the risks of nucear fission
2006-12-13 12:35:08 · 7 answers · asked by Beverly T 2 in Environment
In nuclear power plants U235 is the form of Uranium that is used as fuel rods. What is happening in a nuclear reactor is there are a bunch of Fuel and control rods in the core. Nuclear Power plants are the same as nuclear bombs except nuclear bombs are a chain reaction and Power plands are controlled chain reactions. The controlling is done by the insertion of control rods between the fuel rods to slow down the chain reaction. This heat is used to heat water to form steam to run a turbine.
Nuclear reactors especially the CANDU ones are completely safe its the human element the messes them up. A melt down occurs when the chain reaction is not controlled, and the water is super heated and the reactor chambre cracks allowing radioactive particles out. IF all fail safes are working meltdowns will not occur.
Hope that helps
2006-12-13 17:41:29 · answer #1 · answered by Dan 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You have several answers to your question.
The first answer describes the actual case when the cooling/powergenerating fluid ( not just water, sodium or even AIR can be used ) is removed. That is called thermal meltdown. Chernobyl is an example of this type of " accident ". The techs DELIBERATELY removed the coolant.
The second answer is " The China Syndrome " that became the title of a movie.
We have had several cases of " Thermal Runaway " when the reactor control rods were " scrammed " to stop the fission events.
EVERY reactor has to run on the knife edge between max efficiency and thermal meltdown to produce power.
The " Critical Mass " needed to create the effects of an atomic bomb out of a thermal meltdown are statistically small. The melted rods would cause an explosion that would scatter the radioactive material first. This is what happened at Chernobyl. You can even see the remains of the power plant after 20 years.
2006-12-13 15:22:25 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They also call it the China Syndrome. There's a movie about Three Mile Island. It's also called a meltdown.
2006-12-13 12:43:43 · answer #3 · answered by ANSWER MY QUESTION!! 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is called a "melt down" when the reactor gets so hot that the fuel melts down. Not really sure what you are asking.
2006-12-13 12:39:39 · answer #4 · answered by Randy G 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Neuclear melt down
2006-12-13 12:38:59 · answer #5 · answered by Gandalf 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
a nuclear meltdown
2006-12-13 12:49:41 · answer #6 · answered by Anna 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
critacal mass
hope this helps
-David-
2006-12-13 12:37:04 · answer #7 · answered by David M 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋