Nuclear Definition and 997 Threads

Hi, I have some questions about nuclear fuel, I hope I could get some direction here. Firstly, based on research I've done it appears that spent fuel rods come out of the reactor around 5000 F, is this true? Secondly, if the previous statement is true how does the water in the fuel pool not get...

Just joined the forum after youtubes algorithm suggested a story documenting the ‘Chicago Pile’. I ended up watching a bunch of other power plant videos becoming more confused with each one. I apologize up front as I know nothing about the field of nuclear physics and not even sure if I’ll even...

I think I have the answer, but when I calculate it out, I'm off by at least an order of magnitude. My process goes like this: The (looked up) specific activity of Ca-49 is ##1.63*10^7 TBq/g##, which is ##1.63*10^{16} KBq/g## The activity of the sample after 5 minutes rest is ##166KBq##, per...

I wonder whether the following description is physically accurate: White balls like the Moon appeared on the night sky, when the nukes detonated in the ionosphere. Computers and cellphones ceased to function, transformators were overloaded and smoked. As if ancient, cruel gods punished humanity...

Let's say we have a cylindrical fuel pin with fissile material in the middle, followed by a gas gap and cladding material. It is being cooled by water on the outside. The temperature drop through the fissile material should be parabolic due to heat generation, and the temperature drops through...

What are the most common types of cancer caused by exposure to excessive amounts of radiation?

https://phys.org/news/2021-08-major-nuclear-fusion-milestone-ignition.html Anybody know any more? Like what they did differently from earlier trials.

I thought the first step is to compute the loss of mass. ##\Delta m=m(_1^2\textrm{H})+m(_1^3\textrm{H})-m(_2^4\textrm{He})-m(_0^1\textrm{n})=2.0141018u+3.0160493u- 4.0026033u-1.0086650u=0.0188828u##. The corresponding reaction energy is ##0.0188828 \cdot 931,5MeV=17.54MeV\approx 2.81\cdot...

Hi! I'm a bit curious, what would happen if there would be a leakage in the condenser in a nuclear plant (PWR or BWR). As I understood it the stean in the turbine is expanded to about 4 kPa and I guess the pressure outside in the freshwater that is pumped into the condenser is at atmospheric...

Electrons rotate around a nucleus for long periods of time. Where does the energy for this motion come from? Ok, I realize that electrons don't actually rotate around the nucleus, like a tiny solar system. But if the electron is wave function, it's still constantly vibrating, constant...

When we want to determine the radioactivity of a nucleus, we usually determine the counts detected using say a Geiger counter. The count rate is then usually used as the disintegration rate i.e. the activity of the nucleus. However, say now we wish to measure the activity of Radon 222 using...

Hello, I have 1 undergrad year left and was wondering what the most used programming languages in grad school are. I still don't know which grad school will accept me so I haven't bothered to ask them directly as my application will be in November when I get my GRE scores. I am Interested in...

Some alpha or beta decays produce an excited daughter nucleus, which typically immediately emits one or more gama rays to reach a ground state. This is the case for beta decay of Co-60 or Na-24 for example. While the table of cobalt isotopes on Wikipedia mentions the gamma emission, the one for...

Summary:: how do i get a nuclear engineering degree im attending a cal state right now and I am on track to finish my 4th year and get my BS in finance this spring. i want to pursue a BS(maybe even MS) in nuclear engineering immediately after, or preferably start this fall. ideally, my end...

French press reports indicate that the first of the two EPRs built at Taishan in Guangdong province has unusually high levels of radioactive noble gases in the primary cooling circuit, presumably as a result of defective fuel bundles...

Which experimental physics branch has better job prospects (both inside and outside academia) - particle physics or nuclear physics? Is the difference very big?

Hi. I'm just a curious person with high-school-level scientific knowledge. However, I was wondering if a specially-engineered Generation IV high or very high temperature (800-1,000ºC) nuclear reactor could work in Venus using the local atmosphere at 450ºC as "coolant", just like a "typical"...

This week I read through the chapter "Energy from the Nucleus" inside the familiar intro physics textbook Halliday, Resnick, Walker. I found it fascinating that there is evidence from a uranium mine in West Africa that there may likely have been a nuclear fission natural reactor that went...

Hello! The transition wavelength between 2 energy levels for an atom depends on the nuclear isotope through the mass of the isotope and the size of the nucleus. My question is only about the nuclear size effect. It can be shown that this effect can be written as (this is basically a taylor...

I am studying the synthesis of FDG for a job interview. The process of creating the F-18 used in FDG involves the collision of O-18 with an accelerated proton -- the proton kicks out a neutron and everything adds up. I am just wondering why a neutron is specifically knocked out, why wouldn't...

I don't understand, in balancing a nuclear equation, the sum of all the mass numbers and atomic numbers, given on the upper left and lower left side of the element symbol, respectively, must be equal for both sides of the equation. So why does the sum on the left side equal to 20, but the sum on...

Hi everyone! I was wondering if it is possible for a proton (H+) to fuse with an atom of potassium (K39 or K41) to create (Ca40+ or Ca42+)? And if so what types of forces would need to be overcome to make this possible? Thanks in advance for any help and sorry if this is a stupid question!:sorry:

I have just completed a paper in my English class about nuclear energy and I would like to hear about other peoples interest of the topic of using nuclear energy. I would like to come out and say I have found a lot of information regarding how safe they really are and how efficient the plants...

I am a student at high school who just finished a paper about nuclear energy and I really learned a lot from it. I found the topic interesting and really enjoyed learning about it. I now am searching out more people who know about it and as much information as I can fins while having good...

I think that when an atom of polonium (Po-216) is moving slowly enough that it can be considered to be at rest. The Po-216 undergoes alpha decay and becomes lead ( Ph-212 ), via the reaction 깝 Po → Pb + ta. After the decay. the lead atom is moving to the left with speed v. and the alpha particle...

I have seen "radioactivedecay.py" python library which employs measured experimental data for its calculations. I have seen models that solve the system of differential equation with numerical algorithms to predict the proportion of nuclides at any given time. But I have yet to see a...

Summary:: I need some bibliography about the phyics of nuclear weapons (manhattan project-like) for an essay. I've been googling and tried to find some bibliography for the topic, but have found very little (most of the stuff I found was abut the history rather than the proper nuclear...

For the first part I thought you'd have either, p + anti-v -> n + e+ and n + v -> p + e-, but I thought it'd probably be the latter as it's a 'normal' neutrino not an anti neutrino? But do I need to include the actual elements in the equation? For the second part I have multiplied the density...

I read in 2 books that 4 atoms of Hydrogen fuse and give 1 atom of Helium and 2 electrons, and these 2 electrons convert to light. And that the mass of the Helium is less than the mass of the 4 atoms of Hydrogen, thus that the mass lost converted to light too. But I sum up the masses of...

I'm not too sure where to start, do I differentiate the equation?

I was browsing a antineutrino map and was wondering if there was a meltdown in 2015 when it was taken. I never heard about it in the news; but, here are some pictures from the paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/srep13945 Thoughts?

Heat cannot be removed by liquid-to-gas heat exchangers since there is no substantial atmospheres on the Moon or on Mars. It cannot be dissipated by venting steam since there is a critical water shortage. It cannot be dissipated by rocks or soil since both are essentially thermal insulators. It...

Hi, I understood that to calculate the available energy in these two reactions could be calculated from Ed = [Mn(X) – (Mn(Y) + m(e))] c^2, but when I have to change use the atoms' mass instead of the nucleons' mass, it gives out two different formulas : Ed = [M(X) – M (Y)] c2 for β- Ed = [M(X)...

Hi everyone, I was hoping the internet would be filled with video lectures since lots of universities have been forced to conduct online teaching. However, that doesn't seem to be the case. Therefore I was hoping that some of you know of some great video lectures for nuclear and particle...

I have been thinking and I thought of a design that may, theoretically result in spacecraft being able to have a self sufficient energy source on board. Here’s my theory, if you have a minimized nuclear reactor (if building something like this is even possible given that the nuclear reaction...

I understand that gravity causes a neutron star larger than about 10 solar masses to collapse into a black hole. I also understand that gravity is the weakest of the four forces. So I find this counterintuitive and I'm puzzled that why is it gravity that causes the collapse and NOT the strong...

Finding the neutrons per second. Uncluttering the question: ##P = 6 \times 10^{7} J/s, E_{1} = 149.7 MeV/event, A = 10^{-4} m^{2}, R = 5 m ##. Number of events per second = ##\frac{P}{E_{1}}## = escaping neutrons per second Area of ##5m## sphere around reactor = ## 4 \pi R^{2} ## Fraction of...

Table: To solve, using the conservation of energy: E0=(m(deutron)+m(16O)-m(17O)-m(p))c^2 so: E0=(2.014+15.994-16.999-1.008)931.5=0.93 MeV. so using the conservation of energy: 14.95+0.93=16.62+0+E' E'=- 0.74 MeV But the energy sign has become negative. I also calculated for the first excited...

The nuclear fission reaction is: ##U_{92}^{235} + n^{1}_{0} \to Ba_{56}^{141} +Kr_{36}^{92} + 3 ~n^{1}_{0} ## I am not sure about the number of neutrons produced. Is it 2 or 3? 2 is from the number of neutrons on the RHS - number of neutron on LHS 3 is from the number of neutrons on RHS only...

Summary:: Calculate the amount of energy in joules generated from 2 kg of uranium fuel if the uranium 235 represents 0.7% of the metal and every fission releases 200 MeV. Hi! I am stuck in this question from my exercise book : Q. Calculate the amount of energy in joules generated from 2 kg...

Good day everyone, I've recently been researching direct energy conversion schemes for nuclear fission, and I have a question on the basic physics behind the device (specifically on how it converts kinetic energy to electricity). In essence, the "basic" scheme for fission DEC devices is that...

In "An Introduction to Nuclear Physics by W. N. Cottingham, D. A. Greenwood" for the surface area of an oblate ellipsoid, the following equation is written for small values of ε : The book has said this without proof. I found the following formula for the desired shape: No matter how hard I...

I have to give a presentation about natural Radiation and I am very happy about it because it includes Astrophysics. I want to explain to my audience how the stars produce cosmic rays. I thought about explaining to them how nuclear fusion and that kind of stuff works but then I realized that I...

All intercontinental nuclear missiles have self destruct codes? This can work even when it's reaching the destination? But can the self destruct codes work even while the missiles are in silos so you could in principle detonate all nukes in the United States at the same time. Or do you have to...

I have a question for anyone on here that has pursued the nuclear energy field. I'm interested in becoming an equipment technician or operator at a nuclear power plant, but I am already 26 years old. I understand that many of the operators and technicians were former Navy nukes. I looked into...

Hi, can anyone provide literature that explains nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in terms of a quantum mechanical theory? Could QED explain NMR in its entire phenomenon?

Hi I need to find the amount of fuel needed for a nuclear reaction to produce 800MW daily . The reaction is n + 𝟗𝟒𝑷𝒖 𝟐𝟑𝟗 → 𝟓𝟐𝑻𝒆 𝟏𝟑𝟒 + 𝟒𝟐𝑴𝒐 𝟏𝟎𝟑 + 𝟑 𝒏 Can you please give me a hint on how to do this? Thank you very much for your help

If it is theoretically possible to compress hydrogen to core of the sun pressures at normal room temperature (practically impossible), the molecules become so close to each other that they could fuse at room temperature without the need of creating millions of degrees kelvin.

Hello! I'm a newbie here, so I apologize if I posted this in the wrong area of if this has already been answered. I'm a Mechanical engineering major at Georgia Tech (but I'll probably switch to Engineering Physics). Nonetheless, I'm very intrigued by the prospect of nuclear fusion and would...