Nuclear Physicist Explains - How to Fabricate Nuclear Fuel?
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- Опубликовано: 15 фев 2024
- Nuclear Physicist Explains - How to Fabricate Nuclear Fuel?
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Based on the pellet size and number of fuel rods and fuel assemblies I mention in the video, how many fuel pellets do you guestimate that a relatively big light water reactor hosts? ☢️👩🏽🔬
Are there any movies of you dancing around in a Bikini on a Beach?
It's your Friendly Nuclearhood Physicists
And you can sit there with a mask on your face like uhm CatWoman
5 million pellets for a 1000 MW plant
_" many fuel pellets do you guestimate"_ - that reminds me of that scene from "Full Monty" movie, in which one of these guys tried to figure out the income of proposed show - "that'll be fifty tickets, times ten quids each, and that'll be... uh... that'll be... a lot" ;-)
So my guestimate is A LOT. A quite lot of them, to be precise... : )
Yes, show us the work you do!
The answer to these questions will always be YES!
Any tours showing how it all works in a visual manner would be awesome!
I think she gave a tour of her lab once.
I wonder how she manages to work with those crazy nail's? You definitely won't be in any glove boxes anytime soon with them or if you had to, then you'd be chopping them off.
@@TheManLab7forget work, how does one wipe their ass with those nails
I would love to see the same sort of video for the processing of thorium "fuel" for the next-gen reactors! & I really learned a lot from this one!
It would be interesting but I'm aware of the basics. Once you have thorium, it is basically nearly 100% Th232. This isotope is the "fuel" but it would need a different kind of enrichment to get the reactor started. Thorium requires one neutron (and some time) to breed from Th232 to U233 and it is U233 that provides the energy from fission when hit by the next neutron. That fission generates new neutrons, but until enough U233 is lying around in the reactor it needs to be boosted initially by something else that generates neutrons. This could be HAELU (just under 20% enriched uranium) or other such fuels. Once the U233 is being bred at a good rate, the added fuel should no longer be needed. The preparation of the thorium to work in the reactor will vary by the reactor itself. A LFTR for example uses fluorine, so before use the thorium and its carrier salt are converted to fluorides (probably using HF). The reactor runs at a high enough temperature that the thorium fluoride and its carrier salt melt, and is used to generate further heat from the nuclear reaction (mentioned earlier regarding U233). Other thorium reactors use it in a solid form (typically mixed with uranium) or as a different salt, such as a chloride reactor (using chlorine rather than fluorine) or any number of other options.
My favorite cake flavor. Yellow! I always wondered how that fit in the fuel cycle. Thank you for giving such a pleasant lesson. The nails are wild.
Great fun, thank you for the continuing education.
I''d love to see another video on nuclear recycling and closing the fuel loop. This is the biggest flaw critics say nuclear power has, which of course it isn't really. It's an advantage... All that potential energy that could technically be recycled and reused which in turn reduces the total uranium we need to mine or allows the costs to remain low and stable enough to make the economics viable!
Two reasons for the high cost of nuclear reactors in the United States are one, there is no standard reactor designed that has built up a learning curve. Two, reactors in the United States are designed for a very long lifetime with big upfront Capital costs
Thank you for this great education. Would be great to see the next step in the nuclear reactor process.
Love the trivia on the pellets. Just amazing that two of them could power a house for 1 year.
Would love to see and learn about the fuel pellets you make.
Thanks for the Awesome Videos and Great Information about this amazing subject!!!
This is so fascinating, thank you! And yes, please, I would love to learn about all these processes (and products) in more detail. Cheers!
There are a couple of places in Canada around where I live where the background radiation is about 4X higher than in most other areas. As well as a couple of old abandoned uranium mines.
Thank you for such a wonderful and informative insight into the Nuclear fuel front end, I have always wondered.
Great explanation, Elina! You make this so easy for a dope like me to understand! You're also incredibly beautiful, Elina!! Lots of love from your biggest fan!!! ❤🌹
Well presented. Are you planning on doing a video on the CANDU reactors?
Bravo Elina! Comprehensive yet simplistic description.
I have learned so much about nuclear fuels and physics. My son and I love your videos. They are very informative and entertaining. We have watched every episode. Thanks Elina, you're amazing!!
I am Australian and Australia is having the debate about removing our ban on nuclear and even building some nuclear power stations. Smaller large nuclear power station. A video to explain different types used around the world. One side of our Government is running it is to expensive and takes to long and what we do with waste. I have share many of your videos to try and explain it not so scarery.
Great video, Elina...👍
Good introduction of the topic, Elina! Many thanks.
I would love to hear about the other fuel fabrication you’re working on. 👍🏼
I'm glad that i found you❤️
Also im just curious how long does the fuel rods lasts in a reactor core?
i really wanna see the work u do elina thank you for this amazing educational video
I was part of the first process, I found the ore in the exploration drilling underground at the Cameco Mines in Saskatchewan. We drilled holes for Geology in cut outs underneath the lake and we'd have to pressure grout our holes every time because of radon progeny or radon gas. It's heavy stuff, and it's smells good. They use Sulfuric Acid in the mills to help break it down in the mills make H3O8 (Yellow Cake), then put it into the RSB barrels for transport. No core leaves site, we would build all of our own core racks and all the core would stay on site in a contained area that had a layered or lined bottom so no leakage could happen to the ground or area near by. The one good thing about Cameco being the Client was they always supplied free gear because we were working with Uranium, and we couldn't bring our own stuff home once we brought it underground, So we just wore their stuff, brand new any time we needed it or any contractor. Same for when our contract was up also, we had to spend 2 weeks washing all of our gear, like our diamond drills in the surface wash bay, and our underground Toyota, Mine Cat, we had 3 of those, and then finally we had 2 2007 F-350 Ford trucks and a 2011 F-350 truck, and we spent 3 full 13 hour days cleaning those trucks as well as our 5 drills, 1 was a surface drill with the shack, a little trick we had was to put a 75cm piece of rod in the chuck and put it in drill mode so the jaws close on the rod before you start unhooking hoses, because that's always the high point when they do their radiation scan is right inside the chuck, like the rotation head. But we found a way to bypass this so they couldn't scan there. Otherwise that was a $40,000 problem we didn't need, for a little dirt. We could only take 2 of the 3 trucks, so we had to leave 1 truck behind. That's what happens at Uranium mine contracts, and what you will do to earn your bonus and not get fired.
Did you say Radon gas smells good? I always thought Radon has no scent.
@@wolpumba4099 Uranium smells good, the ore, fresh from the ground, under in the mine, underground. I was a diamond driller underground, and we could smell it it when we were drilling through high grade ore. Also You could smell the ore from the trucks driving by on the ramps, and the ventilation would blow down into your drift and set your prism to red for 10 minutes, but you'd just wait till it went back to green-yellow. You'd get a smell from the ore they were carrying to surface if they were hauling from a stope that day. And at the end of shift If the wind was blowing the right way, as we came out the portal from the mine the smell would blow right in our faces from the ore piles, you could see it steaming, cause we were up in the north and it was cold. Geology also used to come sniff the core as well, that's how you could do like a quick guestimate of the quality of how good the core was. The more stench it had, the better grade it was lol. Everyone was there sniffing core, it probably wasn't good for you haha.
@@daniellysohirka4258 Interesting!
@@wolpumba4099 The Uranium we were doing was in hard rock mine, they also had soft rock mines where they had to freeze the ground with brine first then blast the rock after, like Cigar Lake and McCarthur River, the only open pit I saw was at McLean Lake for Areva. Butat Rabbit lake we used conventional stope mining, where you put in cable bolts in the foot wall and hanging wall with grout, then you drill all your 360 degree rings down the drift, after the shotcrete guys are done, that provides shielding, because you'll be in the ore zone most likely from a long hole drill, not like a diamond drill, where we can drill from 400 meters away to potentially find veins. Once they drill all through rings they load their cut to the breakthrough, which has bigger holes to make sure the blast does not freeze, and breaks through to the next level. And load probably just 6 rows at a times, as they don't want too much much at once, right. In this mine it's only around 5-7% grade Uranium is what the geologists told us when they would come and probe our holes at the end of hole. We do that because the core could be sent off site. But, the muckers had the wear PAPD or I can't really remember what they were called, but some kind gas masks as they were mucking in the stopes, because of the radiation. And it was freezing underground because of the ventilation. It was over 1 million CFM and there was icicles hanging off the back (which is the roof in underground terms). We always had an alpha dust on our chest to collect uranium dust during shift, a OSLD badge, and Dosimeter to count mSv during our shift, also the Prism at our drills and they were in each Refuge Stations, and Portable Refuge. We also carried on our belt a hard plastic covered case, but inside was an emergency breathing appartis. But it was some type of quick scrubber to get back to safety, if you accidently went into somewhere bad. There were bulkheads put up everywhere, so you knew where not to go.
@@daniellysohirka4258 I asked Gemini to make a summary and a glossary because I didn't quite understand your mining jargon.
*Summary*
* *Hard Rock Mining:* Employs conventional stope mining techniques for uranium extraction.
* *Drilling:*
* Long hole drills used in the ore zone for blasting
* Potential diamond drilling from up to 400m away for vein location
* *Blasting:* Loaded in sections to prevent large amounts of muck at once, breakthrough holes ensure proper blasting.
* *Mucking:* Muckers wear protective gear due to radiation exposure.
* *Ventilation:* Powerful ventilation systems lead to freezing temperatures underground.
* *Radiation Monitoring:*
* Alpha dust collectors worn by workers
* OSLD badges and Dosimeters track radiation levels
* Prism devices located at drills and refuge stations
* *Safety measures:*
* Emergency breathing apparatus carried by workers.
* Bulkheads used to delineate restricted areas.
*Glossary*
* *Bulkhead:* A wall or barrier built underground to partition a mine
* *Cable Bolt:* A long steel bolt used to reinforce rock in underground areas.
* *Drift:* A horizontal passageway in an underground mine
* *Grout:* A fluid cement-like material used to fill gaps and reinforce structures.
* *Muckers:* Miners responsible for removing blasted rock (muck).
* *OSLD Badges:* Optically stimulated luminescence dosimeter badges monitor radiation exposure.
* *Prism Device:* Radiation monitoring device that potentially measures a variety of factors.
* *Shortcrete:* Sprayed concrete, generally used to provide support and lining in mines.
* *Stope:* A step-like excavation method used for mineral extraction.
I love this video you know when a person is an expert when they make you understand something so complicated easily
Great material, please morevideo like this:)
I got taught a lot of this stuff in primary school in the 80's, my mother was actually born and grew up in the 60's in a Uranium mining town called Mary Kathleen in Queensland.
Very cool, I’d love to hear about the fuel type you work with! What happens to all the U238 from these processes ? I’ve heard chemists will use it for their experiments but are there other uses for it so it doesn’t go to waste ?
The majority of U-238 doesn't have all that many uses. There is the experimental chemistry aspect to it, but the labs which work on chemistry of uranium don't use much - I used to work in one of them (I didn't personally work with uranium, but I worked alongside other chemists who did), and the entire lab used less than 100 grams per year.
It does find uses in nuclear reactors - the fuel in most civilian power production reactions is mostly U-238, since the fuel rarely requires more than about 5% U-235 enrichment. In a typical reactor using mainly U-235 as the primary fissile isotope, approximately 70% of the energy produced over the lifetime of the fuel comes from fission of U-235, with the remaining 30% coming from a variety of different plutonium isotopes, all of which are fissile. With the exception of MOX (mixed oxide) fuel, the plutonium is not present in the fuel prior to insertion into the reactor, but is created during operation by neutron bombardment of U-238. As the reactor is run, the proportion of plutonium will gradually increase, reaching a maximum when the rate of plutonium fission (which begins as soon as some is produced) becomes equal to the rate at which it is consumed.
Reactors using MOX fuel also get roughly the same proportion of their energy from plutonium fission, but have a head start on this since some plutonium oxide is mixed with uranium oxides when the fuel is made, so they start fissioning both U-235 and plutonium right from the start of operation. Then there are fast breeder reactors, which use fuel with far higher U-235 enrichment (about 20%), and do not use neutron moderation, hence the description of fast, which refers to average neutron velocity. The fuel in breeder reactors is still about 80% U-238, but these reactors convert far more of the U-238 into plutonium. They also produce plutonium at a much faster rate than they consume it, which is why they are called breeder reactors.
The other nuclear purpose U-238 is used for is as an inertial tamper for some nuclear warhead designs, and as a fission secondary in multi-stage nuclear weapons: These weapons use a conventional plutonium or highly enriched (80% or more) U-235 fission weapon to create the temperatures necessary to ignite a relatively small amount of nuclear fusion fuel. This contributes some of the explosive energy but more importantly releases large numbers of very high velocity neutrons, much faster than the neutrons produced in any nuclear reactor. These high velocity neutrons have such a large amount of energy that they cause any U-238 present to fission, and the large number of them ensures that almost all the U-238 present will fission. So the fusion fuel effectively catalyses the fission of U-238 in a highly efficient way, which then contributes most of the explosive energy of the weapon.
Non-nuclear uses for depleted uranium (U-238) tend to involve its high density, since it is far more dense than lead. One use you probably have heard of is for high density kinetic penetrator rounds for artillery guns, specifically armour piercing rounds for anti-tank guns. The acronym used for such rounds is APFSDS, which stands for Armour Piercing, Fin Stabilising, Discarding Sabot: They are essentially a narrow, sharp pointed solid depleted uranium dart-shaped projectile, with flight stabilising fins at the base, fired from a smoothbore gun barrel (the stabilising fins make it fly straight without needing to spin while in flight, so a rifled barrel is not necessary), with a detachable sabot or spacer which allows the dart to be fired from a much larger calibre gun with more propulsive power, the sabot falling away shortly after the round exits the barrel.
The armour piercing effect is partially due to the sheer density of the solid uranium dart, but this is also enhanced by the other physical properties of the uranium metal: It is much harder than lead, and is also pyrophoric - when subjected to friction with other hard materials, it spontaneously ignites, literally burning its way through armour plating and acting as an incendiary, setting fire to any flammable materials it hits, such as anything inside a tank or other armoured vehicle it is fired at.
Loved it, i'd like to an expanded version for all of the steps.
👏🏻 well done Elina. 9 countries produce over 90% of the world's uranium supply. That supply comes from 29 mine sites (open pit, underground & insitu). Over 55% is currently insitu. Of those 9 countries 5-6 of them are high risk. If you ever want more detail, reach out, happy to support you with content.
I would in interested in understanding isotope laser extraction (silex systems).
Also how there is only 4 companies that fabricate and enrich. It's all very fascinating stuff and you young Elina are leading the charge and making a difference! 👍🏻👏🏻
Another awesome, informative video Elina! Btw, where did you get that awesome t shirt?
Brains and beauty all in one and explains it perfectly
Wow, there's a lot more to this than I thought. I good stuff
Thank you ❤❤❤❤❤❤
Very good video!
Please describe the operation of the proposed thorium reactors in development. They sound very promising and I would like to know more. Thank you.
I have a video on this on my channel ⚛️
Great! Thanks . I will watch it.
Yes show us more
I always learn from you.
Great video 💯 I only needed to know some basics, but I felt like I already gained intermediate level of nuclear physics 😊
Yes please elaborate on your fuel fabrication process.
I remember reading an article years ago about a naturally occurring reactor in a uranium deposit in Africa. Would love to hear if anything like that had ever been found recently.
When I was lad around 1960, some people were excited about the prospect of Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactors(LMFBR). The idea (IIRC) was to get the neutron flux high enough to fission a lot of the U238. Those fission products (Pu) were reprocessed for more fuel, or Pu bomb making. Was it the problem of proliferation that stopped this effort? How much reprocessing is done today, and why not?
Would you create material about centrifuges and other isotope separation methods?
Hi Elina. I know you did some coverage of the CANDU reactor system. Keeping with the focus on nuclear fuel, can you expand on the fuel differences between a light water reactor and a heavy water reactor? For example which reactor types need the entichment, if there are different types of fuel pellets (ie if fuel pellets are manufactured in different ways due to the reactor type) etc. Thanks!
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Excellent video. What would happen if cracked pellets were used in a reactor and why do they not use u238 ?
Now I have 2 questions:
1. What would the danger be in having a cracked pellet inside a fuel assembly? Would it fail mechanically because of differential thermal expansion, or would it create an area of uneven reactivity, either going into supercriticality because of the neutrons from the other fission reactions around it, or subcriticality because of the space of low neutron moderation inside the pellet? Or is it just because we want our fuel assemblies to be structurally beyond reproach?
2. would it be possible from a nuclear physics perspective, to run a microreactor on only 2 pellets? Or would it run into the same issue as the nuclear battery, where it has a very high capacity, but it releases the energy very slowly, to the order of µW and be basically useless but for some very small devices? I imagine a corresponding size cooling loop and turbine would not be the most efficient system, considering full size commercial power plants already only really put out about 30% of the core's thermal energy into the grid as electricity.
Elina, I would like to see you do a reaction video on David Hahn (the "Radioactive Boy Scout") in the future.
When the pellets are getting baked I wonder if they are all singing the song Because I Got High by Afroman.
I am first 🥇 from India 🇮🇳
I literally laying in bed this morning thinking about how this process works...
Interesting!
Hey, since you’ve already played Fallout 4, I know of another game you might find interesting: the first Call of Duty: Black Ops. Specifically, the “Radiation” multiplayer map, where players fight each other in a Soviet uranium processing facility. It doesn’t have the same kind of interactive features as Fallout, and you also can’t level up very far anymore thanks to the data-saving servers having been shut down years ago, but you might still find it interesting.
By the way, did you ever see those other video ideas I posted under one of your own channel’s posts a few weeks ago?
Visited Capenhurst once, scary place. Not the uranium, the fluorine gas plant!
I’ve seen several videos saying that liquid fuel has advantages over solid fuel assemblies, but as almost all reactors seem to use solid fuel, please explain the advantages of solid fuel over liquid fuel
Good video. I'm curious about the centrifugal process. How can the center of a spinning chamber of gas be extracted? Is there some type of laminar flow used? Gases always seem to me to billow outward, rather than smoothly flow. Thank you for the content!
They spin really fast. The gas inside goes supersonic, it's something like tornado times 1000.
Hi Elina
Can you do the next video on the processes used in extracting uranium from sea water
The description is clear. But, for the first time to listen this description the process charts are shown far to short times. Charts should be shown all the time.
Just out of curiosity, what microphone are you using? I'm looking for a decent lapel mic.
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What is done with the excess U238?
I have studied the basic understanding of Nuclear!
Think you for the brake down of uranium!!!
But my interest is in electromagnetic!!!
I believe that electromagnetic can produce the same type of energy!
But with with out the threat of a nuclear meltdown
7:12 the forbidden snort
These resin encased yellowcake and pellet samples would make lovely house decorations! How much more radiation would your family get from a real resin encased pellet sitting on the sideboard for a few decades?
One question I've always had but I don't have access to anyone to answer: So you enrich to 3-5% and the rest is mostly U238. When the fuel rods are spent I understand that 1% U235 remains. Why are the rods not made of something the size of grains of sand with the U235 grains being very highly enriched and diluted down grains of another material that doesn't transmutate into something nasty. Then a fuel rod could be pulled out and grains sorted(not going to speculate on how since I lack the knowledge to suggest a material, but not an unreasonable process in my thinking, heck could be as simple as one floats in water lol) and put back into the rod giving the needed 3-5% again. Now when the rod is no longer 3-5% when all the dilution grains have been removed you are left with a whole lot less waste, and a lot more of the total burnt.
So is Uranium safe to handle in it's natural state when it's taken from the ground? Or is it also radioactive?
It would be interesting to show, how much microsiverts/h one Pellet or one assembled unused rod full of pellets, ready to be used on the reactor has.
Also how much there is, if one fuel rod has reached the time of replacement, where it would be taken out of the reactor.
I'm curious about that.
And thanks for this video.
Yes I want yellow cake, if I die ,I die, yellow my favorite color.
Seems like a lot of Energy put forth from the drilling, crushing, gassing to enrichment. Then the power plant construction. And of course a lot of TIME. Thank you for Sharing.
This is true, but what is important is how many times more energy you get OUT of the fuel vs the preparation put into it. This is known as EROEI (Energy Return On Energy Invested or Input). Nuclear power has such a high density of energy output, that even though the reactors only use about 5% of the fuel put in them (about 95% is "waste" and removed to be put in a cooling pond, then put in cask storage), the EROEI is still about 75x. Newer reactor designs and fuels could do even better but ~75x is one of the highest numbers you can get and the highest when talking about reliable output (wind can hit 75x, but it isn't reliable since it depends on the wind).
Nuclear is dirt cheap when you take the cost/time/challenges of building the bloody reactor itself. Once they are up and running they generally work silently and effortless for 60,70,80+ years... Ontario is principally nuclear powered and it's only expanding it's fleet... Bruce is one of the largest nuclear sites in the world and Pickering and Darlington are nothing to sneeze at either!
@@LFTRnowI often think how "silly" it is to haul oil, diesel with diesel truck to various places... nuclear fuel has minimal problem in this as energy density is so high per kg. People will likely use EROEI 1:1 still but cant build any industry for that, only for moving produce to more remote locations for people to use.
I was just thinking something. How hard would it be to make a small reactor that could run on 10-20 pellets that could power a whole home for 5-10 year?
And another thing. How much would it thake to make a nuclear bomb from thies pellets? Theres alot of countryes who have nuclear power bot no bombs. Not that i wish for more of them. More of interest of how hard it would be if they wantet to.
Thank you for another great video Elina. Looking forward to the next one.
@@Funnyboy2402I thought of same, small reactors (SMR) could over time get to house size scale. Nuclear bombs need from 5% to enrich to 80-90% so that is very hard to do. Enrichment to 5% is already pretty challenging process with many steps in this video.
How does the energy used to produce these fuels, mining, processing, enrichment, handling, environmental impact and the construction and operation of the facilities compare to other conventional electrical generating systems and the processing of those fuels. Coal, Hydro, Natural gas, wind or solar? I'm a hydro operator/tech, just wondering.
Love the Minecraft block 😁
I am curious about fuel for CANDU reactors. How can it use SO much less mined uranium? Why not just use thorium?
If she is going to talk with those hands she should really be wearing safety glasses.
Thanks for this! Why uranium is commonly used other than any element? 😊
Radioactive nails!!
I feel like I'm now on some kind of watch list after seeing this video.
Forbiden cake frosting 😂
Why for Biden?
I was told that one particular step inthe process can only be done in 5 places on the planet, one of them being Malvesi/Malvezi, the other ones in USA, Russia and China. Which stage would that be?
*Abstract*
Nuclear power plants rely on uranium as a fuel source. This video presents an overview of the front-end processes involved in nuclear fuel fabrication. The fabrication journey begins with mining uranium ore, typically extracted through conventional drilling or the less environmentally impactful in-situ leaching technique. The mined ore is treated, purified, and converted into yellowcake (concentrated uranium oxide). Through conversion and centrifuge-based enrichment, the concentration of the fissile isotope uranium-235 is increased. The enriched uranium is chemically converted to uranium dioxide powder, then compressed and baked into dense ceramic pellets. These pellets are carefully inspected and inserted into zirconium alloy rods, which are then assembled into fuel bundles for use in nuclear reactors.
*Nuclear Fuel Fabrication - Key Stages*
*Summary*
*Mining*
* 0:00: Uranium is extracted from underground/underwater in rock form (ore).
* 1:17: Ore is naturally occurring, with concentrations from 0.3% to 20% uranium (1% typical).
* 1:38: Most abundant reserves found in Canada, Australia, and Kazakhstan.
* 1:58: Two mining methods: conventional drilling or in-situ leaching (less environmental impact).
*Conversion*
* 2:38: Extracted uranium purified and converted into yellowcake (U308 or other oxide forms), ~80% concentration.
* 3:41: Further conversion needed to a form suitable for enrichment.
* 4:05: Yellowcake converted to Uranium Hexafluoride (UF6). Gaseous form eases enrichment process.
*Enrichment*
* 4:59: UF6 used for enrichment. Most commonly done using gas centrifuges.
* 5:35: Process separates Uranium-235 (useful isotope) from heavier Uranium-238. Several cycles create fuel that is 3-5% U-235, suitable for light water reactors.
*Reconversion*
* 6:41: Enriched UF6 chemically converted to Uranium Dioxide (UO2) powder.
*Pelletizing*
* 7:10: UO2 powder pressed into pellets (roughly a fingertip in size), then baked (sintered) for solidification.
* 8:34: Amazing energy density: One pellet rivals 800kg coal or 500L oil. Two pellets can potentially power a household for a year.
*Fuel Assembly*
* 9:00: Pellets carefully inspected, then loaded into long, thin rods made of a zirconium alloy.
* 9:48: Bundles of rods form the fuel assemblies that are used in reactor cores (100+ assemblies per typical reactor).
I appreciate the enormous energy density of nuclear fuel compared to chemical fuels but how much of that energy is actually utilized in a reactor cycle? I heard that the pellet structure mechanically breaks down or that the fuel becomes otherwise unsuitable well before the radioactivity of the uranium is expended.
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What about uranium not enrichment used in nuclear power plants like in argentina.
I heard that sometimes sulfuric acid is used to extract uranium from underground deposits. Isn't it dangerous?
Molten thorium salt or liquid thorium fluoride, please
Thanks Alina. U r so cute and beautiful and a lot thanks for giving such knowledge .
The beautiful elina ❤
For some space applications (RTG) they use HEU (highly enriched). Could this be produced with the same centrifuges as tge ones used for fuel pellets/rods?
(Ofc mikitary grade is another story, I guess.)
A topic idea: using nuclear energy in space probes/rovers.
Or another one: could we produce fuel rods on Mars? What do we know about uranium distribution in Mars? How many and heavy machines would be needed ro make it happen there?
I'm fairly sure that uranium (at any state of enrichment) has never been used in any RTGs. It simply isn't suitable, because the half life is far too long, meaning it is nowhere near radioactive enough to generate the kind of heat required to make RTGs work. The isotopes used for that need to have a half life measured in a few tens of years: The RTGs used on long duration space probes (such as the Voyager and Cassini probes) use plutonium-238, which has a half life of 88 years, since this is short enough to make reasonably large pellets of plutonium metal (or sometimes plutonium oxide) glow red hot if well insulated. This is enough to make reliable RTGs which can operate for several decades - the Voyager probes were launched in the 1970s and are still sending signals back to earth today.
The next most common isotope used for RTGs is strontium-90, which has a half life of about 29 years: This has not been used for RTGs powering space probes, but the Soviet Union constructed many RTGs of this type to power radio transmitters in remote northern lighthouses, which was the only practical method for producing consistent power output during the 6 months of darkness of the arctic winter. The RTGs used for this were much smaller than the plutonium versions used in spacecraft, with a much lower output of about 10 watts, though they could provide this consistently for several years, which after all was the whole point.
Dem Claws Tho
Or should I say: Cla(235)Us
listening about whole process I'm wondering what is energy efficiency of whole operation. From digging ore to ready electric energy? How much energy is needed to produce 1kWh of energy - all in. This process seems for me very energy consuming. Digging ore, transporting it, crushing, enriching, sintering etc... This looks like eating big part of produced 1kWh.
Elinas fingernails are always pristine! (And getting longer)
Elina should really start making videos in Greek.
(Γεια σας κυρία Χαρατσιδου, θα πρέπει να κάνετε περισσότερα βίντεο στα ελληνικά.)
So what happens to all that extra U238?
Would that be accurate to say that since U-235 is fissile, the U-238 has to be altered by it to do anything? That is to say that the U-238 is altered to other elements which then decay into fissile ones?
The U-235 is fossil, however the U-238 will absorb a neutron and become Plutonium 239.
@@vikingsoftpaw Thinking about when a fission occurs it puts out 3 neutrons. So there is a statistical chance of converting U-238 to Pt 239. So you probably get an eventual slightly positive drift in fuel as per being fissile There is also the issue of what generates the initial neutrons that I guess have to hit other U-235s or Pt 239s?
Why do they use Zirconium to hold the Uranium-pellets?
Don't eat yellow snow the old saying says, this is even more important when applied to cake.
A lot of rockhounds who go out looking for petrified wood don't realize that if there is abundant uranium present during the lithification of the organic material, the organic material soaks up the uranium like a sponge. People have suffered serious consequences from simply cutting this 'hot wood' into a pendant and wearing it around their neck for years. Of course, most pet. wood is harmless, it's just something to be aware of if you are someone who hunts the pretty old petrified woods out there.
"Serious consequences" citation needed.
"Roses are red
Uranium's black
Yellow-cake's yellow
I'll always be back!" (to this channel).
Those talons O_O !!!
That's was interesting. Now we need a tutorial about how to make a nuclear bomb.
no
it is actually pretty easy to make one, the difficult part is getting it to not trigger until you actually want to fire it
Why do you generate heat from elements and heat water to the point of steam ? Then spin the turbines to generate electrons from the rotation of the magnetic field ??
So it's not possible to immediately extract these electrons from the elements to produce electricity ??
You can and it's called a nuclear device. The electron energy will immediately decay into a lot of heat that is sometimes used to trigger a fusion reaction
@@mikefallwell1301 a lot of heat ??
@@igorbarsowski2380 considerably more than the core of the Sun
@@mikefallwell1301 Well, the beautiful thing is that they generate heat and then use this heat to heat water so that the steam turns the turbines.
Then the steam rotates the magnets and coils in a rolling motion to create an electric current.
Well, my question is next:
Is there another technology to transform electrons in atomic nuclei into the rapid movement of electrical energy without generating heat ? without the need to generate steam and without the need to rotate magnetic fields ?
I think they should rename Uranium to Uranus'ium.
I love cake! 🍰
Scusa, te lo posso chiedere se parli italiano? Cosi posso conversare di nucleare con te, il mio inglese è base, purtroppo.
Hello nsa watchlist gang, we're all on it now. 😆
Me: takes notes ✍🏻