3 ms·
Doesn’t the nuclear heating happen regardless of us harnessing the energy or not?
by kansface 4y ago
Doesn’t the nuclear heating happen regardless of us harnessing the energy or not?
- Schroedingersat 4y agoUnenriched uranium will fission eventually, but you're talking trillions of years. In a fission reactor, the U238 atoms are placed close enough to a minority of U235 atoms and to each othekr that neutrons from one fission will trigger the next at a rate just short of running away exponentially. There are some ore bodies that are concentrated enough to fission faster, but they are rare (and not the uranium that is typically mined for fuel).
- pfdietz 4y agoThe uranium undergoes alpha decay first. Alpha decay is not fission.
- Schroedingersat 4y agoYes, this is correct. Thanks.