Nuclear waste disposal is one of the major concerns of the nuclear industry. In choosing a...

Nuclear waste disposal is one of the major concerns of the nuclear industry. In choosing a safe and stable environment to store nuclear wastes, consideration must be given to the heat released during nuclear decay. As an example, consider the β decay of 90Sr (89.907738 amu).

The 90Y (89.907152 amu) further decays as follows:

Zirconium-90 (89.904703 amu) is a stable isotope, (a) Use the mass defect to calculate the energy released (in joules) in each of the preceding two decays. (The mass of the electron is 5.4857 × 10-4 amu.) (b) Start in; with 1 mole of 90Sr, calculate the number of moles of 90Sr that will decay in a year, (c) Calculate the amount of heat released (in kJ) corresponding to the number o moles of 90Sr decayed to 90Zr in part (b).