![]() On Earth atmospheric pressure is roughly 1 bar, the interior of a fusion reactor will need to reach 150 million degrees Celsius – 10 times hotter than the Sun's core. Overcoming that innate repulsion happens in the Sun's core because it is under immense pressure of gravity as well as heat – around 15 million degrees Celsius and 265 billion bar of pressure. But forcing two nuclei together is difficult because they're both positively charged, so they strongly repel one another. ![]() That’s what happens in the Sun's core, where hydrogen atoms fuse to produce helium and energy. "Thermo" here simply means heat, because that method relies on achieving fusion via extremely high temperatures. There are several theoretical methods to attain fusion, but the one most exciting the modern scientific community is thermonuclear fusion. Eager scientists have pursued the harnessing of nuclear fusion's power-generating capacity for almost three-quarters of a century –the UK Atomic Energy Authority patented a fusion reactor in 1946 – but without reliable success. Each reaction releases energy, which can be harnessed for destruction – the bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 were fission, but fusion was behind the second-generation "H-bomb" and can generate vast amounts of power. In fission, the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller nuclei in fusion, two or more nuclei combine. The nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi was a much more severe meltdown though, to find out if that possible could have been a China Syndrome check out our video here.There are two types of nuclear power: fission and fusion. The fuel did not manage to melt through the bottom of the reactor pressure vessel, however due to concerns of hydrogen build-up, the plant operators vented radioactive gasses into the atmosphere. The number of people killed would depend on which way the wind was blowing, rendering an area the size of Pennsylvania permanently uninhabitable." Just 12 days after the movie was released the meltdown at Three Mile Island occurred. As the movie states and what is not theoretical is that as soon as the core "hits ground water, it blasts into the atmosphere and sends out clouds of radioactivity. The idea states that under the proper meltdown conditions, the nuclear core could melt through the containment structure, and eventually through the crust and core of the earth until it reached China. Made popular by the 1979 movie of the same name. The Uranium pellets in the rod quickly become so hot that they reach their melting point, burning through the zirconium fuel rod casing and the containment chamber floor causing a widespread release of radiation.Ĭhina Syndrome is a hypothetical disaster that could occur under meltdown conditions. If the heat generated from the fission reaction is so great that it causes a majority of the water to boil off exposing the fuel rods to air. The fuel rods are kept submerged underwater, with the water acting as a coolant. What actually causes a meltdown? A meltdown occurs in a reactor when the fuel isn't being adequately cooled. The effects of a meltdown can last for hundreds of years as the radiation slowly decays. It is important to remember that a nuclear meltdown isn't a singular tragic event as is often the case with natural disasters. The top three most disastrous meltdowns include Three Mile Island in 1979, Chernobyl in 1986, and Fukushima Daiichi in 2011. Radiation can not be seen, smelled, or tasted and exposure can lead to serious side effects such as hair loss, skin blisters, tumors, and cancer and if the dose is large enough, death. Since 1952 there have been fourteen meltdowns of varying severity at both commercial, military, and experimental reactors. A nuclear meltdown is the worst case scenario for a nuclear power plant, causing widespread releases of deadly radiation into the environment that can spread hundreds of miles away impacting wildlife as well as humans.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |