Everything about Nuclear Technology totally explained
Nuclear technology is technology that involves the
reactions of
atomic nuclei. It has found applications from
smoke detectors to
nuclear reactors, and from
gun sights to
nuclear weapons. There is a great deal of public concern about its possible implications, and every application of nuclear technology is reviewed with care.
History
Discovery
In 1896,
Henri Becquerel was investigating
phosphorescence in
uranium salts when he discovered a new phenomenon which came to be called
radioactivity. He,
Pierre Curie and
Marie Curie began investigating the phenomenon.
In the process they isolated the element
radium, which is highly radioactive. They discovered that radioactive materials produce intense, penetrating rays of several distinct sorts, which they called
alpha rays,
beta rays and
gamma rays.
Some of these kinds of radiation could pass through ordinary matter, and all of them could cause damage in large amounts - all the early researchers received various
radiation burns, much like
sunburn, and thought little of it.
The new phenomenon of radioactivity was seized upon by the manufacturers of
quack medicine (as had the discoveries of
electricity and
magnetism, earlier), and any number of
patent medicines and treatments involving radioactivity were put forward.
Gradually it came to be realized that the radiation produced by radioactive decay was
ionizing radiation, and that quantities too small to burn presented a severe long-term hazard. Many of the scientists working on radioactivity died of
cancer as a result of their exposure.
Radioactive patent medicines mostly disappeared, but other applications of radioactive materials persisted, such as the use of radium salts to produce glowing dials on meters.
As the
atom came to be better understood, the nature of radioactivity became clearer; some atomic nuclei are unstable, and can decay releasing energy (in the form of:
gamma rays, high-energy
photons); (
alpha particles, a pair of
protons and a pair of
neutrons; and
beta particles, high-energy
electrons).
Nuclear fission
Radioactivity is generally a slow and difficult process to control, and is unsuited to building a weapon. However, other nuclear reactions are possible. In particular, a sufficiently unstable nucleus can undergo
nuclear fission, breaking into two smaller nuclei and releasing energy and some
fast neutrons. This neutron could, if captured by another nucleus, cause that nucleus to undergo fission as well. The process could then continue in a nuclear
chain reaction. Such a chain reaction could release a vast amount of energy in a short amount of time. When discovered on the eve of
World War II, it led multiple countries to begin programs investigating the possibility of constructing an
atomic bomb—a weapon which utilized fission reactions to generate far more energy than could be created with chemical explosives. The
Manhattan Project, run by the United States with the help of the United Kingdom and Canada, developed multiple fission weapons which were used against Japan in 1945. During the project, the first fission reactors were developed as well, though they were primarily for weapons manufacture and didn't generate power.
Nuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion technology was initially pursued only in theoretical stages during World War II, when scientists on the Manhattan Project (led by
Edward Teller) investigated the possibility of using the great power of a fission reaction to ignite fusion reactions. It took until 1952 for the first full detonation of a
hydrogen bomb to take place, so-called because it utilized reactions between
deuterium and
tritium, isotopes of
hydrogen. Fusion reactions are much more energetic per unit mass of fusion material, but it's much more difficult to ignite a chain reaction than is fission.
Research into the possibilities of using nuclear fusion for civilian power generation was begun during the 1940s as well. Technical and theoretical difficulties have hindered the development of working civilian fusion technology, though research continues to this day around the world.
Nuclear Weapons
The
design of a nuclear weapon is more complicated than it might seem; it's quite difficult to ensure that such a chain reaction consumes a significant fraction of the fuel before the device flies apart. The construction of a nuclear weapon is also more difficult than it might seem, as no naturally occurring substance is sufficiently unstable for this process to occur.
One
isotope of uranium, namely uranium-235, is naturally occurring and sufficiently unstable, but it's always found mixed with the more stable isotope uranium-238. Thus a complicated and difficult process of
isotope separation must be performed to obtain uranium-235.
Alternatively, the element
plutonium possesses an isotope that's sufficiently unstable for this process to be usable. Plutonium doesn't occur naturally, so it must be manufactured in a
nuclear reactor.
Ultimately,
the Manhattan Project manufactured nuclear weapons based on each of these.
The first atomic bomb was detonated in a test code-named "
Trinity", near
Alamogordo on July 16, 1945. After much debate on the morality of using such a horrifying weapon, two bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities
Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, and the Japanese surrender followed shortly.
Several nations began nuclear weapons programs, developing ever more destructive bombs in an
arms race to obtain what many called a
nuclear deterrent. Nuclear weapons are the most destructive weapons known - the archetypal weapons of mass destruction. Throughout the
Cold War, the opposing powers had huge nuclear arsenals, sufficient to kill hundreds of millions of people. Generations of people grew up under the shadow of nuclear devastation.
However, the tremendous energy release in the detonation of a nuclear weapon also suggested the possibility of a new energy source.
Nuclear Power
US,
UK, and
Soviet Union. The first commercial reactors were heavily based on either research reactors or military reactors. The first commercial nuclear reactor to go online in the US was the
Shippingport Atomic Power Station in
Western Pennsylvania.
Some countries have banned all forms of nuclear power.
Types of nuclear reaction
radioactive decay, where a nucleus is unstable and decays after a random interval. The most common processes by which this can occur are
alpha decay,
beta decay, and
gamma decay. Under suitable circumstances, a large unstable nucleus can break into two smaller nuclei, undergoing
nuclear fission.
If these neutrons are captured by a suitable nucleus, they can trigger fission as well, leading to a
chain reaction. A mass of radioactive material large enough (and in a suitable configuration) is called a
critical mass. When a neutron is captured by a suitable nucleus, fission may occur immediately, or the nucleus may persist in an unstable state for a short time. If there are enough immediate decays to carry on the chain reaction, the mass is said to be
prompt critical, and the energy release will grow rapidly and uncontrollably, usually leading to an explosion. However, if the mass is critical only when the delayed neutrons are included, the reaction can be controlled, for example by the introduction or removal of
neutron absorbers. This is what allows
nuclear reactors to be built. Fast neutrons are not easily captured by nuclei; they must be slowed (
slow neutrons), generally by collision with the nuclei of a
neutron moderator, before they can be easily captured.
If nuclei are forced to collide, they can undergo
nuclear fusion. This process may release or absorb energy. When the resulting nucleus is lighter than that of
iron, energy is normally released; when the nucleus is heavier than that of iron, energy is generally absorbed. This process of fusion occurs in stars, and results in the formation, in
stellar nucleosynthesis, of the light elements, from lithium to calcium, as well as some formation of the heavy elements, beyond Iron and Nickel, which can't be created by nuclear fusion, via neutron capture - the
S-process. The remaining abundance of heavy elements - from Nickel to Uranium and beyond - is due to
supernova nucleosynthesis, the
R-process. Of course, these natural processes of astrophysics are not examples of nuclear
technology. Because of the very strong repulsion of nuclei, fusion is difficult to achieve in a controlled fashion.
Hydrogen bombs obtain their enormous destructive power from fusion, but obtaining controlled
fusion power has so far proved elusive. Controlled fusion can be achieved in
particle accelerators; this is how many
synthetic elements were produced. The
Farnsworth-Hirsch Fusor is a device which can produce controlled fusion (and which can be built as a high-school science project), albeit at a net energy loss. It is sold commercially as a neutron source.
The vast majority of everyday phenomena don't involve nuclear reactions. Most everyday phenomena only involve
gravity and
electromagnetism. Of the
fundamental forces of nature, they're not the strongest, but the other two, the
strong nuclear force and the
weak nuclear force are essentially short-range forces so they don't play a role outside the atomic nucleus. Atomic nuclei are generally kept apart because they contain positive electrical charges and therefore repel each other, so in ordinary circumstances they can't meet.
Nuclear Accidents
Three Mile island Incident (1979)
The
Three Mile Island incident, which ironically occurred two weeks after the release of the disaster film
The China Syndrome greatly impacted the public's perception of nuclear power. Many
human factors engineering improvements were made to American power plants in the wake of Three Mile Island's partial meltdown.
Chernobyl Accident (1986)
The
Chernobyl accident in
1986 further alarmed the public about nuclear power. While design differences between the
RBMK reactor used at Chernobyl and most western reactors virtually eliminate the possibility of such an accident occurring outside of the former Soviet Union, it's only recently that the general public in the United States has started to embrace nuclear energy.
Examples of Nuclear Technology
Nuclear Power
Nuclear power is a type of nuclear technology involving the controlled use of nuclear fission to release energy for work including propulsion, heat, and the generation of electricity. Nuclear energy is produced by a controlled nuclear chain reaction which creates heat—and which is used to boil water, produce steam, and drive a steam turbine. The turbine can be used for mechanical work and also to generate electricity.
Currently nuclear power is used to propel
aircraft carriers,
icebreakers and
submarines; and provides approximately 15.7% of the world's electricity (in 2004). The risk of radiation and cost have prohibited use of nuclear power in transport ships.
Medical Applications
Imaging - medical and dental x-ray imagers use of Cobalt-60 or other x-ray sources.
Technetium-99m is used, attached to organic molecules, as radioactive tracer in the human body, before being excreted by the kidneys. Positron emitting nulceotides are used for high resolution, short time span imaging in applications known as
Positron emission tomography.
Industrial applications
Oil and Gas Exploration- Nuclear
well logging is used to help predict the commercial viability of new or existing wells. The technology involves the use of a neutron or gamma-ray source and a radiation detector which are lowered into boreholes to determine the properties of the surrounding rock such as porosity and lithography.
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Road Construction - Nuclear moisture/density gauges are used to determine the density of soils, asphalt, and concrete. Typically a Cesium-137 source is used.
Commercial applications
An ionization
smoke detector includes a tiny mass of radioactive
americium-241, which is a source of
alpha radiation.
Tritium is used with
phosphor in rifle sights to increase nighttime firing accuracy. Luminescent exit signs use the same technology.
Food Processing and Agriculture
Food irradiation is the process of exposing food to
ionizing radiation in order to destroy
microorganisms,
bacteria,
viruses, or
insects that might be present in the food. Further applications include sprout inhibition, delay of ripening, increase of juice yield, and improvement of re-hydration.
Irradiation is a more general term of deliberate exposure of materials to radiation to achieve a technical goal (in this context 'ionizing radiation' is implied). As such it's also used on non-food items, such as medical hardware, plastics, tubes for gas-pipelines, hoses for floor-heating, shrink-foils for food packaging, automobile parts, wires and cables (isolation), tires, and even gemstones. Compared to the amount of food irradiated, the volume of those every-day applications is huge but not noticed by the consumer.
The genuine effect of processing food by ionizing radiation relates to damages to the
DNA, the basic genetic information for life. Microorganisms can no longer proliferate and continue their malignant or pathogen activities. Spoilage causing micro-organisms can't continue their activities. Insects don't survive or become incapable of proliferation. Plants can't continue the natural ripening or aging process. All these effects are beneficial to the consumer and the food industry, likewise.
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