(nuclear power)
Redesign of nuclear power reactor based on enrichment with uranium hexafluoride gas or UF6
Researcher and author: Dr. ( Afshin Rashid)
Note: Yellow cake is generally used to prepare nuclear reactor fuel, in fact, it is this material that is converted into UO2 after some processes and used in fuel rods. This material can also be used for enrichment. Convert to uranium hexafluoride gas or UF6, because in this case, the density of uranium 235 isotopes can be increased in it.
This process is done to obtain purer uranium, the material obtained at this stage is brown or black and not yellow, then the obtained product is dried and filtered, and the result will be what is called "yellow cake". it is famous. Today, there are new methods for preparing this uranium powder, whose product is more than yellow; It is close to brown and black, in fact, the color of the material obtained depends on the amount of impurities in this powder. Putting this name on this product goes back to the past when the quality of ore purification methods was not suitable and the material obtained was yellow in color.
Nuclear power units that work with light water are usually operated with 2 to 5 percent of uranium 235. In a reactor, usually 3 resistors will be used simultaneously to equalize the neutron flux and produce uniform heat and energy. So that during refueling during the operation of the reactor, the fuel with more richness is placed on the outer side of the fuel assemblies of the heart of the reactor, and after about 12 to 18 months, the next refueling is done and by placing new uranium, the spent assembly is removed from The center of the reactor core will be removed and the new fuel will move from the outer environment to the middle and the fuel with medium richness will occupy the place of the fuel with less richness. During each thermal fission, 2.43 neutrons will be created, and if one of these neutrons is used for the next fission, 1.43 neutrons remain, which must be removed from the environment in nuclear reactors. But the important point is that the neutrons produced as a result of nuclear fission have different energies and their average energy is Mev 2 (2 mega electron volts [each electron volt is equivalent to 1.6 x 10-19 joules of energy) ]) the situation is that uranium 235 reacts with neutrons whose energy is much lower than this value, i.e. about 25,000 electron volts and their speed is 2,200 meters per second, and since the main fuel of nuclear reactors is It is the type of uranium, so the energy of neutrons must decrease.
tip:
Yellow cake is generally used to prepare nuclear reactor fuel, in fact, it is this material that is converted into UO2 after some processes and used in fuel rods. This material can also be used for enrichment to Uranium hexafluoride or UF6 gas is converted, because in this case, the density of uranium 235 isotopes can be increased in it.
Researcher and author: Dr. ( Afshin Rashid)
Specialized doctorate in nano-microelectronics