The average annual electricity consumption of a United States citizen was 10715 kWh in 2020, which corresponds to the burning of 1.3 tons of black coal. What mass of natural uranium would be required to provide the same amount of energy by fission of 235U in a nuclear reactor? Assume an energy release of 200 MeV for every fission event and that the efficiency of the nuclear power plant of transforming the energy release into electricity is 30 % .
Nuclear Fusion
Nuclear fusion is a type of nuclear reaction. In nuclear fusion, two or more than two lighter atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus. During this process, an enormous amount of energy is released. This energy is called nuclear energy. Nuclear fusion is the energy source of the sun and stars.
Fusion Bomb
A fusion bomb is also known as a thermonuclear bomb or hydrogen bomb which releases a large amount of explosive energy during a nuclear chain reaction when the lighter nuclei in it, combine to form heavier nuclei, and a large amount of radiation is released. It is an uncontrolled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction where isotopes of hydrogen combine under very high temperature to form helium. They work on the principle of operation of atomic fusion. The isotopes of Hydrogen are deuterium and tritium, where they combine their masses and have greater mass than the product nuclei, get heated at high temperatures, and releases energy.
The average annual electricity consumption of a United States citizen was 10715 kWh in
2020, which corresponds to the burning of 1.3 tons of black coal. What mass of natural
uranium would be required to provide the same amount of energy by fission of 235U in a
nuclear reactor? Assume an energy release of 200 MeV for every fission event and that the
efficiency of the nuclear power plant of transforming the energy release into electricity is
30 % .
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