Shocking!
This is energy in action
What is kinetic energy?
These are made of protons, electrons, and neutrons
What are atoms?
High energy that can knock electrons from atoms or molecules
What is ionizing radiation?
The process of splitting atoms to release large amounts of energy
What is fission?
Fission takes place here
What is the reactor?
The flow of electrons
What is electricity?
The dense bundle at the center of an atom
What is the nucleus?
Light, microwaves, radio and TV waves are examples
What is non-ionizing radiation?
The fuel at a nuclear power plant is this isotope of uranium
What is uranium-235?
The heat from fission converts this gaseous phase water from a liquid phase to
What is steam?
Gases that change Earth’s climate that come from making electricity by burning fossil fuels
What are greenhouse gases?
The part of the atom that has a positive (+) electrical charge
What is the proton?
Radiation that is pure energy with no mass
What are gamma rays?
A chain reaction occurs when these particles hit and split millions of U-235 atoms
What are neutrons?
The source of one half of the exposure to radiation each year for the average American
What is natural background radiation?
At many kinds of power plants it is used to turn the blades of a turbine
What is steam?
These orbit the nucleus in a cloud
What are electrons?
A rule for limiting your exposure to radiation is summarized by these three words
What are Time, Distance, and Shielding?
This form of fuel is equal to 1 ton of coal, 3 barrels of oil, or 2-1/2 tons of wood
What is a uranium fuel pellet?
Spent fuel becomes less radioactive over time due to this process
What is radioactive decay?
Nuclear energy is used to make this percent of electricity in the U.S.
What is 20%?
The part of the atom that has no electrical charge
What is a neutron?
Radiation from rocks, cosmic rays, radon, and your own body
What is background radiation?
This process increases the amount of U-235 from 1 to at least 3 percent for power plant fuel
What is enrichment?
This type of facility deep beneath the Earth’s surface in stable rock can isolate spent fuel for thousands of years
What is a geologic repository?