• Shuffle
    Toggle On
    Toggle Off
  • Alphabetize
    Toggle On
    Toggle Off
  • Front First
    Toggle On
    Toggle Off
  • Both Sides
    Toggle On
    Toggle Off
  • Read
    Toggle On
    Toggle Off
Reading...
Front

Card Range To Study

through

image

Play button

image

Play button

image

Progress

1/8

Click to flip

Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;

Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;

H to show hint;

A reads text to speech;

8 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
What do nuclear power stations use?
Nuclear fission - the splitting of atoms
What are they powered by?
Nuclear reactor. Fission is carried out in a controlled chain reaction.
Uranium atoms split releasing energy!!
What isotope is usually used in nuclear power stations?
Uranium-235
How do they split it?
They fire a slow moving neutron at uranium-235 nucleus to split it.
How does chain reaction start?
When uranium-235 splits it splits into small number of neutrons. these go on to hit other uranium-235 nuclei.
What nuclei are left after split?
daiughter nuclei - lighter elements that uranium-235.
These are radioactive as wrong number of neutrons. Diff to dispose of.
What energy is produced during split?
Lots of kinetic that is converted into heat in reactor.
How does a gas cooled nuclear reactor work?
1. free neutrons inside reactor kick-start fission process.
2. atoms produced collide with uranium-235 atoms causing temp to rise
3. a moderator, graphite, is used to slow neutrons so they collide and sustain reaction
4. control rods, boron, limit chain reactions by absorbing excess neutrons
5. CO2 gas is pumped through reactor to carry away excess heat
6. Gas passed through heat exchanger - gives energy to water - water is heated and turned into steam
7. Steam powers turbine, turns generator