Nuclear fission is the technique that is used in most of the nuclear reactors around the world. When a nucleus is split in an atom enormous energy is released. This energy is used for multiple purposes. The process of finding the atom that can be split and method adopted to split the atom in a controlled manner is done in the nuclear reactor. The atoms of nuclear isotopes are the ones that can be split in this manner. These are Uranium 235, Uranium 238, and Plutonium 239. Of these the Uranium 235 occurs naturally. The others are created in the fission process of Uranium 235. High speed neutrons are used to bombard the Uranium 235 atom and split it. When an atom is split in this way, it also releases some neutrons which in turn might split other atoms and this continues as a chain process and the amount of energy that is released would be enormous. Hence there is a need to control this chain reaction. The chain reaction is controlled by inserting other Cadmium, Boron, or Hafnium rods that absorb the neutrons and thus controls the chain reaction.
Technorati Tags: Nuclear Fission, Isotopes, Atomic Energy