{"id":13796,"date":"2023-08-07T02:33:58","date_gmt":"2023-08-06T21:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=13796"},"modified":"2025-04-02T07:23:14","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T01:53:14","slug":"what-is-a-nuclear-fusion-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/what-is-a-nuclear-fusion-reaction\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a Nuclear Fusion Reaction?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>About Nuclear Fusion Reaction<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Nuclear fusion reaction <strong>involves combining two atomic nuclei to form a single heavier one, releasing an enormous amount of energy.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Such reactions <strong>do not occur at room temperature<\/strong> and <strong>large amounts of energy are required to create conditions<\/strong> conducive to generating fusion-powered energy.<\/li>\n<li>It is the <strong>same fundamental reaction that powers the sun and other stars<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>What is Nuclear Fission?<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Nuclear Fission is <strong>a type of nuclear reaction<\/strong> in which the <strong>nucleus of an atom is split into two or more<\/strong> smaller nuclei, along with the <strong>release of a significant amount of energy.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Process<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>It occurs when a <strong>large, heavy atomic nucleus<\/strong>, <strong>typically of elements like uranium-235 or plutonium-239, absorbs a neutron.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The <strong>nucleus becomes unstable and splits into two or more smaller nuclei<\/strong>, <strong>releasing additional neutrons, gamma rays, <\/strong>and a vast amount of <strong>energy<\/strong> in the form of kinetic energy.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>additional neutrons can further cause fission<\/strong> in nearby nuclei, <strong>leading to a chain reaction.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Nuclear Reactors:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Nuclear fission is<\/strong> <strong>employed in nuclear reactors to generate electricity<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>In these reactors, <strong>controlled fission reactions take place within fuel assemblies<\/strong>, typically <strong>using enriched uranium<\/strong> <strong>or plutonium<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>heat produced<\/strong> during fission <strong>is used to generate steam<\/strong>, which <strong>drives turbines to produce electricity.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Issues with Nuclear Fission Reactors:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Radioactive Waste:<\/strong> Nuclear fission <strong>produces radioactive waste<\/strong> that remains hazardous for thousands of years.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Nuclear Accidents:<\/strong> The potential for <strong>nuclear accidents<\/strong>, although rare, <strong>is a significant concern.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>High Initial Costs:<\/strong> Building nuclear fission reactors <strong>involves substantial upfront costs<\/strong>, making it a <strong>capital-intensive energy option.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Limited Fuel Supply:<\/strong> Most nuclear fission reactors <strong>use enriched uranium as fuel<\/strong>, which <strong>is a finite resource<\/strong>. While there is plenty of uranium in the world, the <strong>high-grade, economically viable deposits are limited.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Advantages of Nuclear Fusion Reactors:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Nuclear Fusion produces more energy<\/strong> than fission does. This means that a given amount of fuel yields much greater amounts of energy with fusion than with fission.<\/li>\n<li>It also <strong>doesn\u2019t produce radioactive byproducts<\/strong> that need to be stored, <strong>or harmful carbon emissions<\/strong>; it simply <strong>produces inert helium and a neutron.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Unlimited Fuel supply:<\/strong>\u00a0 <strong>The fuel<\/strong> to make fusion happen <strong>is simply heavy hydrogen atoms, which can be found in<\/strong> something that Earth has in abundance: <strong>seawater. No mining of uranium is required.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It is <strong>much safer than nuclear fission<\/strong>, <strong>since fusion can\u2019t create runaway reactions.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q1)\u00a0What is Radioactivity?<\/h3>\n<p>Radioactivity is a natural phenomenon by which certain unstable atomic nuclei spontaneously decay, emitting radiation in the form of particles or electromagnetic waves. This process is a result of the fundamental forces and interactions within the atomic nucleus.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/world\/unleashing-limitless-energy-us-scientists-repeat-nuclear-fusion-breakthrough-8522593.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Unleashing Limitless Energy: US Scientists Repeat Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nuclear fusion reaction involves combining two atomic nuclei to form a single heavier one, releasing an enormous amount of energy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":13797,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13796","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}