Veelgestelde vragenContactTaal:NL|EN
Innovatief en alledaags

Energie

Kernsplijting is een belangrijke energiebron. Wereldwijd komt ongeveer tien procent van alle elektriciteit uit kerncentrales. In Europa is dat ongeveer een kwart. Niet iedereen is enthousiast over kernenergie. Toch is het onwaarschijnlijk dat we het de komende decennia zonder kernenergie zullen redden. De overstap naar duurzame bronnen gaat langzaam, terwijl de energievraag in de wereld snel groeit. De grootste groei in kernenergievermogen wordt buiten Europa verwacht (China, India, Latijns-Amerika). In Nederland is het aandeel kernenergie bescheiden. Ongeveer vier procent van het totale verbruik in Nederland wordt opgewekt door de kerncentrale Borssele. 


GERELATEERD

Kerncentrale Borssele

www.EPZ.nl

Kernenergie wereldwijd

www.world-nuclear.org

Hoe werkt een kerncentrale?

Kernsplijting: het proces

Atoomkernen van het isotoop U-235 kunnen door kernsplijting worden gesplitst tot kleinere kernen onder uitzending van straling, warmte en neutronen. Deze neutronen kunnen op hun beurt weer worden ingevangen door andere atoomkernen van U-235 en zo nieuwe splijtingen veroorzaken waardoor een kettingreactie ontstaat. Een beheersbare kettingreactie vindt plaats in een kernreactor. Om de kettingreactie gaande te houden moet minstens één van de 2 à 3 neutronen die bij een splijting vrijkomen voor een volgende splijting zorgen. In een stabiel opererende reactor is dit het geval en noemen we de reactor ‘kritiek’. Wanneer er meer dan één neutron per splijting overblijft, krijg je een ‘sneeuwbaleffect’. 2 neutronen zorgen elk voor een splijting die beide ook 2 neutronen produceren = 4 neutronen. Die 4 neutronen zorgen voor 4 splijtingen die in totaal 4×2=8 neutronen opleveren, enz. Als dit in een reactor gebeurt, noemen we de reactor superkritisch. Dit wordt gecontroleerd gedaan om een reactor op vermogen te brengen.

Wanneer er minder dan 1 neutron per splijting overblijft, stopt het splijtingsproces en spreek je van een subkritische reactor (de reactor is nu ‘uit’). In de praktijk wordt een kritische reactor stilgezet (subkritisch gemaakt) door er materialen in te brengen die neutronen wegvangen, bijvoorbeeld door regelstaven tussen de splijtstofstaven te laten zakken. Dan ontstaat er een tekort aan neutronen waardoor de kettingreactie stopt. 

Recent nieuws binnen dit thema
People from the sector Energy
Germany is demonstrating continued strong support for the IAEA’s mission to foster global peace and development even as the country is shutting down its nuclear power plants, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said after meeting Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and other senior German officials in Be
People from the sector Energy
Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, today reiterated that all clean technologies, including nuclear, will be needed for a low-carbon economic recovery, while Frans Timmermans, executive vice-president of the European Commission, stressed that the Commission “would not
Energy
Belarusian nuclear regulator Gosatomnadzor has approved a staged power increase for the country’s first commercial power plant, Belarusian-1, near Ostrovets in western Belarus.

“On 23 October the Board of the Emergencies Ministry [Gosatomnadzor] decided in favour of amending the licence of the st
Energy
The Leningrad 2-2 nuclear power plant in Sosnovy Bor, western Russia, has been synchonised to the grid and has started to deliver electrical energy for the first time, state nuclear corporation Rosatom announced on Friday.

Rosatom said the gross power of the 1,085-MW Generation III+ pressurised w
People from the sector Energy Innovation
Poland will ask the European Commission to approve state aid for the construction of what will be the country's first nuclear power plants, Secretary of State for Strategic Energy Infrastructure Piotr Naimski told reporters in Warsaw yesterday, according to Reuters. "It is impossible these days to b
Technology Energy Innovation
Primary coolant system showing reactor pressure vessel (red), steam generators (purple), pressurizer (blue), and pumps (green) in the three coolant loop Hualong One design
(Credit illustration: ©Ji Xing, Daiyong Song, Yuxiang Wu - CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org)
Energy Innovation
Unit 5 at the Fuqing nuclear power station in Fujian province, southeastern China, has attained a sustained chain reaction, known as criticality, for the first time, China National Nuclear Corporation has announced.

Fuqing-5 is the first pilot project to use China's indigenous Generation III Hual
Technology Energy Safety and security
The International Atomic Energy Agency has announced that Rosatom Technical Academy has become the first IAEA Collaborating Centre to extend its work with the Vienna-based agency into three different programmatic areas: nuclear sciences and applications, nuclear security and nuclear energy.
People from the sector Energy
A new report published today by New Nuclear Watch Institute concludes that new nuclear build is the most efficient way to achieve decarbonisation of the electricity grid, being able to reduce system carbon intensity by up to 34% per megawatt of installed capacity compared to intermittent renewables.
Technology Energy
(Fotocredit: ©Energoatom)
Technology Energy Innovation
(Fotocredit: NASA)
People from the sector Energy Innovation
(Foto: ITER Organisation)
Technology Energy
(Fotocredit: 2020 Georgia Power Company)
Technology Energy Innovation
(Fotocredit: www.IAEA.org - https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/17/11/cn-247-zhang.pdf)
Technology Energy
(Shutterstock.com)
Technology Energy
(Shutterstock.com)
Technology Energy
(Fotocredit: D. Calma / IAEA)
People from the sector Energy
A "solid group" of 10-12 countries building nuclear power plants for the first time will emerge in the next decade, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi told OECD Nuclear Energy Agency Director General William Magwood in a WebChat on 16 October.
Energy Innovation
The US Department of Energy has approved a cost-share award of more than USD1 billion for the construction of the first NuScale small modular reactor power plant in the USA. Meanwhile, the US International Development Finance Corporation has signed a Letter of Intent to support NuScale in the develo
People from the sector Energy Innovation
Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation in Seattle is pursuing funding from the US Department of Energy’s advanced reactor demonstration programme to host its 15-MW micro modular reactors (MMR) at the University of Illinois and the Idaho National Laboratory.

The project includes a single MMR at the unive
People from the sector Energy
A proposed amendment to Spain's draft climate change and energy transition bill that would prohibit the exploration and extraction of uranium is unconstitutional, says Berkeley Energia. The Australian-based company is at an advanced stage in licensing its Salamanca uranium mine.
Technology Energy Innovation
(IMSR-Reactor - Illustration credit: Terrestrial Energy)
Energy Innovation
France’s state-controlled utility and nuclear plant operator EDF aims to unveil a new, cheaper-to-build version of its EPR reactor technology by mid-2021, the company said on Thursday.

EDF said that the next generation EPR, known as the EPR 2, would benefit from a reduction in preparatory studies
People from the sector Energy
(Shutterstock.com)
Energy Waste
A decades-long effort to clean and transform the former Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant in the US state of Tennessee is complete, resulting in the first-ever removal and remediation of a uranium enrichment complex.

Since cleanup operations began, hundreds of buildings measuring more have been d
Technology Energy Innovation
A computer-generated image of the ‘open source’ 114-MW nuclear plant. Photo courtesy EIC.
Technology Energy Innovation
Framatome and General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems are to collaborate on the development of a new helium-cooled, 50 MWe fast modular reactor. A demonstration of the reactor could be constructed by 2030, with commercialisation of the design by the mid-2030s.
Energy
Russian nuclear regulator Rostekhnadzor has approved the next phase of commissioning at Unit 2 of the Leningrad 2 nuclear power station in Sosnovy Bor, western Russia.

The approval means the 1,085-MW Generation III+ pressurised water reactor, or VVER, has begun a gradual increase in capacity, fr
People from the sector Energy Innovation
Terrestrial Energy and Centrus Energy have signed a memorandum of understanding to secure fuel supply for a future fleet of Generation IV Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) power plants.

The two companies will evaluate the logistical, regulatory, and transportation requirements to establish fue
Energy Innovation
Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation is proposing to deploy its Micro Modular Reactor at sites in Idaho and Illinois by 2026 through partnerships with Idaho National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  
People from the sector Energy Innovation
TerraPower, the US-based innovation company founded by Bill Gates, has selected US-based Bechtel as the design, licensing, procurement, and construction partner for building a demonstration plant for the Natrium reactor technology.

The move is part of the TerraPower-led proposal for the US Depart
Technology Energy Innovation
Bruce Power and Westinghouse Electric Company are to support efforts by federal and provincial governments in Canada to find applications for Westinghouse’s eVinci microreactor.

The two companies said they had signed an agreement that supports efforts by policymakers both locally and nationally t
Technology Energy Innovation
(Photo credit: Company`s photo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)
People from the sector Energy
(Shutterstock.com)
Technology Energy
(Photo credit: Rosatom)
Technology Energy Innovation
The Sizewell C project is investigating using some of the heat for cogeneration. Credit illustration: EDF Energy
Technology Energy Innovation
Nuclear energy could help the UK achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, not only through the generation of low-carbon electricity but also by fully utilising the generated heat, according to a policy briefing published yesterday by the Royal Society. This heat could be used to heat homes, produc
People from the sector Energy
(Shutterstock.com)
Energy Waste
Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority today approved Shikoku Electric Power Company's decommissioning plan for unit 2 of its Ikata nuclear power plant in Ehime prefecture. Decommissioning of the unit is expected to be completed by 2059.
Technology Energy Innovation
Ontario Power Generation has today announced plans to pave the way for the deployment of small modular reactors by advancing engineering and design work with three developers of grid-scale SMRs: GE Hitachi, Terrestrial Energy and X-energy. At the same time, GEH has entered into MoUs with five Canadi
People from the sector Energy
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has described his support for the country to expand its use of nuclear power. Zelensky was speaking to reporters during his visit to the Rovno region on 1 October.
Energy
US president Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring a national emergency in the mining industry, aimed at boosting domestic production of rare earth minerals critical for military technologies, including uranium, while reducing the country’s dependence on China.

Mr Trump ordered his Cab
People from the sector Energy
The shareholders of PGE EJ1, the company set up to build and operate Poland's first nuclear power plant, have signed a letter of intent with the State Treasury regarding the acquisition of 100% of its shares. The transaction, if completed, will see the government take full control of PGE EJ1 at the
Energy Innovation
The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and the CANDU Owners Group have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate in research and activities related to pressurised heavy water reactors. The purpose of the MoU is to advance the scientific and technical knowledge base for PHWRs and foster cooperation a
Energy
Negative power prices have swept across Europe in the first nine months of 2020, with excess power in the market resulting in consumers being paid rather than charged to use electricity, according to a new study by European power market data analyst EnAppSys. European countries on average saw negati
Energy Innovation
Nuclear power must have a seat at the table in global discussions over energy policies to curb emissions and meet climate goals, as technical and scientific advances open the door to better economics and greater public acceptance of this low carbon source of energy.
Technology Energy Innovation
(Photo credit: State Power Investment Corp - SPIC)
Technology Energy
(Photo credit: Rosatom)
People from the sector Energy
(Shutterstock.com)
People from the sector Energy
The Netherlands is considering the expansion of nuclear power in its energy mix, according to a letter Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy Eric Wiebes submitted to the Dutch parliament last week, together with a report by consultants Enco. The cabinet will now prepare a motion requestin