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AP Physics 2
15.7 Fission, Fusion, and Nuclear Decay
AdvancedMCQMathematicalConceptual15.2k
A horizontal energy flow diagram. On the left is a solid outline rectangle labeled Reactor Core. An arrow points horizontally to the right from Reactor Core to a center rectangle labeled Turbine & Generator. Above this connecting arrow is the label P_{thermal}. From Turbine & Generator, one horizontal arrow points right to a label Electrical Output, P_{electric}, and a second arrow points downward to a rectangle labeled Exhaust Heat. No other labels, lines, text, or axes appear.
Energy flow diagram for the nuclear power plant system.
A nuclear power plant operates at a steady electrical power output of \(1.0 \times 10^9 \text{ W}\) with an overall thermal efficiency of \(33.3\%\) (\(\eta = \dfrac{1}{3}\)). The reactor core generates thermal power via fission by converting rest mass into energy, while the turbine-generator system converts a fraction of this thermal power into electricity and rejects the remainder to the environment. Given that there are \(8.64 \times 10^4 \text{ s}\) in one day, what is the total rest mass converted into energy in the reactor core during \(1.0 \text{ day}\) of continuous operation?

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