Parts of a fission reactor
A fission reactor contains a number of different parts:
- nuclear fuel - the uranium An isotope of an atom of an element that releases ionising radiation. Isotopes of an element have more or fewer neutrons than each other. Also called a radioisotope.Nuclei is the plural of nucleus. The nucleus is the central part of an atom. It contains protons and neutrons, and has most of the mass of the atom. that will split when triggered by an incoming neutron. The fuel is held in rods so that the neutrons released will fly out and cause nuclear fission with uranium in nearby rods;
- graphite core - graphite slows down the fast moving neutrons so that they are more likely to be absorbed by uranium nuclei in nearby fuel rods and cause further fission;
- control rods - these are raised and lowered to stop neutrons from travelling between fuel rods and therefore change the speed of the chain reaction or stop it altogether. On average, only one of the fission neutrons goes on to produce further fission;
- coolant - this is heated up by the energy released from the fission reactions and is used to boil water to drive turbines in the power station to generate electricity;
- concrete shield - the An isotope formed by the radioactive decay of another isotope. of the fission reaction are radioactive and can be a hazard. The concrete shield stops alpha and beta particles, gamma rays and fast moving neutrons from escaping into the environment of the power station.
Many of the features of the reactor are designed to control the speed of the reaction and the temperature inside the shielding.
An uncontrolled fission reaction is the basis of an atomic bomb.
There are many political, social, environmental and Relating to right and wrong, eg ethical companies are often ones that act in a responsible way. issues relating to using nuclear energy to generate electricity.