International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) The ITER is an internationally funded research and development project which focuses on constructing the world’s first largest experimental nuclear fusion reactor. This project intends to adopt the experimental and theoretical studies of plasma physics or ‘tokomak’ (a device utilizing electromagnetic fields to trap plasma) and apply it to construct a fully functional, nuclear fusion power plant which will harness the energy made from nuclear fusion to create electricity.. This project is funded by USA, China, India, the EU, Russia, Japan and South Korea. The stated countries have funded a total of 6.6 billion pounds to the French government in order for the project to commence. ITER intends to fuse two elements to form helium (He). This is done so by fusing deuterium and tritium, which will create a helium nucleus and a high-energy neutron. These elements were elected to be utilized, because they require the least amount of activation energy, (therefore having the lowest temperature) and also, because they produce the most amou...
Nuclear power has grown to be a big percentage of the world’s energy. As of January 18, 2013 in 31 countries 437 nuclear power plant units with an installed electric net capacity of about 372 GW are in operation and 68 plants with an installed capacity of 65 GW are in 15 countries under construction. As of end 2011 the total electricity production since 1951 amounts to 69,760 billion kWh. The cumulative operating experience amounted to 15, 15,080 years by end of 2012. (European Nuclear Society) The change that nuclear power has brought to the world has led to benefits in today’s energy’s usage.
Physicists started to realize that stable nuclei can be converted to unstable nuclei. Through such process, they discovered that heavy nuclei can undergo nuclear fission. While testing, they added a neutron to an isotope of Uranium 235. This resulted Uranium 235 to become unstable and break down into Barium and Krypton, releasing two to three more neutrons. The breakdown of Uranium 235 is called “fission”.
All these effects were the cause of the discovery of nuclear fission and its properties. Nuclear Fusion Nuclear fusion is the process used by the sun and the stars in our solar system to produce their energy. Fusion involves smashing hydrogen atoms together at high velocities to form helium, and the matter is made into energy.
Physicists found out that among the pieces of a split atom were newly produced neutrons. These might encounter other uranium nuclei, cause them to split, and start a chain reaction. If the chain reaction was limited to a moderate pace, a new source of energy could be the result. The chain reaction could release energy rapidly and with explosive force. Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner, and Edward Teller, Hungarian-born physicists, were frightened by the possibility that Germany might produce an atomic bomb.
On April 26th, 1986, operators at the Chernobyl Power Plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, ran what they thought to be a routine safety test. But fate was not on the side of these operators. Without warning, reactor #4 became unstable, as it had been operating at a low power for a possible shutdown and the reactor’s design caused it to be unsafe at this level of power. Internal temperatures rose. Attempts to cool the system produced the opposite effect. Instantly, the nuclear core surged with power. At 1:23 p.m., the reactor exploded. The first blast ripped off the reactor's steel roof. The second blast released a large plume of radiation into the sky. Flames engulfed the building. For ten long days, fire fighters and power plant workers attempted to overcome the inferno. Thirty-one of them died of radiation poisoning. Chernobyl was the worst nuclear disaster in history. It unleashed radiation hundreds of times greater than the atomic bombs exploded over Japan during World War II. [1]
Although theoretically helium-3 could be obtained and processed efficiently to produce clean or even nuclear waste-free energy, it is not a readily available technology today. However, the future of Helium-3 is promising and so continued investigation is well warranted.
Second, the potential amount of energy produced by fusion can greatly outweigh the fission. Initially, there are some disadvantages to fusion. The time and money required to develop technology needed to initiate, contain, and sustain a profitable fusion reaction is costly, but the development is still in its early stages and will continue to advance through the next century. Fission readily creates a chain reaction which must be slowed through use of a moderator to avoid core meltdown, while fusion can only be accomplished at temperatures similar to the centre of stars, about 100 million degrees celsius. The components used in fusion exist in the form of plasma where atoms are divided into electrons and nuclei.
Stalin, political bureaucrats, and even leading Soviet physicists of the time often put early pre-war and wartime Soviet nuclear research on the back burner. This was mainly due to the Soviet Union fighting for its very existence during the first years of the war. After the tide of the war had turned towards the Soviets, and intelligence from the Western powers suggested an active atomic weapon program, renewed interest by Stalin and the Soviet machine began in earnest. The Soviet Union was behind the technological curve when it implemented its atomic weapons program in earnest and suffered greatly from a lack of resources. The Soviet scientific community, by itself, could not have produced a working atomic weapon in just four short years after the successful deployment of two atomic bombs by the United States over Japan in 1945. Resources, material, research, and scientists taken or stripped from Soviet occupied areas of the defeated Nazi Reich (mostly German) and designs stolen from the American Manhattan Project used for the Soviet nuclear weapons program allowed that program to become successful.
After the United States developed the atomic at the end of World War II, interest in nuclear technology increased exponentially. People soon realized that nuclear technology could be used for electricity, as another alternative to fossil fuels. Today, nuclear power has its place in the world, but there is still a lot of controversy over the use of nuclear energy. Things such as the containment of radiation and few nuclear power plant accidents have given nuclear power a bad image. However, nuclear power is a reliable source of energy because it has no carbon emissions, energy is available at any time, little fuel is needed for a lot of energy, and as time goes on, it is becoming safer and safer.
Uuq-292 lost 3 neutrons, and afterwards the resulting isotope decayed further by alpha emission. 24494Pu + 4820Ca 292114Uuq 289114Uuq + 3(10n), this claims that superheavy elements can be made in the laboratory.
Therefore, the initial excitement for space-nuclear power sources was quickly ended by uncertain requirements, and the broad range of more feasible technical approaches was researched.
Power from nuclear fusion reactors would be a welcome achievement for the 21st century, and at the current rate of progress it seems likely that before the end of the new century energy will be available from nuclear fusion. It is estimated that it will take over a decade from the time a sustainable fusion reaction is achieved before fusion power will be available for use. But the attention being devoted to research is strong, the experiments are coming closer to fruition, and we are coming closer to having an almost limitless supply of energy.
...ion of fusion power plant when the technology has achieved a certain level. This level will be reach with free market and patents right, which will create incentive for scientist to make innovation. Hopefully, countries, in the future, will find co-operating relationship’ among each other and solve environmental problems.
Furthermore, the future of this industry has a definite growth forthcoming. As we approach fusion power as a reality, nuclear engineers will be essential components to the distribution of a clean, safe energy source.
Whilst there are clear arguments for and against nuclear energy, the future is promising; with scientists working on potential breakthroughs such as nuclear fusion, and the design of newer and better and reactors. Nuclear fusion is a reaction which causes the nuclei of atoms to collide and form a new atomic nucleus. It is essentially what heats the sun and stars and would produce no long-lived radioactive waste.22 If scientists could control the process of atomic fusion then it could become a never ending energy source for future use.