What are some of the direct uses of nuclear energy fission?
410938
Powering boats like aircraft carriers and submarines.\n\nProducing radioactives for medical uses like Technesium99 which is injected into patients to do bone scans.\n\nPossibly used as a starter system for nuclear fission reactors (though this is a theory that has been around for decades and still hasn't happened) \n\nReally Big Bombs.
828967
A piece of uranium or plutonium is put in water, and then the water begins to boil releasing a large ammount of of energy. That energy is collected. What`s left over from this reaction is known as nuclear waste.
50985
There are other forms of energy, yes. However as far as nuclear energy, no. Fission is the discarding of atoms (unpredictable left uncontrolled, hence the rods at a plant). Fusion is the opposite. they are considered A and B.Check this address and all will be answered:                  http://theory.gsi.de/jap-ger-workshop/talks/dmocelj.pdf#search='nuclear%20physics%2C%20calculations'
320615
Nuclear energy is dangerous in the hands of any nation. Contrary to popular belief proliferated by propaganda from the energy industry, there is no safe way to dispose of nuclear waste except launching it into outer space.  Here’s a best answer to one of my questions about the disposal of nuclear waste, “If there was (a safe way to dispose of nuclear waste) we would use nuclear energy. It is not and never was a workable energy source because of the hazards and waste."\n\nAmerica has about 70,000 metric tons of nuclear waste with a half life of 5,000 years.  Our solution was to put this waste in a hole 90 miles outside Las Vegas in an earthquake prone area.\n\nWhat does Iran plan to do with their nuclear waste?
107751
The easiset way use sea water as a fuel is simply to extract the Uranium from it and feed it into a standard reactor. It's perfectly feasible and possible with the technology we have today.\n\nThe only reason we don't do it is because we have cheaper supplies of Uranium elsewhere.
955555
There are different forms of Energy.... the energy of which you are speaking about is energy in the form of a chemical reaction, which is why ash cannot be used in its ash state... it is chemically dead unless another process is applied. The ash does still contain atomic energy in the very matter it is composed of... but to use that would require an atomic process to convert the matter into energy. However, one must realize that even the best atomic energy system used today does not extract the full potential of the energy in a substance, because to obtain the full potential we would need to convert that matter into a pure photon state. The best fission and fusion systems only convert a small amount of matter into pure energy when the substance changes from one from to another.\n\nThis is the same reason we cannot energize a rock.... the energy applied to it... does not affect the atomic stability of the protons and neutrons contained in the substance. In order to cause any atomic reaction to take place outside of a reactor to a substance like a rock, we must apply forces to contract the atomic distances between atoms and cause fusion.... The only way to do that is under high gravitational fields, as what exist in a sun or a star at the center.\n\nSo unless you want to stand with that rock in the middle of a star or a black hole.... you never get the high energy conversion outside of a reactor.
422749
That's nuclear fission - used in nuclear power stations. The waste can be recycled to a certain extent and is done at Sellafield in the UK. Decommissioning nuclear power stations is a bigger problem.
1059948
read these pages to find out more:\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion_power\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fusion
86147
Heat energy.\n\nThere is water (or a water mixture) cooling the core directly.  This water is radioactive.  You then have coils running in the water which have other water (protected from the radiation) coursing through them.  This water gets the heat transfered to it and turns to steam.  The steam runs turbines that turn a magnet core in the center of a copper coil that in turn produces electricity.\n\nHope this answers it for ya, feel free to email me!
275788
Uses\nRadionuclides are used in two major ways: for their chemical properties and as sources of radiation.\n\nRadionuclides of familiar elements such as carbon can serve as tracers because they are chemically very similar to the non-radioactive nuclides, so most chemical, biological, and ecological processes treat them in a near identical way. One can then examine the result with a radiation detector, such as a geiger counter, to determine where the provided atoms ended up. For example, one might culture plants in an environment in which the carbon dioxide contained radioactive carbon; then the parts of the plant that had laid down atmospheric carbon would be radioactive.\n\nIn medicine, radioisotopes are used for diagnosis, treatment, and research. Radioactive chemical tracers emitting gamma rays that can provide diagnostic information about a person's internal anatomy and the functioning of specific organs. This is used in some forms of tomography single emission computed tomography and positron emission tomography scanning. Radioisotopes are also a promising method of treatment in hemopoietic forms of tumors, while the success for treatment of a solid tumors has been limited so far. More powerful gamma sources are used to sterilise syringes and other medical equipment. About one in two people in Western countries are likely to experience the benefits of nuclear medicine in their lifetime.\n\nIn biochemistry and genetics, radionuclides are used to label molecules and allow tracing chemical and physiological processes occurring in living organisms, such as DNA replication or amino acid transport.\n\nIn food preservation, radiation is used to stop the sprouting of root crops after harvesting, to kill parasites and pests, and to control the ripening of stored fruit and vegetables.\n\nIn agriculture and animal husbandry, radionuclides also play an important role. They are used to produce high intake of crops, disease and weather resistant varieties of crops, to study how fertilisers and insecticides work, and to improve the production and health of domestic animals.\n\nIndustrially, and in mining, radionuclides are used to examine welds, to detect leaks, to study the rate of wear of metals, and for on-stream analysis of a wide range of minerals and fuels.\n\nMost household smoke detectors contain the radionuclide americium formed in nuclear reactors, saving many lives.\n\nEnvironmentally, radionuclides are used to trace and analyse pollutants, to study the movement of surface water, and to measure water runoffs from rain and snow, as well as the flow rates of streams and rivers.\n\nNatural radionuclides can be used in archaeology and in paleontology to measure ages. When radioactive carbon, for example, is in the atmosphere, it rapidly becomes separated from its decay products. Once it is bound up in a solid, such as wood or paper, its decay products must remain in place. So by measuring how much of these decay products has accumulated, one can estimate the time when the carbon was captured into solid form.
324432
Quick summery:\n\nFusion produces energy by taking very light elements, like hydorgen, and combining them together to form heavier ones like helium.  4H -> 1He.  If you take a look at the mass of 4 hydrogen atoms you will find that they have more mass than 1 helium atom.  This extra mass is converted into energy in fusion (E = mc^2).\n\nNow this produces a ton of energy (it is what powers the sun), but you need extream conditions (high temperature and pressure) to do it.  In order to make a hydrogen bomb, that is a bomb that uses fusion to generate the energy to do its dirty work, we need a source of intense heat.\n\nThat is why typically we trigger our hydrogen bombs with a small atomic bomb.  An atomic bomb generates energy through breaking large elements (uranium) into lighter ones.  Just like fusion, there is a mass difference between what you start with, and what you end with.  That missing mass goes into eneregy.  Fission is easy to strat, just get enough fissionable material together and presto.\n\nSo, you use the energy/heat produced by the little atomic bomb to super-heat your fusion fuel (hydrogen isotopes), and bang -> hydrogen bomb.\n\nTo be specific it is actually a three-stage detonation.  You use a conventional bomb to set off the fission (atomic) bomb, which in turn sets off the fusion (hydrogen) bomb.
233396
Nuclear research can bring greater efficiencies to current nuclear processes.  The shape, materials used, and methodologies in maintaining fission are all currently refined and reevaluated to find an optimal solution that would provide greater efficiencies.  Futhermore, technologies on how to deal with current nuclear wastes are essential in solving the contamination problems.  Furthermore, a means of preventing proliferation goes hand in hand with reducing contamination - radioactive wastes can be used as a dirty bomb.  Therefore refinement is essential.  A technology that looked promising was the Integral Fast Reactor (IFR).  This technology reduced the means of proliferation by maintaining the nuclear wastes at an extremely high temperature (molten metal).  Additionally, it was built with intent of never being able to go supercritical - physical properties of the fuel capsules prevented this; temperature would increase the volume of the capsules which would decrease the density required to maintain fission.  Furthermore, the process of pyroprocessing effectively recycled it's wastes so that all actenides and harsh long lasting stuff were removed; wastes had half life of 100 years as opposed to current stuff which last practically forever.  In addition, it was 20% efficient in breeding new fuel as opposed to older breeder reactors which were at 3% fuel recycle.  But, since there was a effective way of recycling fuel, the entire fuel was never disposed, rather it was pyroprocessed and remade without the wastes.\n\nThat is one great benefit of nuclear research.  Others include more efficient propulsion systems for rockets, better sources of energy such as fusion, better medicinal technologies to tag molecules for investigative means, other investigative means unknown to us yet, sensors such as smoke detectors (which contain americium), etc.  The possibilities are limitless.
226685
Well, other forms of energy create so much more pollution that nuclear energy is the safest, most viable source of energy. I'll admit it's far from perfect, but considering the low output of energy collection devices such as solar and wind, nuclear energy has a huge output for a very low energy input.\n\nAnd nuclear power plants are among the most efficient power sources we have. Coal and nuclear plants are about 30-40% efficient. In contrast, the human body is only 20% efficient. Until we can develop a system of fusion that creates an acceptable amount of energy to warrant the energy required to start the reaction, fission is our best bet.
306016
Radiation hazards aside the greatest cost is the maintenance required of the nuclear waste and the eventual decommisioning of the powerplant.\n\nIn the medium term the cost to serve is not that much greater than other fuels, and it's the established Carbon neutral method of generating power.  It's just that the maintenance of it extends for 100's of years after it has served it's purpose.
561918
Renewable energy resources may be used directly, or used to create other more convenient forms of energy. Examples of direct use are solar ovens, geothermal heating, and water- and windmills. Examples of indirect use which require energy harvesting are electricity generation through wind turbines or photovoltaic cells (PV cells), or production of fuels such as ethanol from biomass (see alcohol as a fuel). A parameter sometimes used in renewable energy is the tonne of oil equivalent (toe). This is equal to 10,000 Mcal or 41,868 MJ of energy.\n\nIn a sense, renewable energy may be categorised as free energy, although most renewable energy sources would not normally be called "free energy". In engineering, free energy means an energy source available directly from the greater environment and which cannot be expected to be depletable by humans. Renewable energy development is concerned with the use of renewable energy sources by humans. For aspects of renewable energy use in modern societies see Renewable energy development. Modern interest in renewable energy development is linked to concerns about exhaustion of fossil fuels and environmental, social and political risks of extensive use of fossil fuels and nuclear energy.
548869
Reactor : To generate heat. Thats where the radioactive stuff is.\n\nModerating Rods : to control the rate of heat release from the reactor.\n\nBoiler : To generate steam and to cool down the reactor. (Moderating rods are used assuming what is called a heat load on the boiler ie that its full of water and making steam. What happened at Three Mile Island was that they thought there was water in the boiler and there wasn't)\n\nTurbine : to make electricity from the steam\n\nCondenser : to turn the steam back to water (If the turbine is not a condensing turbine)\n\nPump : to pump the condensed water back into the boiler\n\nInstrumentation : measuring flows, pressures, temperatures, liquid levels etc, and lots and lots of it to let you know whats happening and keep the thing safe. (what happened at Chernoble is that the emergency instrumentation was "overridden" which means its didn't shut the plant down when it should have)\n\nConcrete : to keep everything isolated.\n\nA very simple overview, hope it was interesting.
119700
An induced nuclear fission event. A thermal (slow-moving) neutron is absorbed by the nucleus of a uranium-235 atom, which in turn splits into fast-moving lighter elements (fission products) and free neutrons. The particular elements and number of neutrons produced by each single fission event are random.Nuclear fission is a process in nuclear physics in which the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller nuclei as fission products, and usually some by-product particles. Hence, fission is a form of elemental transmutation. The by-products include free neutrons, photons usually in the form gamma rays, and other nuclear fragments such as beta particles and alpha particles. Fission of heavy elements is an exothermic reaction and can release substantial amounts of useful energy both as gamma rays and as kinetic energy of the fragments.\n\nNuclear fission is used to produce energy for nuclear power and to drive explosion of nuclear weapons. Fission is useful as a power source because some materials, called nuclear fuels, both generate neutrons as part of the fission process and also undergo triggered fission when impacted by a free neutron. Nuclear fuels can be part of a self-sustaining chain reaction that releases energy at a controlled rate in a nuclear reactor or a very rapid uncontrolled rate in a nuclear weapon.\n\nThe amount of free energy contained in nuclear fuel is millions of times the amount of energy contained in a similar mass of chemical fuel such as gasoline, making nuclear fission a very tempting source of energy; however, the waste products of nuclear fission are highly radioactive and remain so for millennia, giving rise to a nuclear waste problem. Concerns over nuclear waste accumulation and over the immense destructive potential of nuclear weapons counterbalance the desirable qualities of fission as an energy source, and give rise to intense ongoing political debate over nuclear power.