You are conducting preliminary research for an energy company and your job is to compare nuclear energy and solar energy. You need to calculate how many solar panels will be needed (and the total area they will occupy) to substitute 1 kg of nuclear fuel. Here is what you know so far: when 235 g of pure uranium reacts in a nuclear reactor, the mass loss is 0.00846 g. 1 kg of nuclear fuel contains 5% pure U-235. Each solar panel produces 5000W, the solar irradiance in the region is 220 W/m2 with an availability of 5 hr per day, and the efficiency of the solar panels is 25%.
