repulsion keeps the nucleus stable.

Binding
energy

The mass of a nucleus is generally less than the sum of the

masses of the nucleons.
This difference is called themass-defect.
The mass-defect is responsible for the binding together of the
nucleons.The energy equivalent of the mass-defect is called
the binding-energy of the nucleus.

1 amu = 1.66X 10-27 kg

The missing mass (mass defect) is converted into energy (binding energy).

In a nuclear reaction, the sum of the atomic masses and

atomic numbers in the reactants and products must
match.

Fusion reactions produce a larger, more stable nucleus

(helium-3) in which the binding energy per nucleon is
greater than in deuterium. The extra binding energy is
released as heat.

Nuclear energy can be the result of 2

different types of reactions:
1. Nuclear fusion: two very light nuclei bind together to make a heavier, more stable nucleus.

These reactions occur

in the stars!

2. Nuclear fission: heavy nuclei split into smaller nuclei

These reactions occur
in nuclear power
plants and in atomic
bombs!

Both fission and fusion increase the binding energy per nucleon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTkojROg-t8

During both fission and fusion mass is lost and converted into
pure energy
E = mc2 where E is energy
m is mass
c is the speed of light (3.00 X 108 ms-1)

Nuclear Fusion
Pros
The fusion of 1 g of hydrogen will release as much energy as the combustion of 1000 kg of
coal.
Hydrogen is inexpensive and abundant.
Fusion reactions do not produce radioactive waste.
Cons
Fusion reactions must be carried at at very high temperatures cost benefit?
You have to get two positively charged nuclei close enough together to get them to fuse.
Without the electrons, atoms have a positive charge and repel. This means that you have to
have super high atomic energies to get these things to have nuclear fusion. High energy
particles are the problem.

Absorption Spectrum
Fusion reactions do happen in the stars.
As light from a star travels from its core to the cooler, outer
regions, specific frequencies of light are emitted depending on
which elements are present.
Astronomers look for certain absorbed frequencies in the
spectrum to determine a stars chemical composition.

Emission spectra of
hydrogen and helium
Remember that
visible light is
produced when an
electron falls to the
2nd energy level.

Nuclear Fission
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D91T-B-PVE0
Uranium -235 is typically used in a fission reactor.

When bombarded with neutrons, it becomes unstable and splits into 2 smaller
nuclei.
Another possible reaction could be

The neutrons released go on to split other helium nuclei and causes a chain reaction.

There is a critical mass (minimum amount) of uranium that

must be present in order to cause the chain reaction and
have the reaction become self sustaining.
A breeder reactor is one that produces more fissionable material
than it consumes.
Uranium- 238 does not undergo fission but can be converted to (by
neutron bombardment) to plutonium- 239 which does undergo
fission reactions.

Nuclear fission reactions produce radioactive waste as is a byproduct

from nuclear reactors, fuel processing plants, hospitals and research
facilities..
This waste can be classified according to low-level or high-level waste.
Low-level waste comes from reactor operations and from medical,
academic, industrial, and other commercial uses of radioactive
materials.
Radioactive isotopes eventually decay, or disintegrate, to harmless
materials. Some isotopes decay in hours or even minutes, but others
decay very slowly. Strontium-90 and cesium-137 have half-lives of about
30 years (half the radioactivity will decay in 30 years).
High-level waste is primarily spent fuel removed from reactors after
producing electricity. Plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,000 years

Calculating Radioactive Decay

Consider a sample of radioactive 32P that has a half-life of 14.3
days (half of it is gone after 14.3 days).
If we start with 50 g (x), after 14.3 days we would have 25 g (X/2).
After 28.6 days, we would have x/4 or 12.5 g
After 42.9 days, we would have x/8 or 6.25 g
Another way to look at this is
50 g life > 25 g life > 12.5g life > 6.25g

Storage and Disposal of Radioactive Waste

High Level Waste

Many nuclear power plants store spent nuclear fuel in "spent fuel
pools." These pools are made of reinforced concrete several feet
thick, with steel liners. The water is typically about 40 feet deep
and serves both to shield the radiation and cool the rods.
As the pools near capacity, utilities move some of the older spent
fuel into "dry cask" storage. These casks are stainless steel
canisters surrounded by concrete. Fuel is typically cooled at least
five years in the pool before transfer to cask.

Often stored on site until it has decayed or may be buried

underground in individual concrete containers.
Low Level Waste
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57YMY7H954&list=PL816Qsrt2Os1StGTk1VHavGSuTGH6v1Gp&i
ndex=3
https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFwTPMVYfpo&index=7&list=PL
816Qsrt2Os1StGTk1VHavGSuTGH6v1Gp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=1G0v5lA5ye0&list=PL816Qsrt2Os1StGTk1VHavGSuTGH6v1G
p&index=5