Nuclear Fission S R THE SOCIETY FOR

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RADIOLOGICAL PROTECTION
Nuclear fission is the spli ng of the nucleus.
Uranium-235 is an example of an isotope that
can decay this way.

Nuclear Fission

See all our Lesson Plans and Informa on Posters at

www.srp-uk.org/public-and-schools/
resources-for-schools The Basics of Radiation
… it's as easy as alpha, beta, gamma …

As the nucleus splits, neutrons and photons and T h e S o c i e t y fo r R a d i o l o g i ca l

a very large amount of energy are o en
released. Some mes the released neutrons are
captured by neighbouring atoms, which can
s mulate further fissions in what is known as a
“chain reac on”. This is the basis of a nuclear
reactor, which is designed to control the rate of
the chain reac on and to have mechanisms to
extract the heat and produce electric power.
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Protection is the UK Associate Society
produced by SRP’s Outreach Team
affiliated to the International
Radiation Protection Association. It
promotes the science and art of
radiation protection and allied fields
for the public benefit.

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The dominos above are used to illustrate how
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the fission in a reactor works.
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 Atomic Structure
Everything is made up of atoms.
Atoms are made up of protons, neutrons
(grouped in the centre known as the nucleus)
and electrons (which orbit the nucleus in rings).
The Atom
An element's Atomic Number (Z) is its number
of protons (and determines what element it is).
Its Mass Number (A) is its number of protons
plus its number of neutrons.
Atoms with the same value of Z but different
values of A are known as isotopes of the
element. Some isotopes may be radioac ve and
emit radia on such as alpha or beta and
consequently gamma, while others will be
stable and emit no radia on.
?
trust an atom
Why can't you ything!
make up ever
Because they
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Basics 1
Radioac ve Emissions
Radioac ve Decay Radia on All Around
Common forms of radia on emi ed from atoms Radia on is all around us. Right now you are
are alpha and beta par cles and gamma rays. being exposed to radia on from space, the
earth, and everyday objects that contain small
An alpha par cle is made up of two protons and
amounts of radioac vity. You can't see or feel
two neutrons bound together. Beta decay is the
the radia on; you need a detector to show it.
ejec on of an electron a er a neutron splits
into a proton and an electron.
Brazil nuts: Naturally occurring radium is
In both alpha and beta decay the remaining extracted from soil by the roots of brazil nut
atom is a different element as Z changes. Energy trees and transferred into the brazil nuts.
in the form of a gamma photon is released
Lo-salt: This alterna ve to normal salt contains
during radioac ve decay.
potassium chloride, 0.012% of which is the
Activity radioac ve isotope K-40, found naturally in our
bodies.
Smoke detectors: These use a radioac ve
element called Am-241 which emit alpha
Bq par cles that ionise air par cles inside the
smoke detector. Smoke par cles in the detector
lower the level of ionisa on and set off the
kBq (kilo) = 103 Bq TBq (Tera) = 1012 Bq alarm.
MBq (Mega) = 106 Bq PBq (Peta) = 1015 Bq
GBq (Giga) = 109 Bq EBq (Eta) = 1018 Bq Rock: Some areas of the world, including
Cornwall in the UK, have higher levels of
Radioac ve decay follows an exponen al decay naturally occurring radioac vity in the soil and
law such that the me taken for half the atoms rocks.
to decay, known as the half-life (T ⁄ ), is always
the same for a specific radioisotope.
Does a radioactive
cat
have 18 half-lives
?!
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Basics 5 Lesson Plan 3
Radioac vity Units & Half- Life Everyday Items