Question

A uranium reactor develops thermal energy at a rate of 300 MW. Calculate the amount of 235U being consumed every second. Average released per fission is 200 MeV.

Answer 1

The amount of 235U being consumed every second is 238 gm

Explanation:

It is given:

• Thermal energy’s development rate = 300 MW

• Per fission, the average energy released = 200 MeV

• The number of atoms disintegrating per second is denoted as N.

• Then, per second, the emitted total energy will be $N \times 1.6 \times 10-19 \times 200 \times 10^{6}=\text { Power } N \times 1.6 \times 10-19 \times 200 \times 10^{6}=300 \times 10^{6}$

• $\begin{aligned}&\Rightarrow \mathrm{N}=32 \times 1019 \times 1.6=33.2 \times 1019 \text { atoms }\\&238 \mathrm{gm} \text { of } \mathrm{U}^{235}=6.023 \times 10^{23} \text { atoms }\end{aligned}$