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Help i cant do this question a-level aqa a physics unit 5 old spec

The question is when a Uranium-235 nucleus undergoes fission ,approximetly 200 MeVof energy is released . Estimate the total mass of original fuel required per year in a 1600 MW nuclear reactor that uses enriched fuel containing 3% uranium -235 and 97% uranium-238 and operates at an efficiency of 25% .

The mark scheme is a shambles so i really need help in understanding what on earth i have to do please
I can try to help, no guarantees though, I'm rustier than a Soviet-era nail.

1600E6 Joules per second at about 25% efficiency equates to a total output (with regard to reactions) of 6.4E9 Joules per second.
Divide that by our value for the energy per fission event, we get the total number of fission events, let's just call that N.
Multiply that value by the mass of each U235 atom. I'm not a chemist, so for the mother of lord correct me if I'm wrong, but there is some formula with one mol of U235 being 235 grams, so, just do N divided by the Avogadro constant to find the number of mols, then multiply that by 0.235 for the total mass of the U235 that has been used.

That's the total mass of the U235 that has been used. Since the fuel consists 3% U235 and 97% U238, we have 3% of the mass. Divide our value by three, multiply by 100, and we have the total mass of the fuel.

Hope I helped... somewhaT?

Edit : Yikes that somewhaT typo xD
Reply 2
Original post by Callicious
I can try to help, no guarantees though, I'm rustier than a Soviet-era nail.

1600E6 Joules per second at about 25% efficiency equates to a total output (with regard to reactions) of 6.4E9 Joules per second.
Divide that by our value for the energy per fission event, we get the total number of fission events, let's just call that N.
Multiply that value by the mass of each U235 atom. I'm not a chemist, so for the mother of lord correct me if I'm wrong, but there is some formula with one mol of U235 being 235 grams, so, just do N divided by the Avogadro constant to find the number of mols, then multiply that by 0.235 for the total mass of the U235 that has been used.

That's the total mass of the U235 that has been used. Since the fuel consists 3% U235 and 97% U238, we have 3% of the mass. Divide our value by three, multiply by 100, and we have the total mass of the fuel.

Hope I helped... somewhaT?

Edit : Yikes that somewhaT typo xD


This is exactly it XD i was having a freak out so naturally posted multiple times... so someone else got it aswell thanks a bunch! rusty .. i think not

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