Category: Basic
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Nuclear Power – Converting Mass Into Energy?
One of the things that most people know about nuclear power is that it about turning mass into energy – E= mc2. Although this is […]
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Radioactivity of U-238
This is just an example of how to calculate the radioactivity of an isotope from its halflife. Uranium 238 has a halflife of 4.468×109 years […]
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Implications of High Burnup Fuel – Basic Notes
An important issue around nuclear new build is the amount and what happens to the spent fuel. The proposed EPR reactors at Sizewell and Hinkley […]
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Spent Fuel – Basic Notes
These are just a few basic notes about spent fuel waste from nuclear power stations. It assumes a basic understanding of the nuclear fission process […]
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Nuclear Fusion
Let us look at the graph for the energy of various nuclei. Remember tht this graph is upside down and so Iron (Fe) has the […]
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About Uranium
It would be useful at this point to talk a bit more about Uranium and its isotopes. Uranium naturally occurs as two isotopes details of […]
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The Rate of Decay
The rate at which these unstable isotopes undergo decay varies greatly between the different isotopes. The process is random for each atom. However there is […]
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Gamma Radiation
When an atom undergoes alpha or beta decay it can leave the nucleus in a high energy state. The atom goes to a lower energy […]
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Decay Chains
When an atom undergoes radioactive decay the isotope produced is not necessarily stable itself. If it is not then that can undergo radioactive decay. This […]
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Moderation
We have discussed fission and neutron capture. Now we are going to talk about how we can increase the likelihood that fission or neutron capture […]
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Neutron Capture
Before we talk any further about fission it is useful to have a look at what other things can happen to the neutrons. One thing […]
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Very Heavy Atoms – Fission
Spontaneous Fission For heavy elements (greater than mass 232) the nucleus can split into two smaller elements and a few spare neutrons. This is called […]
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Atomic Mass and Stability – Alpha Decay
As atomic mass increases the stability of the nucleus increases but after a while they become too heavy and the stability decreases. The graph above […]
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Proton to Neutron Ratios and the Stability of Nuclei – Beta Radiation
Adding more neutrons to the nucleus does not change the chemical properties of the atom. A hydrogen atom with one or even two neutrons has […]
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What Is Radiation
Radiation is just the term for something that can travel through empty space. It could be a particle or a wave. There are many different […]
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The Structure Of Matter
Before we go any further we have to understand what makes up the matter around us – the computer in front of me, the air […]
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Introduction
Before we start on the subject of nuclear physics there are a few fundamentals that we have to understand: Energy Without energy nothing would happen. […]
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