Nuclear Chemistry Research Report
Extra Credit Assignment
You will have to do a research paper on nuclear reactions. You have five topics to choose from.* They are described
below. Your report should be 2 pages in length, double-spaced. This is a minimum. Your bibliography and any drawings,
diagrams, or sketches should be attached to the report (not part of the 2 pages of writing).
Due date: WEDNESDAY January 8th.
**Late extra credit assignments will not be accepted.**
Title & Heading
The heading for your paper should be simple and look like the following… do not double-space your heading. Give your
paper a creative and appropriate title. Your title and heading should not take up more than 4 lines.
An Example below:
Owen Matthews
Period 3, Physical Science
Option 1 :
Nuclear Fusion: The Energy of Our Future
Citing sources
There is no minimum number of citations you must have. You should report your sources where it is appropriate to do so.
Use your resources from your language arts class on how to do this properly (MLA) format. The BHS Reading and
Writing Handbook will be posted on my website. Look at pages 17-22.
Options
Option 1. Research nuclear power. Find out how a nuclear power plant works. Write a report including:
1. An explanation of how electric power is produced from a nuclear plant.
2. A simple drawing of how a power plant works.
3. An explanation of how a nuclear reactor works. Be sure to explain chain reactions, critical mass, and the purpose of
the moderator and control rods.
4. Discuss the difference between a light water and a heavy water nuclear fission reactor. What are the advantages of a
breeder reactor over a conventional nuclear fission reactor? Discuss the difference between a boiling water reactor (BWR)
and a pressurized water reactor (PWR).
5. Discuss the major benefits and risks of nuclear power. Compare the risks of fueling and operating a nuclear fissionpowered electric plant with a conventional coal-fired electric plant.
6. What are the United State’s plans for expanding (or not expanding) nuclear power, and how is this related to the Kyoto
protocol?
7. What are the plans for spent fuel storage in the United States?
8. Do you think that our country should be investing in our current or new fission-based nuclear power plants?
Option 2. Research the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Write a report including:
1. Why and how was the atom bomb developed? Who developed it?
2. How did the bombing occur? Give a description of the circumstances and chain of events.
3. How did the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki differ?
4. What are the nuclear processes involved in a working atom bomb? Be sure to discuss critical mass and the trigger
device.
5. What was the extent of devastation from the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Discuss both the shortterm and long-term effects. How is exposure to radiation measured?
6. What is nuclear fallout and how is it created? Are the effects of the bombs still being felt, and how? Are areas in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki still considered radioactive?
7. In your opinion, should the bombs have been dropped?
Option 3. Research fusion as an option for the future of our nation’s energy needs. Write a report including:
1. An explanation of how a fusion reactor works. Include a diagram of a reactor.
2. Describe why the temperature for the nuclear fusion processes is important, and how the necessary temperature is
chosen for energy production. Make sure to discuss the state that matter exists in at the temperatures where fusion
normally takes place.
3. What are the advantages of nuclear fusion as an energy production process? Compare the advantages of a fusion
reactor over a fission reactor? Are there any possible pollution problems that would be created from fusion nuclear energy
production?
4. What are the practical difficulties in operating a large-scale fusion reactor?
5. Discuss at least 2-3 possible solutions to these obstacles, and how close they are to being achieved.
6. Who is working on creating nuclear power through fusion? Describe at least one research group and their project.
Figure out who is funding their work.
7. How do the technical problems associated with nuclear fusion for energy production differ from the design and
production of a hydrogen bomb (or thermonuclear bomb)?
Option 4. Research a nuclear disaster (such as Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, or Fukushima). Write a report including:
1. Describe the setting (size and type of plant, location, date built, date of event, # of people served by plant, and type of
reactor inside of the plant).
2. What were the events leading up to the disaster and what triggered the event?
3. What was the extent of the damage in terms of infrastructure, threats to human health, and environmental pollution?
Were there causalities associated with the event? How is radiation exposure measured?
4. What were known financial costs of the disaster, and who ended up paying for them? Discuss whether or not all of the
costs associated with this event can be accounted for.
5. Discuss remediation work that has been done since the disaster, both immediately and long-term? Address why boron
compounds are often added to badly damaged nuclear reactors. How long will the effects of the disaster be felt?
6. Discuss the major benefits and risks of nuclear power. In your opinion, do the benefits out weigh the risks?
7. Include a map that shows the plant’s location and the extent of damage.
Option 5. Research the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Write a report including:
1. What is a particle collider, how does it work, and what is special about the LHC?
2. Who built the LHC and where is it located (and why is it located there)?
3. What sort of questions are scientists trying to answer with the LHC? Give at least 2 examples and include who is asking
the question, they job title, and where they work.
4. Describe why so much energy is needed to collide protons with the nuclei of other matter.
5. What discoveries or creations have been made so far with the LHC?
6. What are hadrons and quarks? Discuss the fundamental particles of matter beyond what we have discussed in class.
What do scientists think are the fundamental (or more basic) particles of matter? Describe some of the particles and their
characteristics.
7. Describe what a particle detector is and how it works. What role do they play at LHC?
8. What most interests you about the LHC and its associated research? If you could do research there, what question
would you ask?