what is the key difference between a nuclear reactor and a nuclear bomb?
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In a nuclear bomb you got highly enriched uranium that goes into critical mass and explodes with a force in the order of megatons. In a nuclear reactor we got low enriched uranium that is used as fuel in a reactor where neutrons are fired at the Uranium to cause nuclear fission or breaking of the Uranium atoms.
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In a PWR, the primary coolant (water) is pumped under high pressure to the reactor core where it is heated by the energy released by the fission of atoms. ... In contrast to a boiling water reactor, pressure in the primary coolant loop prevents the water from boiling within the reactor.
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In nuclear power plants, neutrons collide with uranium atoms, splitting them. ... In the core of nuclear reactors, the fission of uranium atoms releases energy that heats water to about 520 degrees Farenheit. This hot water is then used to spin turbines that are connected to generators, producing electricity.
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Nuclear fission creates heat The main job of a reactor is to house and control nuclear fission—a process where atoms split and release energy. ... The heat created by fission turns the water into steam, which spins a turbine to produce carbon-free electricity.
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Fission is used in nuclear power reactors since it can be controlled, while fusion is not utilized to produce power since the reaction is not easily controlled and is expensive to create the needed conditions for a fusion reaction.
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Almost all of the nuclear weapons deployed today use the thermonuclear design because it is more efficient. Thermonuclear bombs work by using the energy of a fission bomb to compress and heat fusion fuel.
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Environmentally Friendly Nuclear power generates clean energy by bombarding uranium with neutrons as opposed to burning fossil fuels. Nuclear reactors do not produce direct carbon dioxide emissions, and any indirectly produced emissions have negligible impacts on the environment.
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The nuclear force plays an essential role in storing energy that is used in nuclear power and nuclear weapons. Work (energy) is required to bring charged protons together against their electric repulsion. This energy is stored when the protons and neutrons are bound together by the nuclear force to form a nucleus.
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An atomic or nuclear bomb is a fission bomb that relies on the splitting of atoms from either uranium or plutonium creating a runaway reaction. A nuke could be an atomic bomb or hydrogen bomb. ... An atomic bomb's heat can be as much as 10,000 degrees while a hydrogen bomb reaches several million degrees.
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The atomic bomb, and nuclear bombs, are powerful weapons that use nuclear reactions as their source of explosive energy. Scientists first developed nuclear weapons technology during World War II.
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Nuclear reactions involve changes to electrons, while chemical reactions involve changes to protons and neutrons. Only chemical reactions can be exothermic. Chemical reactions can result in new compounds, while nuclear reactions can result in new elements.
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Nuclear fission produces the atomic bomb, a weapon of mass destruction that uses power released by the splitting of atomic nuclei. When a single free neutron strikes the nucleus of an atom of radioactive material like uranium or plutonium, it knocks two or three more neutrons free.
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Nuclear Stability is a concept that helps to identify the stability of an isotope. The two main factors that determine nuclear stability are the neutron/proton ratio and the total number of nucleons in the nucleus.
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In a nuclear plant, the heat source is from the nuclear reaction whereas in a thermal power plant it is from the combustion of coal. The difference is in the inlet steam parameters to the turbine in a nuclear plant. Thermal power plants use steam at superheated conditions. ... The nuclear plant uses a 'wet steam turbine'.
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A major advantage of the BWR is that the overall thermal efficiency is greater than that of a pressurized water reactor because there is no separate steam generator or heat exchanger. ... It requires a larger pressure vessel than the PWR because of the amount of steam that can be released during an accident.
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Nuclear power releases less radiation into the environment than any other major energy source. Second, nuclear power plants operate at much higher capacity factors than renewable energy sources or fossil fuels. ... Third, nuclear power releases less radiation into the environment than any other major energy source.
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Nuclear energy can be used to create electricity, but it must first be released from the atom. ... A nuclear reactor, or power plant, is a series of machines that can control nuclear fission to produce electricity. The fuel that nuclear reactors use to produce nuclear fission is pellets of the element uranium.