Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Nuclear reactor
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
===Fission=== {{Main|Nuclear fission}} When a large [[fissile]] [[atomic nucleus]] such as [[uranium-235]], [[uranium-233]], or [[plutonium-239]] absorbs a neutron, it may undergo nuclear fission. The heavy nucleus splits into two or more lighter nuclei, (the [[Nuclear fission product|fission products]]), releasing [[kinetic energy]], [[gamma rays|gamma radiation]], and [[neutron|free neutron]]s. A portion of these neutrons may be absorbed by other fissile atoms and trigger further fission events, which release more neutrons, and so on. This is known as a [[nuclear chain reaction]]. To control such a nuclear chain reaction, [[control rod]]s containing [[neutron poison]]s and [[neutron moderators]] are able to change the portion of neutrons that will go on to cause more fission.<ref name="DOE HAND"> {{cite web|url=http://www.hss.energy.gov/NuclearSafety/techstds/standard/hdbk1019/h1019v2.pdf|title=DOE Fundamentals Handbook: Nuclear Physics and Reactor Theory|publisher=US Department of Energy|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080423194722/http://www.hss.energy.gov/NuclearSafety/techstds/standard/hdbk1019/h1019v2.pdf|archive-date=23 April 2008|url-status=dead|access-date=24 September 2008}} </ref> Nuclear reactors generally have automatic and manual systems to shut the fission reaction down if monitoring or instrumentation detects unsafe conditions.<ref>{{cite web |title=Reactor Protection & Engineered Safety Feature Systems |work=The Nuclear Tourist |url=http://www.nucleartourist.com/systems/rp.htm |access-date=25 September 2008 |archive-date=22 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822051052/http://www.nucleartourist.com/systems/rp.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)