Nuclear Reactors and Fusion: Energy Production
Uniformly Intrinsically Safe System
A nuclear reactor is a shielded device producing controlled nuclear reactions for energy, fissile material, or research. It minimizes environmental impact and radioactivity through careful material selection. While emitting no harmful gases, it produces long-lasting radioactive waste.
Current research focuses on:
- Inertial confinement: Fusion via particle or laser beams.
- Magnetic confinement: Fusing material in a magnetic field to achieve necessary temperature and pressure, creating plasma.
Natural uranium includes:
- U-234 (0.006%)
- U-235 (0.7%)
- U-238 (99.3%)
U-238 captures neutrons, creating Plutonium-239, a fissile material. High-speed neutrons, like those from fusion, can fission U-238. In reactors, U-238 slows and captures neutrons, transmuting to Plutonium-239.
Nuclear Fusion
Nuclear Fusion: Combining light nuclei to form heavier atoms, releasing energy (E = mc2). Requires extremely high temperatures to overcome electrical repulsion.
Challenges include containing the reaction at high temperatures. Magnetic fields can confine the hot ionized gas (plasma). Fusion requires temperatures around 350 million degrees Celsius.
Lawson criteria define minimum ion density and confinement time for fusion. Fusion research aims to create a sustainable energy source using abundant resources like water.
The deuterium-tritium reaction forms helium and a neutron, releasing 17.6 MeV. Fusion fuels are cheap, plentiful, non-radioactive, and widely distributed.