Using an Inverter to economise on electricity consumption in the home.

[Bill Edwards]

No, you split it into 2 separate ones. (Effectively you knock off a bit of the atom which then goes on to knock off a bit off another, and so on ie a chain reaction).

It only works on atoms that are very dense and unstable, ie uranium ( in reactors, plutonium or uranium in bombs).

OK, but can you do it repeatedly with the same bits - surely there must only be so much energy to be had from a given quantity of plutonium before you'll have to get a fresh bunch?

 

[Wendelspanswick]

No, you split it into 2 separate ones. (Effectively you knock off a bit of the atom which then goes on to knock off a bit off another, and so on ie a chain reaction).

It only works on atoms that are very dense and unstable, ie uranium ( in reactors, plutonium or uranium in bombs).

We had a school bully like that, dense and unstable!

 

[Bill Edwards]

We had a school bully like that, dense and unstable!

Think everyone knew at least one like that!

 

[daleyd]

OK, but can you do it repeatedly with the same bits - surely there must only be so much energy to be had from a given quantity of plutonium before you'll have to get a fresh bunch?

AFAIK it eventually decays and is ruined by other things that happen to it during the fission process, but it can be kind of "refreshed" by reprocessing- but I think there is enough nuclear material on earth to see me out.

I'm no scientist, but I do have a fascination with the whole nuclear process, the technology/physics and particularly the history behind it.

I did a job for BNFL (It was Westinghouse by then) Springfields in Preston last year - I was like a kid in a sweet shop ( Not literally, I didn't take any home or anything..)

 

[julianf]

I know nothing about nuclear tech... but presumably when you split the atom you lose an atom. OK, I know there are a lot of atoms in existence, but surely this type of energy production couldn't go on for ever...?

I'm sure some tree huggers somewhere keep mentioning stuff about not liking nuclear energy - never paid them too much attention but maybe it is atom rights they're on about?

Maybe they know some stuff about nuclear energy?