Nuclear Power Basics

Most nuclear power plants use thermal reactors with enriched uranium in a once-through ______ cycle. Fuel is removed when the percentage of neutron absorbing atoms becomes so large that a chain reaction can no longer be sustained, typically three years. It is then cooled for several years in on-site spent ______ pools before being transferred to long term storage. The spent ______, though low in volume, is high-level radioactive waste.

Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by nuclear fission of ______ in nuclear power plants.

Because the spent fuel is still mostly fissionable material, some countries (e.g. ______) reprocess their spent fuel by extracting fissile and fertile elements for fabrication in new fuel, although this process is more expensive than producing new fuel from mined uranium.

Generating electricity from ______ power remains the focus of international research.

Which nuclear reactions are presently used to produce the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power?

The spent fuel, though low in volume, is high-level radioactive waste. While its ______ decreases exponentially it must be isolated from the biosphere for hundreds of thousands of years, though newer technologies (like fast reactors) have the potential to reduce this significantly.

What process is used in niche applications such as radioisotope thermoelectric generators in some space probes like Voyager 2?

What type of reactors do most nuclear power plants use with enriched uranium in a once-through fuel cycle?

What is the spent fuel from nuclear power plants considered to be, despite being low in volume?

What countries reprocess their spent fuel by extracting fissile and fertile elements for fabrication in new fuel despite it being more expensive than producing new fuel from mined uranium?