2007-05-09 12:52:42 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Engineering
Just wondering
2007-05-09 12:55:54 · update #1
Gene: Just like Three Mile Island in 1979... I saw this morning a program about.... that's why the question did arise
2007-05-09 13:03:11 · update #2
Randy : That's why they're affraid of that crazy people ... surely they'd try to do...
2007-05-09 13:05:36 · update #3
The way the fuel rods are structured, you can have a melt down but not an explosion.
2007-05-09 12:59:08 · answer #1 · answered by Gene 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Probably not in the sense you mean. Nuclear power plants are designed *not* to explode, and often the radioactive fuel isn't concentrated enough to make bombs of. On the other hand, 'breeder' nuclear reactors produce plutonium as a byproduct, which can be used to make bombs. In either case, you can't simply go into the power plant, pull out a rod, and use it to blow up New York -- you still have to build all the really tricky parts with the fancy engineering, and in the former case, you need to concentrate the fissile uranium more.
2007-05-09 13:06:57 · answer #2 · answered by peri_renna 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I am not a true expert in this field, but "nuclear fuel" used in nuclear powerplants and also on some vessels(nuclear carriers and submarines) is not useful to be used to build an atomic bomb because it's not pure enough.
For example Natural Uranium(Unat) has a concentration of U235(the radioactive hysotope) of about 0,7%, but to be used in nuclear applications it has to be from 2% to 7%, this is called enriched uranium.(2-3% in centrals, 6-7% for vessels propulsion).
But this is not enough, because for Atomic Bombs the percentage must be higher.
2007-05-09 13:35:33 · answer #3 · answered by sparviero 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Absolutely not.
Commercial nuclear power plants contain low enriched uranium which is not suitable for bomb making. It also lacks the triggering mechanism for making the bomb explode, which is a completely different form of technology.
2007-05-09 15:49:44 · answer #4 · answered by Jennifer 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I believe that nuclear fuel has to be purified further before it can be made into a bomb. But if you had the right equipment....
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Gas centrifuges or sulfuric acid baths are normally required for purification, and at present, the required equipment is too expensive to be afforded by anyone other than the government of small countries (like Iran or North Korea).
2007-05-09 13:02:53 · answer #5 · answered by Randy G 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
the fuel used in nuclear reactors is not the correct type of material to build a nuclear bomb out of, so no
2007-05-09 15:30:06 · answer #6 · answered by halo__17 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋