To develop the code for calculation of energy produced

in a one gram of nuclear fuel and decay rate and half-

life calculation for a nuclear fuel
A PROJECT REPORT

SHUBHAM GUPTA
KAMAL RADHAKRISHNAN
SINDHU MANCHIKANTI

15BCH0045
15BCH0048
15BCH0052

School of Civil and Chemical Engineering

NOVEMBER 2016

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

1 INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW 1

1.1 Introduction to Topic 1

1.2 Energy Comparison 2

1.3 Literature Review 4

1.4 Knowledge gained from the literature 5

2 METHODOLOGY 6

2.1 Project Execution Stages 6

2.2 Technical Specifications 6

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 7

4 CONCLUSIONS 9

5 CODING USED IN THE PROBLEM 10

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 INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Introduction to To develop the code for calculation of energy produced in a one gram of
nuclear fuel and decay rate and half-life calculation for a nuclear fuel

Principles of Nuclear Fission:

Einstein Equation: e = mc2
Basic equation of uranium 235 undergoing fission-
Nuclear energy units 1 atomic mass unit =1.660 538 73x10-27 kg 1 eV = 1.602 176
462x10-19 J
In general, the neutron induced fission reaction is the reaction is the reaction in which the incident
reaction is the reaction is the reaction in which the incident neutron enters the heavy target
nucleus forming a compound nucleus that is excited to such a high energy level that the nucleus
splits into two large fission fragments.
A large amount of energy is released in the form of radiation and fragment kinetic energy.
Moreover and what is crucial, the fission process may produce 2,3 or more free neutrons and
these neutrons can trigger further fission and a chain reaction can take place. In order to
understand the process of fission we must understand processes that occur inside the nucleus to
be fissioned. At first, the nuclear binding energy must be defined.

Binding energy is the energy required to disassemble a whole system into separate parts.
A bound system typically has a lower potential energy than the sum of its constituent parts; this is
what keeps the system together. Often this means that energy is released upon the creation of a
bound state. This definition corresponds to a positive binding energy.

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1.2 Energy Comparison:

The energy given out are as follows:

1. 235U fission = 7.3x1013 J/kg
2. Carbon combustion = 3.3x107 J/kg
The energy unit of electron-volts is the energy generated when one electron moves
through an electric field of one volt. The change on an electron is 1.602176462x10-19
coulombs, and one coulomb-volt = 1 joule.
Thus the energy in one eV is 1.602176462x10-19 J. The speed of light is 299,792,458
m/s, so the annihilation of 1 emu of mass produces (1.66053873x10-27 kg) *
(299,792,458 m/s)2 =1.49241778308056x10-10 J = 931495084.5 eV = 931.4950845
MeV.
In the fission of 235U into 144Ba and 89Kr, the mass difference is 0.19 amu producing
the energy shown.
In this reaction the energy release per unit mass of 235U is 177 MeV / 235.04394 amu;
this is equivalent to 7.3x1013 J/kg compared to 3.3x107 J/kg for carbon combustion.

1.3 Literature Review

Radioactivity and Nuclear Fission

Many elements exist in nature with a variety of isotopes. Chemically identical, the various
isotopes only differ in the number of neutrons in their nuclei. The majority of the isotopes found
on earth are stable but several, including uranium 238 (238U), are not and these are termed
radioactive elements.

These can spontaneously naturally decay to form other elements by three processes; , and
decay. During -decay a helium nucleus is emitted, with -decay a high energy electron is formed
and decay results in the formation of a high energy photon [14, 15]. These will be discussed
further in the radiation effects section.

Conversely to the above natural decay processes, a nucleus can be transformed through fission.
This usually occurs in highly unstable nuclei, for example if a 235U nucleus absorbs an extra
neutron, it undergoes nuclear fission and splits into two or more fragments, which form atoms of
other elements along with several other neutrons. The atoms remaining are termed fission
products and examples include strontium and xenon. The neutrons produced in the fission process
are able to be absorbed by other 235U nuclei and the process can continue in a self sustaining
chain reaction if the concentration of 235U in the material is sufficiently high [14, 15].

Radiation Effects

Any material exposed to radioactive or fissile materials will experience some sort of interaction
with the radiation. In a nuclear reactor, in addition to the three basic types of radiation, there is
also neutron radiation to consider. The different types of radiation interact with materials
differently as summarised here:

Alpha radiation is the least penetrative form of radiation and can be stopped with light shielding
such as a sheet of paper. It can, however, have a devastating effect on materials immediately
surrounding the decay event such as nuclear fuel or cladding material. The damage is caused by
the alpha particle itself and the recoil of the decaying atom. The alpha particle has a significant
ionising effect and the recoil atom causes large displacement cascades in the material through

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both elastic and inelastic collisions with other atoms in the material. Any material designed to
store alpha emitters (such as uranium and plutonium) will have to be able to withstand this
constant damage. It is relatively straightforward to protect humans from -particles, although
inhalation or ingestion are a particular concern.
Beta radiation is the result of a neutron decaying into a proton and a high energy electron. This
form of radiation is ionising and more penetrative than alpha but less than gamma rays or
neutrons.
Neutron radiation is very penetrating, but less so than gamma [14]. Neutrons can be captured by
stable nuclei making them radioactive and thus cause further decay processes. The absorption
process itself can also release gamma rays. They can also interact with atoms in solids to produce
elastic collisions if their energy is higher than the displacement energy.
Gamma and X-ray radiation are the most penetrative forms of radiation and are effectively the
same since they are both electromagnetic. They require a thick shield of lead or concrete to be
stopped. Gamma rays are highly ionising as they can strip electrons off atoms in solids.

1.4 Knowledge gained from the literature

The general information acquired from the literature includes:

Nuclear fission occurs when the nuclei of certain isotopes of very heavy elements, isotopes of
uranium and plutonium for example, capture neutrons. The nuclei of these isotopes are just barely
stable and the addition of a small amount of energy to one by an outside neutron will cause it to
promptly split into two roughly equal pieces, with the release of a great deal of energy (180 MeV
of immediately available energy) and several new neutrons (an average of 2.52 for U-235, and
2.95 for Pu-239). If on average one neutron from each fission is captured and successfully
produces fission then a self-sustaining chain reaction is produced. If on average *more* than one
neutron from each fission triggers another fission, then the number of neutrons and the rate of
energy production will increase exponentially with time.

Two conditions must be met before fission can be used to create powerful explosions: 1) the
number of neutrons lost to fission (from non-fission producing neutron captures, or escape from
the fissionable mass) must be kept low, and 2) the speed with which the chain reaction proceeds
must be very fast. A fission bomb is in a race with itself: to successfully fission most of the
material in the bomb before it blows itself apart. The degree to which a bomb design succeeds in
this race determines its efficiency. A poorly designed or malfunctioning bomb may "fizzle" and
release only a tiny fraction of its potential energy.

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2. METHODOLOGY

2.1 PROJECT EXECUTION STAGES:

The project was mainly executed in three stages pertaining to the three formats of code required
which was then integrated and compiled to one. The various areas were researched and focused
on in detail to provide a complete syntax to the program.

The individual areas include:

- Energy produced by 1g of nuclear fuel.

- Decay rate of nuclear fuel.
- Half-life of nuclear fuel.

The calculations are a seamless collaboration of the overall various areas. The code is provided at
the end of the report.

2.2 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION

The amount of free energy contained in nuclear fuel is millions of times the amount of free
energy contained in a similar mass of chemical fuel such as gasoline, making nuclear fission a
very dense source of energy.
The products of nuclear fission, however, are on average far more radioactive than the heavy
elements which are normally fissioned as fuel, and remain so for significant amounts of time,
giving rise to a nuclear waste problem. Concerns over nuclear waste accumulation and over
the destructive potential of nuclear weapons may counterbalance the desirable qualities of fission
as an energy source, and give rise to ongoing political debate over nuclear power.

The nuclear reactors required for the fission process have to work upon specified technical
conditions and under extreme controlled conditions.

Long-lived radioactive waste from the back end of the fuel cycle is especially relevant when
designing a complete waste management plan for SNF. When looking at long-term radioactive
decay, the actinides in the SNF have a significant influence due to their characteristically long
half-lives. Depending on what a nuclear reactor is fueled with, the actinide composition in the
SNF will be different.
Nuclear Chain Reactions
for 92U235

Chain reaction
Neutron products induce further fission reactions
Daughter reactions produce still more neutrons that can induce reactions, etc.
Generation ratio
Defined as the fraction of neutron products that can induce a further (neutron-
producing) fission reaction
Needs to be controlled at exactly 1.00000 etc.

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Mass Defect

Isotopic mass, M, less than mass of constituents

Difference is binding energy
D = Z(mp + me) + (A Z)mn M
Where D = mass defect and mp, me, and mn are masses of proton, electron and neutron, and Z
= protons, A Z = neutrons
Binding energy, BE = Dc2

Radioactive Decay

Decay proportional to amount present gives first order differential equation for
radioactive decay (N = amount)
dN/dt = -kN so N = N0e-kt
t = (-1/k)ln(N/N0)
Half life, t1/2, is point where N/N0 =
t1/2 = (-1/k)ln(1/2) = ln(2)/k
N = N0e-ln(2)t/(t)1/2

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

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4. CONCLUSIONS

From the above results we infer that the maximum energy is given by the Uranium 238 isotope
followed by Thorium 232 and Uranium 235 isotopes. Their values being 80.6 GJ, 79.4 GJ and
79.3 GJ respectively.

We have also learnt that Thorium-232 has the largest life and would come down from 1 gram to
0.5 gram only in 10 billion years whereas Uranium 235 and Uranium 238 have much smaller half
lives in comparison. U-235 has 700 million years and that of U-238 is around 5 billion years.

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5. CODE

energy_per_atom_u235=193.4e6;
u235_atomic_weight=235.04;
energy_per_atom_u238=198.9e6;
u238_atomic_weight=238.05;
energy_per_atom_th232=191.0e6;
th232_atomic_weight=232.04;
avogadro=6.022e23;
half_life_u235_billionyears=.7038;
half_life_u238_billionyears=4.468;
half_life_th232_billionyears=14.05;
Energy_pergram_u235_injoules=energy_per_atom_u235*avogadro*1.602e-
19/u235_atomic_weight
Energy_pergram_u238_injoules=energy_per_atom_u238*avogadro*1.602e-
19/u238_atomic_weight
Energy_pergram_th232_injoules=energy_per_atom_th232*avogadro*1.602e-
19/th232_atomic_weight
t=(0:.1:50);
u235=1*exp(-t/half_life_u235_billionyears);
u238=1*exp(-t/half_life_u238_billionyears);
th232=1*exp(-t/half_life_th232_billionyears);
figure
plot(t,u235)
xlabel('Billion years')
ylabel('Gram of U235 isotope')
figure
plot(t,u238)
xlabel('Billion years')
ylabel('Gram of U238 isotope')
figure
plot(t,th232)
xlabel('Billion years')
ylabel('Gram of Th232 isotope')

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