How does heavy water in a nuclear reactor help to keep the chain reaction going?

1 answer:

4 0

<span>Heavy water acts as a neutron moderator. The neutrons formed by fission come off at high velocity, but U-235 absorbs neutrons much more strongly when they are slowed down, so all so-called thermal reactors use a moderator to slow them down until they achieve the average velocity appropriate to the atoms of the moderator which is at approx 300 deg C in a water reactor. Other moderators can be light water or graphite. Heavy water has the advantage over light water that it absorbs fewer neutrons so natural uranium can be used, whilst light water requires enriched uranium fuel. Graphite in a very pure form is also a good moderator but requires a gas coolant, carbon dioxide has been used in magnox and agr reactors, but there is a time limit on the life of the reactor due to graphite corrosion, and these are now obsolete as far as new builds are concerned. The Soviet RBMK reactors used graphite but with a water coolant inside pressure tubes, but after Chernobyl there will certainly be no more of these built
</span>

You might be interested in

We mix 0.08 moles of chloroacetic acid (ClCH2COOH) and 0.04 moles of

Arte-miy333 [17]

Answer:

A. pH using molar concentrations = 2.56

B. pH using activities = 2.46

C. pH of mixture = 2.56

Explanation:

A. pH using molar concentrations

ClCH₂COOH + H₂O ⇌ ClCH₂COO⁻ + H₃O⁺

HA + H₂O ⇌ A⁻ + H₃O⁺

We have a solution of 0.08 mol HA and 0.04 mol A⁻

We can use the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation to calculate the pH.

$\begin{array}{rcl}\text{pH} & = & \text{pK}_{\text{a}} + \log \left(\dfrac{[\text{A}^{-}]}{\text{[HA]}}\right )\\\\& = & 2.865 +\log \left(\dfrac{0.04}{0.08}\right )\\\\& = & 2.865 + \log0.50 \\& = &2.865 - 0.30 \\& = & \mathbf{2.56}\\\end{array}$

B. pH using activities

(i) Calculate [H⁺]

pH = -log[H⁺]

$\text{[H$^{+}$]} = 10^{-\text{pH}} \text{ mol/L} = 10^{-2.56}\text{ mol/L} = 2.73 \times 10^{-3}\text{ mol/L}$

(ii) Calculate the ionic strength of the solution

We have a solution of 0.08 mol·L⁻¹ HA, 0.04 mol·L⁻¹ Na⁺, 0.04 mol·L⁻¹ A⁻, and 0.00273 mol·L⁻¹ H⁺.

The formula for ionic strength is

$I = \dfrac{1}{2} \sum_{i} {c_{i}z_{i}^{2}}\\\\I = \dfrac{1}{2}\left [0.04\times (+1)^{2} + 0.04\times(-1)^{2} + 0.00273\times(+1)^{2}\right]\\\\= \dfrac{1}{2} (0.04 + 0.04 + 0.00273) = \dfrac{1}{2} \times 0.08273 = 0.041$

(iii) Calculate the activity coefficients

$\ln \gamma = -0.510z^{2}\sqrt{I} = -0.510(-1)^{2}\sqrt{0.041} = -0.510\times 0.20 = -0.10\\\gamma = 10^{-0.10} = 0.79$

(iv) Calculate the initial activity of A⁻

a = γc = 0.79 × 0.04= 0.032

(v) Calculate the pH

$\begin{array}{rcl}\text{pH} & = & \text{pK}_{\text{a}} + \log \left(\dfrac{a_{\text{A}^{-}}}{a_{\text{[HA]}}}\right )\\\\& = & 2.865 +\log \left(\dfrac{0.032}{0.08}\right )\\\\& = & 2.865 + \log0.40 \\& = & 2.865 -0.40\\& = & \mathbf{2.46}\\\end{array}\\$

C. Calculate the pH of the mixture

The mixture initially contains 0.08 mol HA, 0.04 mol Na⁺, 0.04 mol A⁻, 0.05 mol HNO₃, and 0.06 mol NaOH.

The HNO₃ will react with the NaOH to form 0.05 mol Na⁺ and 0.05 mol NO₃⁻.

The excess NaOH will react with 0.01 mol HA to form 0.01 mol Na⁺ and 0.01 mol A⁻.

The final solution will contain 0.07 mol HA, 0.10 mol Na⁺, 0.05 mol A⁻, and 0.05 mol NO₃⁻.

(i) Calculate the ionic strength

$I = \dfrac{1}{2}\left [0.10\times (+1)^{2} + 0.05 \times(-1)^{2} + 0.05\times(-1)^{2}\right]\\\\= \dfrac{1}{2} (0.10 + 0.05 + 0.05) = \dfrac{1}{2} \times 0.20 = 0.10$