The Science Quiz | Nuclear reactors and the power they generate – NSP NEWS

A general view shows 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 appears thrice a week in the daily Science page. The page is available to read on all days except Saturday in the epaper.

Questions:

1. A common type of nuclear reactor requires particles called _______ ________ to trigger nuclear fission. The particles get their name from the fact that they are in thermal equilibrium with their immediate surroundings. Fill in the blanks.

2. In 1967, a U.S.-built nuclear reactor named ‘Sturgis’ became critical and began to supply power. The U.S. government moved it to the Panama Canal, where ‘Sturgis’ supplied 10 MW of power from 1968 to 1975. This reactor was the world’s first what?

3. A common fissile material is the isotope uranium-235. However, uranium-235 only makes up 0.72% of naturally occurring uranium. Which isotope makes up 99.27% of it?

4. Until around the 1960s or so, when the cost of fissile material was still high, there was great interest in devices called _______ ________. These devices could produce more fissile material than they consumed. Fill in the blanks.

5. As a nuclear chain reaction proceeds in a reactor’s core, depending on its constituents and design, the levels of _____-___ might build up. This isotope is a known ‘neutron poison’ – a substance that absorbs neutrons and significantly slows the reaction rate. Such neutron poisoning was one of the causes of the Chernobyl disaster.

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

Answers:

1.Thermal neutrons