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Uranium

The document discusses the history of nuclear fission research and development of nuclear reactors. It describes Fermi's 1934 discovery of nuclear fission in uranium, Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann's 1939 publication confirming the process and naming it nuclear fission, and Fermi's subsequent hypothesis that a sustained fission reaction could be achieved. It then discusses the development and use of the Little Boy and Fat Man atomic bombs in WWII, followed by details about some of the earliest nuclear reactors, including uses for producing electricity. Finally, it provides an overview of how nuclear fission is controlled within a reactor to generate heat and power.

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Amrit Saravanan
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128 views2 pages

Uranium

The document discusses the history of nuclear fission research and development of nuclear reactors. It describes Fermi's 1934 discovery of nuclear fission in uranium, Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann's 1939 publication confirming the process and naming it nuclear fission, and Fermi's subsequent hypothesis that a sustained fission reaction could be achieved. It then discusses the development and use of the Little Boy and Fat Man atomic bombs in WWII, followed by details about some of the earliest nuclear reactors, including uses for producing electricity. Finally, it provides an overview of how nuclear fission is controlled within a reactor to generate heat and power.

Uploaded by

Amrit Saravanan
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Fission research

A team led by Enrico Fermi in 1934 observed that bombarding uranium with neutrons produces the emission of beta rays (electrons or positrons from the elements produced). The fission products were at first mistaken for new elements of atomic numbers 93 and 94, which the Dean of the Faculty of Rome, Orso Mario Corbino, christened ausonium and hesperium, respectively.

Hypothesis becomes real!


The experiments leading to the discovery of uranium's ability to fission (break apart) into lighter elements and release binding energy were conducted by Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann, published the physical explanation in February 1939 and named the process "nuclear fission". Soon after, Fermi hypothesized that the fission of uranium might release enough neutrons to sustain a fission reaction. Confirmation of this hypothesis came in 1939, and later work found that on average about 2.5 neutrons are released by each fission of the rare uranium isotope uranium235.

This is my area!!
Two major types of atomic bombs were developed by the United States during World War II: a uranium-based device (codenamed "Little Boy") whose fissile material was highly enriched uranium, and a plutonium-based device ("Fat Man") whose plutonium was derived from uranium-238. The uranium-based Little Boy device became the first nuclear weapon used in war when it was detonated over the Japanese city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. Exploding with a yield equivalent to 12,500 tonnes of TNT, the blast and thermal wave of the bomb destroyed nearly 50,000 buildings and killed approximately 75,000.

Reactors
The X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, formerly known as the Clinton Pile and X-10 Pile, was the world's second artificial nuclear reactor (after Enrico Fermi's Chicago Pile) and was the first reactor designed and built for continuous operation. Argonne National Laboratorys Experimental Breeder Reactor I, located at

the Atomic Energy Commissions National Reactor Testing Station near Arco, Idaho became the first nuclear reactor to create electricity on 20 December 1951. Initially, four 150-watt light bulbs were lit by the reactor, but improvements eventually enabled it to power the whole facility

Inside the reactor


In a nuclear reactor the uranium fuel is assembled in such a way that a controlled fission chain reaction can be achieved. The heat created by splitting the U-235 atoms is then used to make steam which spins a turbine to drive a generator, producing electricity. The chain reaction that takes place in the core of a nuclear reactor is controlled by rods which absorb neutrons and which can be inserted or withdrawn to set the reactor at the required power level. The fuel elements are surrounded by a substance called a moderator to slow the speed of the emitted neutrons and thus enable the chain reaction to continue. Water, graphite and heavy water are used as moderators in different types of reactors.

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