How do nuclear power plants work?

Answer 1

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Current technology
There are two types of nuclear power in current use:

The nuclear fission reactor produces heat through a controlled nuclear chain reaction in a critical mass of fissile material.
All current nuclear power plants are critical fission reactors, which are the focus of this article. The output of fission reactors is controllable. There are several subtypes of critical fission reactors, which can be classified as Generation I, Generation II and Generation III. All reactors will be compared to the Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR), as that is the standard modern reactor design.
The difference between fast-spectrum and thermal-spectrum reactors will be covered later. In general, fast-spectrum reactors will produce less waste, and the waste they do produce will have a vastly shorter halflife, but they are more difficult to build, and more expensive to operate. Fast reactors can also be breeders, whereas thermal reactors generally cannot.
A. Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR)
These are reactors cooled and moderated by high pressure liquid (even at extreme temperatures) water. They are the majority of current reactors, and are generally considered the safest and most reliable technology currently in large scale deployment, although Three Mile Island is a reactor of this type. This is a thermal neutron reactor design.
B. Boiling Water Reactors (BWR)
These are reactors cooled and moderated by water, under slightly lower pressure. The water is allowed to boil in the reactor. The thermal efficiency of these reactors can be higher, and they can be simpler, and even potentially more stable and safe. Unfortunately, the boiling water puts more stress on many of the components, and increases the risk that radioactive water may escape in an accident. These reactors make up a substantial percentage of modern reactors. This is a thermal neutron reactor design.
C. Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR)
A Canadian design, (known as CANDU) these reactors are heavy-water-cooled and -moderated Pressurized-Water reactors. Instead of using a single large containment vessel as in a PWR, the fuel is contained in hundreds of pressure tubes. These reactors are fuelled with natural uranium and are thermal neutron reactor designs. PHWRs can be refueled while at full power, which makes them very efficient in their use of uranium (it allows for precise flux control in the core). Most PHWRs exist within Canada, but units have been sold to Argentina, China, India (pre-NPT), Pakistan (pre-NPT), Romania, and South Korea. India also operates a number of PHWR's, often termed 'CANDU-derivatives', built after the 1974 Smiling Buddha nuclear weapon test.
D. Reaktor Bolshoy Moshchnosti Kanalniy (RBMK)
A Soviet Union design, built to produce plutonium as well as power, the dangerous and unstable RBMKs are water cooled with a graphite moderator. RBMKs are in some respects similar to CANDU in that they are refuelable On-Load and employ a pressure tube design instead of a PWR-style pressure vessel. However, unlike CANDU they are very unstable and too large to have containment buildings. Because of this RBMK reactors are generally considered one of the most dangerous reactor designs in use. Chernobyl was an RBMK.
E. Gas Cooled Reactor (GCR) and Advanced Gas Cooled Reactor (AGCR)
These are generally graphite moderated and CO2 cooled. They have a high thermal efficiency compared with PWRs and an excellent safety record. There are a number of operating reactors of this design, mostly in the United Kingdom. Older designs (i.e. Magnox stations) are either shut down or will be in the near future. However, the AGCRs have an anticipated life of a further 10 to 20 years. This is a thermal neutron reactor design.
F. Super Critical Water-cooled Reactor (SCWR)
This is a theoretical reactor design that is part of the Gen-IV reactor project. It combines higher efficiency than a GCR with the safety of a PWR, though it is perhaps more technically challenging than either. The water is pressurized and heated past its critical point, until there is no difference between the liquid and gas states. An SCWR is similar to a BWR, except there is no boiling (as the water is critical), and the thermal efficiency is higher as the water behaves more like a classical gas. This is an epithermal neutron reactor design.
G. Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor (LMFBR)
This is a reactor design that is cooled by liquid metal, totally unmoderated, and produces more fuel than it consumes. These reactors can function much like a PWR in terms of efficiency, and do not require much high pressure containment, as the liquid metal does not need to be kept at high pressure, even at very high temperatures. Superphénix in France was a reactor of this type, as was Fermi-I in the United States. The Monju reactor in Japan suffered a sodium leak in 1995 and is approved for restart in 2008. All three use/used liquid sodium. These reactors are fast neutron, not thermal neutron designs. These reactors come in two types:
Lead cooled
Using lead as the liquid metal provides excellent radiation shielding, and allows for operation at very high temperatures. Also, lead is (mostly) transparent to neutrons, so fewer neutrons are lost in the coolant, and the coolant does not become radioactive. Unlike sodium, lead is mostly inert, so there is less risk of explosion or accident, but such large quantities of lead may be problematic from toxicology and disposal points of view. Often a reactor of this type would use a lead-bismuth eutectic mixture. In this case, the bismuth would present some minor radiation problems, as it is not quite as transparent to neutrons, and can be transmuted to a radioactive isotope more readily than lead.
Sodium cooled
Most LMFBRs are of this type. The sodium is relatively easy to obtain and work with, and it also manages to actually remove corrosion on the various reactor parts immersed in it. However, sodium explodes violently when exposed to water, so care must be taken, but such explosions wouldn't be vastly more violent than (for example) a leak of superheated fluid from a SCWR or PWR.
The radioisotope thermoelectric generator produces heat through passive radioactive decay.
Some radioisotope thermoelectric generators have been created to power space probes (for example, the Cassini probe), some lighthouses in the former Soviet Union, and some pacemakers. The heat output of these generators diminishes with time; the heat is converted to electricity utilising the thermoelectric effect.

Answer 2

The safety risks are not acceptable ones. Consider what the catastrophic failure at Chernobyl did to the surrounding countryside/the people that inhabited it. Yes, I most certainly had an opinion about nuclear power pre-Japan. The Japanese disaster has only strengthened my anti-nuclear resolve. I live within the the 50-mile radius of a nuclear power plant. Not too thrilled about that fact, but I don't really have any viable options relocation-wise right now. Develop solar/wind/hydro/geothermal sources of energy everywhere you can while phasing out both fossil fuels and nuclear at the same time. Learn to conserve better, too.

Answer 3

Let's simplify this.

Nuclear reactors are driven by atoms that fission, releasing particles. When those particles bump into something, they heat it. That heat is turned to power much in the way a steam engine would.

The other main point is that what triggers the fission is a neutron hitting the atom, and neutrons are also released during the fission -- to go on to hit more atoms, and so on. This is the "chain reaction".

However, while a runaway nuclear reactor will overheat and cause a terrible mess, it is not going to explode the way an atomic bomb does.

Answer 4

These nuclear plants are very huge one is at chennai.they work under continuous chain reaction.if this chain reaction takes place continuously the nuclear power plant gets exploded therefore to avoid this water is continuously passed over it.it is very hot near a nuclear reactor.therefore we need to wear a special dress which is designed for this this dress looks somewhat like the astronaut's dress.nuclear reactors are used to produce electricity.but it is a very costly processes therefore this is not the prime processes of producing electricity in India.

Answer 5

For the great unwashed masses of us, the simple answer is this: The tremendous heat generated by the nuclear reaction heats a liquid, usually water, in a high pressure closed system. The steam thus generated is routed through a turbine which is shaft-connected to a generator. The steam turns the turbine, which turns the generator, which creates electricity.

Answer 6

A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors.

A nuclear reactor is a device in which nuclear chain reactions are initiated, controlled, and sustained at a steady rate (as opposed to a nuclear bomb, in which the chain reaction occurs in a fraction of a second and is completely uncontrolled).

Nuclear reactors are used for many purposes. The most significant current use is for the generation of electrical power. Research reactors are used for radioisotope production and for beamline experiments with free neutrons. Historically, the first use of nuclear reactors was the production of weapons grade plutonium for nuclear weapons. Another military use is submarine / ship propulsion (Though this involves a much smaller nuclear reactor than the one used in a nuclear power plant).

Currently all commercial nuclear reactors are based on nuclear fission, and are considered by some to be a safe and pollution-free method of generating electricity. Conversely, some consider nuclear reactors problematic for their potential safety and health risks. Fusion power is an experimental technology based on nuclear fusion instead of fission. There are other devices in which nuclear reactions occur in a controlled fashion, including radioisotope thermoelectric generators and atomic batteries, which generate heat and power by exploiting passive radioactive decay, as well as Farnsworth-Hirsch fusors, in which controlled nuclear fusion is used to produce neutron radiation.

Nuclear power from a reactor is typically utilized to produce electricity. The production of electricity is usually accomplished by somewhat standard methods that involve using heat from the nuclear reaction to power steam turbines. Nuclear power is attractive in that relatively small amounts of fuel are used to produce vast amounts of energy with no or much smaller production of free pollutants, such as greenhouse gas.

Nuclear power is controversial since it produces radioactive waste and runs the risk of nuclear meltdown. Such events, though unlikely with proper precautions, are typically viewed as catastrophic and can produce far reaching detrimental effects, such as widespread radiation contamination. Modern reactor designs and the relatively low enrichment of nuclear reactor fuel make it essentially impossible for a nuclear explosion to occur (the Chernobyl accident was neither a modern reactor design nor was it a nuclear explosion).

Answer 7

well, all these nuclear power plants work on nuclear fission / nuclear fusion phenomenon. when an is made to split ,releases enormous energy and that will be utilised for power generation purposes. use of heavy water in these process brings in safety.

Answer 8

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