核能发电物理.pptxVIP

1 Overview How a Fission Reactor works: Avoiding ‘Chernobyl’ 2 Energy from fission Nuclear energy can be released from any reaction (e.g. fusion, fission etc) if it yields… an increase in total binding energy (same as) a decrease in total mass Thus: mass converted to energy (E=mc2) Number of nucleons, A Binding Energy per nucleon (MeV) Energy from fission Energy from fusion 3 Energy from fission E.g. – one 238U nucleus (Z=92) splits into two 119Pd nuclei (Z=46): apply conservation of mass-energy… Where Q = energy released. so Q/c2 = 0.20538u, 1u= 931.5 MeV/c2, so Q = 191 MeV Note: Q is positive – i.e. energy is released (mass is reduced) Enormous energy released – mostly in KE of fission fragments 4 Energy from fission Question: Why doesn’t 238U simply fission spontaneously? It obviously wants to! In fact, Q +ve for most nuclei over A=100, so why don’t they ALL fission? Consider pot energy of two “separating” 119Pd fragments… 5 Neutron-induced fission So, nucleus needs to be given energy (D) before it can fission. Where can you get it from? Consider “firing” a neutron at a 235U nucleus to make it fission… (this is a typical fission reaction from 235U). For this fission event, D=6.2 MeV. Now, look at the first step… From the masses, we find that Q’ = 6.54 MeV Simply absorbing the neutron provides enough energy to cause fission Thus, 235U is FISSILE How many naturally-occurring fissile nuclides are there? 238U, however, is FISSIONABLE. Q’ is not quite enough, needs a bit more energy 6 Neutron-induced chain reaction Now – a chain reaction is feasible… Energy released = 178 MeV One of these (on average) needs to go on to cause another fission event… Looks easy ! Put a large lump of 235U together, and relax to enjoy fireworks ! However…. other things can happen to neutrons natural U is 0.715% 235U (fissile) and 99.285% 238U (fissionable) 7 Neutron-induced chain reaction Neutron interactions Fast fission neutrons (~2MeV) are emitted in an amount