Nuclear Power Plant
NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which a nuclear reactor is a source of heat. This is typical in thermal power stations, heat is used to create energy from a steam engine attached to a generator that generates electricity. As of 2018, the International Atomic Energy Agency announced that there were 450 nuclear plants in operation in 30 countries. Electric station that uses radioactive material from nuclear reactors (Uranium or Thorium) transformed into electrical energy is known as a nuclear power station.
Basic Principle of Nuclear Power Plant
Every power plant has its own basic principal, on the basis of this the plant works. The Basic Principle of Nuclear Power Plant is given below:
CE↔HE ↔KE ↔ME ↔EE
As we know that the freely moving neutrons bombarded with radioactive material (U235 or Th232) and heat energy produced. With the help of this heat energy & water a steam produced at high pressure & temperature. High pressure steam passes towards the turbine where KE is converted to ME. We know that turbines & generators are mechanically coupled, through this combination an electrical energy is produced in nuclear power plants.
How does a nuclear power plant
- First, uranium fuel is loaded up into the reactor—a giant concrete dome that's reinforced in case it explodes. In the heart of the reactor (the core), atoms split apart and release heat energy, producing neutrons and splitting other atoms in a carefully controlled nuclear reaction.
- Control rods made of materials such as cadmium and boron can be raised or lowered into the reactor to soak up neutrons and slow down or speed up the chain reaction.
- Water is pumped through the reactor to collect the heat energy that the chain reaction produces. It constantly flows around a closed loop linking the reactor with a heat exchanger.
- Inside the heat exchanger, the water from the reactor gives up its energy to cooler water flowing in another closed loop, turning it into steam. Using two unconnected loops of water and the heat exchanger helps to keep water contaminated with radioactivity safely contained in one place and well away from most of the equipment in the plant.
- The steam from the heat exchanger is piped to a turbine. As the steam blows past the turbine's vanes, they spin around at high speed.
- The spinning turbine is connected to an electricity generator and makes that spin too.
- The generator produces electricity that flows out to the power grid—and to our homes, shops, offices and factories.
The worst nuclear power plant disaster
The worst nuclear power plant disaster in history happened on April 26, 1986, when an explosion at reactor 4 of Ukraine's Chernobyl power plant spewed a cloud of radioactivity over Europe and the Soviet Union. Remembering Chernobyl: 25 Years Later. UN Report says 56 killed so far due to Chernobyl nuclear accident.
There are plenty of people who support our use of nuclear power, and at least as many who oppose it. Supporters say it's a less environmentally destructive way of producing electrical energy because, overall, it releases fewer greenhouse emissions (less carbon dioxide gas) than burning fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas. But opponents are concerned about the dangerous, long-lasting waste that nuclear power stations make, the way nuclear-energy byproducts help people build nuclear bombs and the risk of catastrophic nuclear accidents. Here's a quick summary of the pros and cons.
Advantages of Nuclear power plant
- One nuclear plant will make 2–3GW of power—as much as a large coal plant or about 1000–1500 large wind turbines working at full capacity. No-one disagrees that nuclear is a very effective way to generate enormous amounts of energy.
- Nuclear plants produce much lower carbon emissions than fossil fuel plants (coal, oil, and natural gas).
- It's much more efficient to release energy by smashing atoms apart than by "burning them" (releasing energy through the chemical reaction we call combustion). That's why nuclear plants need tiny amounts of fuel (compared to fossil fuel plants).
- Nuclear plants can help to reduce a country's dependence on imported oil from unstable regions such as the Middle East. Countries without large fossil fuel supplies find nuclear an attractive option.
Disadvantages of Nuclear power plant
- Waste from nuclear plants remains dangerously radioactive for many years, so it's difficult to dispose of safely.
- Nuclear byproducts can be used to make bombs and there's a risk of nuclear material being acquired by terrorists.
- Nuclear plants aren't sustainable or renewable forms of energy because they rely on mining limited reserves of uranium. They're not zero-carbon either because it takes a lot of energy to mine that uranium.
- Nuclear plants are expensive and take many years to construct, usually in the face of fierce public opposition.
- Nuclear plants can produce long-range air pollution and water pollution
- Since nuclear plants need huge amounts of cooling water, they're often built by the coast—but that makes them dangerously susceptible to rising sea levels and earthquake tsunamis.