Nuclear energy how is it produced

Atom s are tiny units that make up all matter in the universe, and e nergy is what holds the nucleus together. There is a huge amount of energy in an atom's dense nucleus.

In fact, the power that holds the nucleus together is officially called the " strong force. In the process of nuclear fission , atoms are split to release that energy. A nuclear reactor , or power plant , is a series of machines that can control nuclear fission to produce electricity. The fuel that nuclear reactors use to produce nuclear fission is pellet s of the element uranium. In a nuclear reactor, atoms of uranium are forced to break apart.

As they split, the atoms release tiny particles called fission products. Fission products cause other uranium atoms to split, starting a chain reaction. The energy released from this chain reaction creates heat. The heat created by nuclear fission warms the reactor's cooling agent. A cooling agent is usually water, but some nuclear reactors use liquid metal or molten salt. The cooling agent, heated by nuclear fission, produces steam. The steam turns turbine s, or wheels turned by a flowing current.

The turbines drive generator s, or engines that create electricity. Rods of material called nuclear poison can adjust how much electricity is produced.

Nuclear poisons are materials, such as a type of the element xenon , that absorb some of the fission products created by nuclear fission. The more rods of nuclear poison that are present during the chain reaction, the slower and more controlled the reaction will be.

Removing the rods will allow a stronger chain reaction and create more electricity. As of , about 15 percent of the world's electricity is generated by nuclear power plants.

The United States has more than reactors, although it creates most of its electricity from fossil fuel s and hydroelectric energy. Nations such as Lithuania, France, and Slovakia create almost all of their electricity from nuclear power plants.

Nuclear Food: Uranium Uranium is the fuel most widely used to produce nuclear energy. That's because uranium atoms split apart relatively easily. Uranium is also a very common element, found in rocks all over the world.

However, the specific type of uranium used to produce nuclear energy, called U , is rare. U makes up less than one percent of the uranium in the world. Although some of the uranium the United States uses is mined in this country, most is import ed. The U. Once uranium is mined, it must be extract ed from other mineral s. It must also be processed before it can be used. Because nuclear fuel can be used to create nuclear weapon s as well as nuclear reactors, only nations that are part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty NPT are allowed to import uranium or plutonium , another nuclear fuel.

The treaty promotes the peaceful use of nuclear fuel, as well as limiting the spread of nuclear weapons. A typical nuclear reactor uses about tons of uranium every year. Complex processes allow some uranium and plutonium to be re-enriched or recycled.

This reduces the amount of mining , extracting, and processing that needs to be done. Nuclear Energy and People Nuclear energy produces electricity that can be used to power homes, schools, businesses, and hospitals. The first nuclear reactor to produce electricity was located near Arco, Idaho. The Experimental Breeder Reactor began powering itself in The moderator helps slow down the neutrons produced by fission to sustain the chain reaction. Control rods can then be inserted into the reactor core to reduce the reaction rate or withdrawn to increase it.

The heat created by fission turns the water into steam, which spins a turbine to produce carbon-free electricity. All commercial nuclear reactors in the United States are light-water reactors. This means they use normal water as both a coolant and neutron moderator.

These reactors pump water into the reactor core under high pressure to prevent the water from boiling. The water in the core is heated by nuclear fission and then pumped into tubes inside a heat exchanger. Those tubes heat a separate water source to create steam. Nuclear generation is the only source of electricity that can produce a constant supply of power — known as baseload power—reliably without emitting greenhouse gases.

Nuclear energy has one of the lowest environmental impacts on land and natural resources of any electricity source. Each reactor is designed to produce 1, megawatts MW of electricity with nearly zero carbon emissions. Built to operate for 60 years or more, these reactors will provide efficient and reliable low-carbon electricity to the nation for generations to come. Once fully operational, the plant will prevent the release of more than 21 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year.

This is equivalent to removing 3. As the teams at both ENEC and Nawah prepare for the plant to transition from a construction project to an operating facility, they work to ensure that it meets the highest national and international standards of quality, and benefit from global operating experience.

A nuclear reactor produces electricity in much the same way other power plants do. The chain reaction produces the energy, which turns water into steam. The pressure of the steam turns a generator, which produces electricity.

The difference is in how the heat is created. Because of the molten salt, they are considered to be safer than current reactors. They are also smaller systems, so they are faster to build and get on line. There is also no high pressured steam associated with these reactors, but there is very little experience in actual large-scale reactors numerous experimental models do work well. Fast Reactors depend on fast neutrons to maintain the nuclear reactions and fuel that has much higher concentrations of fissile material than the thermal reactors.

Because they produce more neutrons than can be used, those neutrons can be used to change daughter materials to less harmful isotopes or produce extra fuel breeder reactors. There are three types of GenIV fast reactors. The Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor combines technologies of a liquid metal fast breeder reactor with other fast breeder reactor technologies.

It creates plutonium which can then be used as fuel, therefore the wastes never have to leave the site. It also passively safe, if the reaction starts to get out of control, it shuts itself down. Lead-Cooled Fast Reactors run in series. Temperatures get high enough to be able to produce hydrogen as an additional by product. Any mention or link regarding a product, organization, company, or trade name is for information only and does not imply endorsement by the Bureau, NMT, or the State of New Mexico see more.