![]() ![]() The yellowcake is then processed to give uranium oxide enriched in uranium-235, which is used in fuel rods. Uranium starts off as an ore, which is mined and purified into a fluorescent yellow powder called yellow cake. Lincoln says some reactors use plutonium as their fuel source and others, called mixed oxide or MOX reactors, use a mixture of uranium and plutonium. "Because the neutron is travelling faster and because they make plutonium, these reactors are called fast breeders." "If the collision is too fast, the neutron is absorbed by another isotope called uranium 238 and converted into plutonium 239."Īccording to Lincoln, some types of nuclear reactors are specifically designed to do this. Water is used in the power plant to slow down the neutrons to the right speed to cause the chain reaction. "That's called a chain reaction", says Lincoln. "Hit the nuclei at just the right speed with a neutron and it will split, in the process producing more neutrons which slam into other atomic nuclei of uranium 235 causing them to split as well, releasing even more neutrons and so on. This involves smashing neutrons into very large atoms, particularly uranium 235, releasing more neutrons. Nuclear power stations use the principle of nuclear fission to generate energy, says Professor Stephen Lincoln, lecturer in nuclear chemistry at the University of Adelaide. But the recent events at Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan demonstrate that when things do go wrong, they can have a serious impact. ![]() Nuclear power stations are a major source of energy for many countries around the world. ![]()
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