RADIONUCLIDE PRODUCTION
Nuclear
Reactors
Radionuclide Particle
production accelerators
Cyclotron
Linear
accelerator
Radionuclide
generator
01 Nuclear
reactor
Fission of Uranium 235
Chain
reaction
First Reactor Construction by Enrico Fermi
December 1942
Most reactors in the world are used
only for energy production.
Usually, only research reactors are
exible enough for use in
radioisotope production.
NUCLEAR FISSION REACTION
Elemental isotopes that undergo induced ssion
when struck by a free neutron are called A few particularly ssile and readily obtainable
ssionable; isotopes (notably 235U and 239Pu) are called nuclear
isotopes that undergo ssion when struck by a fuels because they can sustain a chain reaction and can
thermal, slow moving neutron are also called be obtained in large enough quantities to be useful
ssile All ssionable and ssile isotopes
undergo a small amount of
Several heavy elements, such as spontaneous ssion which releases a
Uranium (U), Thorium (Th), and few free neutrons into any sample of
nuclear fuel
Plutonium (Pu), undergo both
spontaneous ssion, a form of
Some neutrons will impact fuel
radioactive decay and induced ssion, nuclei and induce further
a form of nuclear reaction ssions, releasing yet more
neutrons.
Such neutrons would escape rapidly
from the fuel and become a free
neutron, with a mean lifetime of
about 15 minutes before they
decayed to protons and beta
particles.
How is a Nuclear
Reactor works?
Fill in this mind map with keywords given:
Reactor core
Control rods
Moderator medium
Heat removal
Chain reaction
WORKING PRINCIPLE OF A NUCLEAR
REACTOR
Match the following nuclear reactor component with
its correct function:
Where, When and How the
radionuclide is produced
from the nuclear reactor?
Neutron
6 Such radioactive nuclei can exhibit half-lives ranging from
LOREM IPSUM 01 of a second to many years.
fractions
activation
principle:
5 The neutron capture, even after any immediate decay, often results
in the formation of an unstable activation product
4 The excited nucleus often decays immediately by emitting particles such as
neutrons, protons, or alpha particles
3 Neutron activation is the process in which neutron radiation induces radioactivity in materials, and
occurs when atomic nuclei capture free neutrons, becoming heavier and entering excited states
2 Process involves capture of neutrons by stable nuclei.
Almost all radionuclides produced by neutron activation are decay by beta-minus particle emission.
1 Neutrons produced by the fission of uranium in a nuclear reactor can be used to create radionuclides by bombarding
stable target material such as cadmium and boron placed in the reactor
Neutrons carry no electrical 1 2
When neutrons from a nuclear reactor core
charge and are thus neither strike a target, one of three types of reaction
attracted nor repelled by atomic generally occurs (the first being the most
nuclei common):
4 3
The level of neutron activation depends on
All three reactions are referred to as the intensity and energy of the neutron
neutron activation, because the beam, amongst other things.
incident neutrons produce
radioactive nuclides in the target
Disadvantages of
producing
radionuclide by
Nuclear Power
4 Had major impact on human life. Waste from nuclear plants remains
dangerously radioactive for many years, so it's difficult to dispose of safely.
plant:
3 Extremely high cost and expensive and take many years to construct. Nuclear plants can produce
long-range air pollution and water pollution.
2 Possible of Nuclear accident to happen is high. Nuclear byproducts can be used to make bombs and there's
a risk of nuclear material being acquired by terrorists.
1 Extremely high in radioactive waste, aren't sustainable or renewable forms of energy because they rely on mining
limited reserves of uranium. They're not zero-carbon either, because it takes a lot of energy to mine that uranium.
02 Particle
accelerator
# AtomSmasher
Fundamental/key
components in all particle
accelerators: Detector
Record and reveal
Target particles that are
produced by
Output of where collision beam
Electric eld the particle and target
accelerator is
Switch positive and directed to
Electromagnet negative pole
alternately
Steering and according to
focusing the frequency to
Particle source beam particle accelerate particle
Provide primary
source for the
accelerator
Linear accelerator
In this example the particles accelerated (red dots) are assumed to
have a positive charge.
The graph V(x) shows the electrical potential along the axis of the
accelerator at each point in time.
The polarity of the RF voltage reverses as the particle passes
through each electrode, so when the particle crosses each gap the
electric field (E, arrows) has the correct direction to accelerate it.
The figure shows a single particle being accelerated each cycle; in
actual linacs a large number of particles are injected and
accelerated each cycle. The action is shown slowed enormously.
Cyclotron
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