DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL AGRA

(Under the aegis of the Delhi Public School Society, East of Kailash, New Delhi)

SESSION 2022-23

PHYSICS PROJECT REPORT ON

________________________

Under the guidance of : Submitted By:

Ms./Mr.______________ ________________

Class:_______
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to all those who gave me
an opportunity to work on this project. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to our
venerated principal Mr. R.K.Pandey and our respected IC Senior Secondary Ms.
Meghana Sorick for their undaunted support and encouragement to maintain
our progress on track.

I extend my special thanks to my supervisor Ms./

Mr.……………………….. whose sagacious guidance, stimulating
suggestions and encouragement helped me in all time of fabrication process of
this project.

My profound thank goes to my parents and friends for helping and giving
support whenever I needed it in the completion of my project.

NAME:
CLASS & SECTION:
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that _________________ of class __ of

Delhi Public School Agra has completed
her/his Physics project work under my supervision and
has taken proper care and displayed utmost sincerity in
the completion of this project.

Her/ His project is up to the standards both in respect of its

contents and form as per CBSE norms and embodies her/
his original views.

Ms./Mr.
………………………………..
(PGT Physics) (External Examiner)

Ms.Meghana Sorick Mr.R.K Pandey

(IC. SR. SEC.) (PRINCIPAL)

 WHAT IS NUCLEAR ENERGY?
Nuclear energy is a form of energy released from the
nucleus, the core of atoms, made up of protons and
neutrons. This source of energy can be produced in two
ways: fission – when nuclei of atoms split into several
parts – or fusion – when nuclei fuse together.

The nuclear energy

harnessed around
the world today to
produce electricity is
through nuclear
fission, while the
technology to
generate electricity from fusion is in the R&D phase.
 NUCLEAR FISSION

Nuclear fission is a reaction where the nucleus of an atom

splits into two or smaller nuclei while releasing energy.

For instance, when hit by a neutron, the nucleus of an

atom of uranium-235 splits into two smaller nuclei, for
example, a barium nucleus and a krypton nucleus and two
or three neutrons. These extra neutrons will hit other
surrounding uranium-235 atoms, which will also split and
generate additional neutrons in a multiplying effect, thus
generating a chain reaction in a fraction of a second.

Each time the reaction occurs, there is a release of energy

in the form of heat and radiation. The heat can be
converted into electricity in a nuclear power plant, similar
to how heat from fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil is
used to generate electricity.
 THE FISSION PROCESS
In the nucleus of each atom of uranium-235 (U-235) are
92 protons and 143 neutrons, for a total of 235. The
arrangement of particles within uranium-235 is somewhat
unstable and the nucleus can disintegrate if it is excited by
an outside source. When a U-235 nucleus absorbs an
extra neutron, it quickly breaks into two parts. This
process is known as fission (see diagram below). Each
time a U-235 nucleus splits, it releases two or three
neutrons. Hence, the possibility exists for creating a chain
reaction.
The MIT Research Reactor is used primarily for the
production of neutrons. When it is in operation, the central
active core contains a huge number of neutrons traveling
in every direction at very high speeds.
The rate of fissions in the uranium nuclei in the MIT
reactor is controlled chiefly by six control blades of
boron-stainless steel which are inserted vertically
alongside the fuel elements. Boron has the property of
absorbing neutrons without re-emitting any. When the
control blades are fully inserted, they absorb so many
neutrons from the uranium that there are not enough to
allow a chain reaction to continue. To put the reactor into
operation, the control blades are raised very slowly. As
fewer and fewer neutrons are absorbed, more and more
neutrons are available to cause the splitting of uranium
nuclei, until finally enough neutrons are available to
sustain a chain reaction.
In the MIT reactor, one other group of components is
essential to the maintaining and controlling a chain
reaction. Since U-235 nuclei do not readily absorb the high
energy neutrons that are emitted during fission, it is
necessary to slow the neutrons down with a "moderator".
Three types of moderators are used at the MIT reactor: (1)
ordinary or "light" water that is also used to cool the
reactor core, (2) deuterated or heavy water (D20), and (3)
high-purity graphite, both of which are excellent at slowing
neutrons without absorbing them.
 CORE DESCRIPTION
‘He’ core consists of 27 positions, most of which are filled
with fuel elements, such as the one shown in position C-9.
The remaining three positions are filled with either a solid
aluminium "dummy" element or an In-Core Experiment.

High boron, stainless steel shim blades are positioned on

each side of the hexagonal core, each one of these six
blades is capable of shutting down the reactor. The blades
are connected to electromagnets which, when de-powered
drop the blades into the core, shutting down the reactor in
less than one second. Twenty-two different safety sensors
(as well as a manually operated button in the control
room) can shut off power to these magnets, and thus shut
down the reactor.
The reactor also uses a cadmium-aluminum rod for fine
control of the reactor. This rod is moved to make slight
changes in reactor power and to maintain the reactor at a
constant power level. The MITR is licensed to use digital
control technology to control reactor power.
THE MITR core is cooled by ordinary or ‘light’ water which
down the outside of the core tank and then up through the
fuel elements; this water also slows or ‘moderates’ the
neutrons emitted when the uranium-235 fuel fissions. The
core is surrounded by a ‘heavy’ water tank and by
high-purity graphite which also moderate the neutrons.
Below are some photos of the reactor core:

This is a view looking down into

the reactor core tank. The core
itself is visible in the center,
while some used fuel elements
are visible in the fuel storage
ring around the core.
Three-position is the core are
filled with unfueled or ‘dummy’
elements. The drives for each of
the reactor control blades
extend to connect to the blades
(located on each of the six sides
of the core). The
electromagnets used to "scram"

.
the reactor can be seen in the upper areas of the photo
The blue glow of Cerenkov radiation can be seen emanating from the reactor core (as well as from some
of the fuel in the storage ring). The dark components on the left of the picture are the parts of Emergency
Core Coolant System (ECCS).

Fuel Elements
MITR-II fuel elements consist of fifteen fuel plates in a
rhomboid-shaped element. Each fuel plate consists of
uranium-aluminum fuel sandwiched between sides of
aluminum cladding, which cladding is finned to increase
the heat transfer surface area.

Refueling
Refueling of the reactor occurs 3 to 4 times per year,
depending on the utilization of the reactor. A ‘refueling’ can
be as simple as replacing two or three fuel elements with
new fuel or a complete rearrangement of the core,
including flipping fuel elements, The rearrangement of
elements in the core is done to even the amount of
uranium used along an element. A typical fuel element will
remain in various positions in the core for about three
years.
 THE CHERNOBYL DISASTER
Nuclear power plants cannot be thoroughly discussed
without mentioning nuclear accidents. There is no tale
which is more vivid or sobering than that of Chernobyl. The
Chernobyl power plant, located about 80 km north of Kiev,
Ukraine in the former Soviet Union, was an RBMK-1000
type reactor.
On April 26, 1986, the world’s worst nuclear accident
happened at the Chernobyl plant. An explosion and fire in
the No. 4 reactor sent radioactivity into the atmosphere.
With the flow reduced, the cooling water in the reactor
began to boil and turn to steam.

THE FUKUSHIMA ACCIDENT

Following a major earthquake, a 15-metre tsunami
disabled the power supply and cooling of three Fukushima
Daiichi reactors, causing a nuclear accident beginning on
11 March 2011. All three cores largely melted in the first
three days.The accident was rated level 7 on the
International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, due to
high radioactive releases over days 4 to 6, eventually a
total of some 940 PBq (I-131 eq).All four Fukushima
Daiichi reactors were written off due to damage in the
accident – 2719 MWe net.After two weeks, the three
reactors (units 1-3) were stable with water addition and by
July they were being cooled with recycled water from the
new treatment plant. The Official 'cold shutdown condition'
was announced in mid-December.Apart from cooling, the
basic ongoing task was to prevent release of radioactive
materials, particularly in contaminated water leaked from
the three units. This task became newsworthy in August
2013.There have been no deaths or cases of radiation
sickness from the nuclear accident, but over 100,000
people were evacuated from their homes as a preventative
measure. Government nervousness has delayed the return
of many.Official figures show that there have been 2313
disaster-related deaths among evacuees from Fukushima
prefecture. Disaster-related deaths are in addition to the
about 19,500 that were killed by the earthquake or
tsunami.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

● https://byjus.com/physics/what-is-nuclear-fission/
● https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200712/physicshistory.cfm#:~:te
xt=December%201938%3A%20Discovery%20of%20Nuclear%20Fission&t
ext=In%20December%201938%2C%20over%20Christmas,lead%20to%20
the%20atomic%20bomb
● https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fission#Discovery_of_nuclear_fission
● https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/what-is-nuclear-energy-the-science-
of-nuclear-power
● https://www.atomicarchive.com/science/fission/index.html
● https://nrl.mit.edu/reactor/fission-process
● https://nrl.mit.edu/reactor/core-description
● https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-pl
ants/fukushima-daiichi-accident.aspx