GCSE Questions: Energy Sources

Q11. (a) Plutonium-239 is used as a fuel in some nuclear reactors.

Name the substance used as a fuel in most nuclear reactors.

[1 mark]

(b) Energy is released from nuclear fuels by the process of nuclear fission.

(i) Nuclear fission occurs after the nucleus of a plutonium-239 atom has absorbed something. What does it need to absorb to undergo fission?

[1 mark]

(ii) Describe what happens when the nucleus of an atom undergoes nuclear fission.

[2 marks]

(Total 4 marks)