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Nuclear Energy, Fission and Fusion

The ITER tokamak fusion reactor

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit A2 1

Overview

Nuclear fusion, fuel used in the ITER tokamak and approximate temperature required for the deuterium–tritium reaction in ITER.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Evaluation

Give two advantages and two disadvantages of fusion power compared with fission power.

Key term

Define nuclear fusion.

Key term

State the fuel used in the ITER tokamak.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Define nuclear fusion.

    Model answer

    Nuclear fusion is the joining together of two light nuclei to form a heavier nucleus, with the release of energy because the product is more tightly bound than the reactants.

  2. 2

    State the fuel used in the ITER tokamak.

    Model answer

    The fuel is a mixture of the two heavy isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium and tritium.

  3. 3

    Write the deuterium–tritium reaction used in ITER and state the energy released.

    Model answer

    ²₁H + ³₁H → ⁴₂He + ¹₀n, releasing 17.6 MeV, of which about four fifths is carried away as kinetic energy of the neutron.

  4. 4

    Why must the fuel be raised to an extremely high temperature before fusion can occur?

    Model answer

    Both nuclei are positively charged and repel each other electrostatically, so they must be given enough kinetic energy to approach within a few femtometres, where the attractive strong nuclear force can take over.

  5. 5

    State the approximate temperature required for the deuterium–tritium reaction in ITER.

    Model answer

    A temperature of about 1.5 × 10⁸ K is required, roughly ten times the temperature at the centre of the Sun.

  6. 6

    What is a plasma?

    Model answer

    A plasma is a gas so hot that its atoms are fully ionised, so it consists of free positive nuclei and free electrons and is electrically conducting.

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