NUCLEAR ENGINEERING

UNIT-2

INTRODUCTION
Many metals which produces nuclear energy are uranium,
thorium and plutonium.
Uranium is the most important nuclear fuel.
They exist in three different forms in nature having mass
numbers 234(99.28%), 235(0.714%), and 238(6.006%).
U235 is called primary fuels. It is naturally available upto 0.7%
in uranium ore.
U233 and PU239 are secondary fuels. Produced artificially from
Th232 and U238 respectively.
All the resources of uranium are situated in U.S.A(33%), South
Africa (20%), Australia(20%), and Canada (20%).
Low cost uranium are available in Australia and in India thorium
is available.

PROPERTIES
Properties required by Uranium fuels are

i) Undergo fission process.

ii) High tensile strength to prevent the buckling of fuel

element and to bear thermal stresses.
iii) High radiation stability to resist nuclear radiation against

buckling.
iv)High conductivity to transfer the large amount of heat
released and to reduce thermal stresses.
v) Better corrosion resistance.
vi) Better machinability with higher ductility.

TYPES OF FUELS

There are two types

i) Fissile fuels,
ii) Fertile fuels.
FISSILE FUELS:
It undergoes fission process.
When unstable heavy nuclear is bombarded with neutrons it
splits into two fragments of approximately two mass.
A large amount of heat is released during this fission process.
basic three fissionable materials are u235, pu239 and u233.
FISSILE ISOTOPES:
Fissile isotopes are isotopes of an element that can be split
through fission. Certain isotopes of certain elements are fissile.
Thorium needs very fast neutron to induce fission and uranium
needs only slower neutrons. If neutron is fast then it will pass
through uranium.

FERTILE FUELS:
Some materials are not fissionable by themselves. They can be
converted into fissionable materials. They are called as fertile
fuels.
These materials absorb neutron and undergo spontaneous
change to produce fissionable materials.
U238 and Th232 are known as fertile fuels.

Nuclear fission

Nuclear fission is the process of splitting of nucleus into two

almost equal fragments accompanied by the release of heat.
It is the process of splitting of unstable heavy nucleus into
two fragments of approximately equal mass, when bombarded
with neutrons.
Two particles emitted by radioactive elements are alpha
particles and neutrons. The alpha particles is essentially a 4He
nucleus.
A positive nucleus and positive particle would repel each other
in the same way. The alpha particle is positive because it is
composed of two protons and two neutrons.
It will get repelled away from another positive nucleus.
The sum of the masses of the fragments will be less than the
mass of the uranium nucleus.
The fission of U235 in reactors is triggered by absorption of
low energy nuetron called slow nuetron or thermal neutron.

Splitting the

235

U Atom

The nuclear binding energy per fragment is more than that of heavy
nuclei. Thus, there is a considerable release of energy during the
process.
This process is accompanied by the emission of nuetrons and
gamma rays.
The excitation energy required to split the nucleus is called critical
energy. The critical energy should be more than the neutrons binding
energy.
The sum of the masses of these fragments is less than the original
mass. The missing mass has been converted into energy according to
EINSTEINS equations.
Possible different products are
235U + 1 neutron = 2 neutrons + 92kr + 142Ba + ENERGY
235U + 1 neutron = 2 neutrons + 92Sr + 140Xe + ENERGY

FISSION PROCESS

NUCLEAR ENERGY FISSION AND

FUSION

One of the laws of the universe is that matter and energy cant be created nor be
destroyed. But they can be changed in form.
According to Einstein,

E=mc2
E= Energy,
M= mass,
C= velocity or the speed of light.

NATURAL FISSION REACTOR

The water around the nuclear core is sent to another section of
the power plant. It heats another set of pipes filled with
another set of pipes filled with water to make steam into heat
exchanger.
The steam in this second set of pipes turns a turbine to
generate electricity.
The fission neutrons are of high energy and the fission cross
section of 235U for fast neutrons is small, decreasing with the
increase of neutron energy.
During moderation, some of the neutrons are invariably lost by
capture by the atoms of the moderator itself. A second source
of loss of neutrons is by resonance capture of neutrons at a
definite energy.

Power Plant Drawing

CONTROLLED NUCLEAR
FISSION
In order to maintain a sustained controlled nuclear reaction,
for every 2 or 3 neutrons released, only one must be allowed
to strike the another uranium nucleus. If this ratio is less than
one, then the reaction will die out. And if the ratio is more than
one then the reaction is uncontrolled.
Most of the reactors are controlled by means of control rods
that are made up of a strongly neutron absorbent material such
as boron or cadmium.
In addition to the need of capturing neutrons, the neutrons
have too much kinetic energy. These fast neutrons are slowed
through the use of the moderator such as heavy water and
ordinary water. Some reactors use graphite as the moderator.