The Science Quiz | Nuclear reactors and the power they generate

A normal view exhibits cooling towers and reactors of the Electricite de France (EDF) nuclear power plant in Cattenom, France, June 13, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Science Quiz seems thrice per week in the every day Science web page. The web page is obtainable to learn on all days besides Saturday in the epaper.

Questions:

1. A standard sort of nuclear reactor requires particles known as _______ ________ to set off nuclear fission. The particles get their identify from the proven fact that they are in thermal equilibrium with their speedy environment. Fill in the blanks.

2. In 1967, a U.S.-built nuclear reactor named ‘Sturgis’ turned vital and started to provide power. The U.S. authorities moved it to the Panama Canal, the place ‘Sturgis’ provided 10 MW of power from 1968 to 1975. This reactor was the world’s first what?

3. A standard fissile materials is the isotope uranium-235. However, uranium-235 solely makes up 0.72% of naturally occurring uranium. Which isotope makes up 99.27% of it?

4. Until round the Nineteen Sixties or so, when the price of fissile materials was nonetheless excessive, there was nice curiosity in gadgets known as _______ ________. These gadgets might produce extra fissile materials than they consumed. Fill in the blanks.

5. As a nuclear chain response proceeds in a reactor’s core, relying on its constituents and design, the ranges of _____-___ would possibly construct up. This isotope is a identified ‘neutron poison’ – a substance that absorbs neutrons and considerably slows the response price. Such neutron poisoning was one among the causes of the Chernobyl catastrophe.

This is a view of the building of an indigenous pressurised heavy-water reactor in 2016 – the place in India?

Answers:

1.Thermal neutrons