Nuclear Energy

Nuclear fusion is a(n) ____________ technology.

• proven and common

• long-time standard

• clean, efficient and relatively inexpensive

• ideal but so far unachievable

The most likely disaster in a nuclear power plant is that

• the plant would explode like a nuclear bomb

• cooling systems could fail, causing rapid overheating

• fuel rods could fail to maintain chain reactions

• nuclear fission would get out of control and cause explosions

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS1-8

Control rods in a nuclear reactor are used to

• increase the temperature of the water

• provide cooling by decreasing the temperature of the water

• absorb neutrons

• provide neutrons to initiate reactions

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS1-8

Yucca Mountain, Nevada, is the site of a

• leading nuclear free zone

• proposed national nuclear waste repository

• the most notorious radioactive leak in history

• permanent nuclear storage depot managed by the federal government

Tags

NGSS.HS-ESS3-2

NGSS.HS-ESS3-4

Nuclear fission occurs when a high-energy subatomic particle, a neutron, strikes a uranium atom, releases energy and

• . releases protons

• releases an electron in a gamma wave

• breaks in half, causing another atom to break

• releases additional neutrons

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS1-8

A sample of radioactive waste has a half-life of 10 years and an activity level of 2 curies. After how many years will the activity level of this sample be 0.25 curie?

• 10 years

• 20 years

• 30 years

• 40 years

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS1-8

In contrast to low-level radioactive waste, most high-level radioactive waste is currently

• put into steel drums and dumped into the ocean

• incinerated

• stored at reactor sites

• buried in government landfills

Tags

NGSS.HS-ETS1-3

Compared to a coal-fired power plant that produces the same amount of energy, a nuclear power plant generates more

• CO₂

• SO₂

• particulates

• thermal pollution

Tags

NGSS.HS-ESS3-4

Which of the following power plants releases the most radioactivity during normal functioning?

• Geothermal

• Coal-fired powerplant

• Nuclear

• Hydroelectric

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS1-8