A 1000 MW fission reactor consumes half of its fuel in 500 y. How much did it contain initially? Assume the reactor operates 80% of the time, that all the energy generated arises from the fission of and that this nuclide is consumed only by the fission process.
Dear Student,
Half life of the fuel of the fission reactor, years
= 5 × 365 × 24 × 60 × 60 s
We know that in the fission of 1 g of nucleus, the energy released is equal to 200 MeV.
1 mole, i.e., 235 g of contains 6.023 × 1023 atoms.
∴1 g contains
The total energy generated per gram ofis calculated as:
The reactor operates only 80% of the time.
Hence, the amount of consumed in 5 years by the 1000 MW fission reactor is calculated as:
∴Initial amount of = 2 × 1538 = 3076 kg
Regards