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Nuclear Fission

Q10. A space probe contains a small fission reactor, fuelled by plutonium, which is designed to produce an average of 300W of useful power for 100 years.

If the overall efficiency of the reactor is 10%, calculate the minimum mass of plutonium required.

energy released by the fission of one nucleus of

= 3.2 × 10–11 J

 

(Total 7 marks)