From what our know that :
Nuclear reactors:
Nuclear reactors and atomic bombs both depend on fission to work, and the fission in one is basically the same as the fission in the other, except in the way it is controlled.
The easy way to control a fission chain reaction is to put things into the nuclear material that absorb neutrons, moderating the reaction. This is done in a nuclear power plant, where the neutron flux, the number of neutrons available, is moderated. If the control of the plant fails for any reason, the fuel overheats, and a melt down occurs. Such melt downs have happened a number of times, especially when nuclear technology was just developing. On one occasion, at Chernobyl, a meltdown caused very extensive damage with loss of life and property, and permanent evacuation of cities and towns.
A nuclear bomb is also controlled, but in a very different way, which is much more difficult to achieve than the controlled chain reaction in the power plant. Here, the idea is to hold the critical mass together while it overheats and wants to vaporize, so the chain reaction will consume as much of the fuel as possible. If this is not done properly, and the control fails, then part of the fuel succeeds in vaporizing, and the critical mass is divided into pieces that fly apart before they can contribute to the power of the explosion. In such a case, instead of a nuclear blast, we get a nuclear pop or a nuclear fizzle, which is pretty bad because the fuel is a radioactive poison, but it is not as bad as the nuclear blast. But the point is, holding the mass together means keeping something that is turning to vapor all in one place under pressure while it is exploding, and this is very hard to do.
The critical mass of the nuclear plant or bomb has been achieved in nature, and its results can be seen in places in Africa, where it happened many millions of years ago. It did not explode, but was more similar to a nuclear melt down at a power plant.
Hydrogen bombs depend on fusion, which is a very different process. In the fission process, heavy atoms split in two. In the fusion process, light atoms are fused together, usually so that two atoms are fused into one atom. This process is being investigated as a source of power, but has not been achieved as a practical power source as yet.
As summary, the main differences between a nuclear power plant (NPP) and an atomic bomb are:
Nuclear reactors:
- they are made to make energy
- they store energy
- they are meant to destroy
- they don't store energy but spread it
Nuclear reactors and atomic bombs both depend on fission to work, and the fission in one is basically the same as the fission in the other, except in the way it is controlled.
The easy way to control a fission chain reaction is to put things into the nuclear material that absorb neutrons, moderating the reaction. This is done in a nuclear power plant, where the neutron flux, the number of neutrons available, is moderated. If the control of the plant fails for any reason, the fuel overheats, and a melt down occurs. Such melt downs have happened a number of times, especially when nuclear technology was just developing. On one occasion, at Chernobyl, a meltdown caused very extensive damage with loss of life and property, and permanent evacuation of cities and towns.
A nuclear bomb is also controlled, but in a very different way, which is much more difficult to achieve than the controlled chain reaction in the power plant. Here, the idea is to hold the critical mass together while it overheats and wants to vaporize, so the chain reaction will consume as much of the fuel as possible. If this is not done properly, and the control fails, then part of the fuel succeeds in vaporizing, and the critical mass is divided into pieces that fly apart before they can contribute to the power of the explosion. In such a case, instead of a nuclear blast, we get a nuclear pop or a nuclear fizzle, which is pretty bad because the fuel is a radioactive poison, but it is not as bad as the nuclear blast. But the point is, holding the mass together means keeping something that is turning to vapor all in one place under pressure while it is exploding, and this is very hard to do.
The critical mass of the nuclear plant or bomb has been achieved in nature, and its results can be seen in places in Africa, where it happened many millions of years ago. It did not explode, but was more similar to a nuclear melt down at a power plant.
Hydrogen bombs depend on fusion, which is a very different process. In the fission process, heavy atoms split in two. In the fusion process, light atoms are fused together, usually so that two atoms are fused into one atom. This process is being investigated as a source of power, but has not been achieved as a practical power source as yet.
As summary, the main differences between a nuclear power plant (NPP) and an atomic bomb are:
- the nuclear fission process in the NPP is controllable while that in the atomic bomb is not controllable.
- the uranium used in the NPP is usually natural or slightly enriched while that in the uranium atomic bomb is very highly enriched.
- the plutonium, if used as fuel (mixed oxide or MOX fuel), in NPP is used in low plutonium concentration in a matrix of depleted, natural, or low enriched uranium and the plutonium is of low isotopic purity. The plutonium used in a plutonium atomic bomb is of high concentration and much higher isotopic purity.
- This is view of the nucleur power plant..Please!! Don't be scared with smoke that out from the nice building :) ..That is not radioactive waste. It just steam water which from the cooling process. In this process, the heat from generation electricity by nucleur process will cooled continuously by the water. So that, the smoke produced from vaporizing process. Remember, that is not radioactive waste ! :)
This is a diagram how the nucleur power plant will be function
Picture of atomic bomb or nucleur bomb
Nice, but please make your updates less technical (and more accessible). Thank you.
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