NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

Anuclear power plantis athermal power station

in which the heat source is anuclear reactor.

As is typical in all conventional thermal power

stations the heat is used to generate steam
which drives asteam turbineconnected to an
electric generatorwhich produceselectricity.

history

The science of atomic radiation, atomic change and

nuclear fission was developed from 1895 to 1945,
much of it in the last six of those years.

Over 1939-45, most development was focused on the

atomic bomb.

From 1945 attention was given to harnessing this

energy in a controlled fashion for naval propulsion and
for making electricity.

Since 1956 the prime focus has been on the

technological evolution of reliable nuclear power
plants.

Otto Hahnwon the Nobel Prize for his

discovery of nuclear fission and Enrico
Fermialso receive a Nobel Prize for creating
the world's first nuclear chain reaction.

In the 1940's nuclear fission was first used

during World War II which prompted more
research into atomic energy.

Today nuclear energy accounts for only 20% of

the electricity generated in the United States.

September 3, 1948 at theX-10 Graphite Reactorin

Oak Ridge, Tennesseein the United States, and was
the first nuclear power plant to power a light bulb.
The second, larger experiment occurred on December
20, 1951 at theEBR-Iexperimental station near
Arco, Idahoin the United States.
On June 27, 1954, the world'sfirst nuclear power plant
to generate electricity for apower gridstarted
operations at theSovietcity ofObninsk.
The world's first full scale power station,Calder Hallin
England opened on October 17, 1956.

Anuclear reactor, formerly known asatomic

pile, is a device used to initiate and control a
sustainednuclear chain reaction.
Nuclear reactors are used atnuclear power plants
forelectricity generationand in
propulsion of ships. Heat fromnuclear fission is
passed to a working fluid (water or gas), which
runs throughturbines.
Today there are about 450 nuclear power reactors
that are used to generate electricity in about 30
countries around the world.

Since nuclear fission creates radioactivity, the reactor core is

surrounded by a protective shield. This containment
absorbs radiation and preventsradioactive materialfrom
being released into the environment.

SYSTEMS
Steam turbine
Generator
Cooling system
Feed water pump
Water Reactors
-Boiling water reactor (BWR)
-Pressurized water reactor(PWR)

Boiling Water Reactor

In the boiling water reactor (BWR), the

water which passes over the reactor
core to act asmoderatorand coolant is
also the steam source for the turbine

This operating temperature gives a

Carnot efficiencyof only 42% with a
practical operating efficiency of around
32%, somewhat less than thePWR.

Pressurized Water Reactor

In the pressurized water reactor (PWR), the water

which passes over the reactor core to act as
moderatorand coolant does not flow to the turbine,
but is contained in a pressurized primary loop.

The primary loop water produces steam in the

secondary loop which drives the turbine

Another advantage is that the PWR can operate at

higher pressure and temperature, about 160
atmospheresand about 315 C.

BWR and PWR

How does it works and How is energy

created in a nuclear power plant?
a nuclear-fueled power plant much like a fossil-fueled
power plant water is turned into steam, which in
turn drives turbine generators to produce electricity.

The difference is the source of heat. At nuclear power

plants, the heat to make the steam is created when
uranium atoms split called fission.
There is no combustion in a nuclear reactor

The more recent, and peaceful, use

ofnuclear energyis to provide
electricity for homes, offices and
factories.

Nuclear power, in plants known as

fission breeder reactors, heats water to
very high temperatures, creating
steam that drives large turbines
attached to electrical generators.

Nuclear energy originates from the

splitting of uranium atoms in a process
called fission.

At the power plant, the fission process is

used to generate heat for producing
steam, which is used by a turbine to
generate electricity.

Installation

In many countries, plants are often located on

the coast, in order to provide a ready source of
cooling water for the
essential service water system.

As a consequence the design needs to take the

risk of flooding andtsunamisinto account.

TheWorld Energy Council(WEC) argues disaster

risks are changing and increasing the likelihood
of disasters such asearthquakes,cyclones,
hurricanes,typhoons,flooding. accidents.

High temperatures, low precipitation levels

and severedroughtsmay lead to fresh water
shortages.

Failure to calculate the risk of flooding correctly

lead to aLevel 2event on the
International Nuclear Event Scale during the
1999 Blayais Nuclear Power Plant flood,while
flooding caused by the2011 Thoku
earthquake and tsunamilead to the
Fukushima I nuclear

Maintenance and repair

Maintenance of a Nuclear Power Plant

Extensive preventive maintenance and testing

(surveillance) programs exist to ensure that
nuclear safety significant equipment will
function when it is supposed to.

Diesel generators, pumps, motor operated

valves and air operated control valves are
typically operated every one to three months.

When you drive a car, you depend a lot on

the sounds, the feel of the steering wheel
and the gauges to determine if the car is
running correctly.

Similarly with operating equipment at a

power plant - if sounds or vibration of the
equipment or the gauges and test
equipment indicate a problem or
degradation, actions are taken to correct
the deficiency.

If the equipment fails to start or run, more

immediate actions are taken.
In some cases, regulations called technical
specifications may require the plant to be
shutdown if the equipment is not corrected
within a certain period of time.

Every year to two (2) years, the power plant

may be shutdown for anoutage. The outage
may last 30 to 60 days and depends on the
amount of major maintenance to be done.

Outages are used to perform activities that

cannot be done when the plant is operating:

Refueling the reactorandother preparations

(removal of reactor head, upper internals,
and reactor refueling)

Preventive maintenance on equipment that

must run all the time,
e.g.turbine-generatormust be inspected
every 5 years or so,transformersmay be
checked out each outage;

Modifications or replacements of major

equipment, as asteam generator, that
cannot be shutdown.

The maintenance personnel who maintain

the equipment at the power plant must go
through craft-specific training to qualify to
perform the plant maintenance.
Training programs are inspected and
certified by the accrediting board of the
National Nuclear Training Academy.

Engineers at the power plant are often

responsible for specific systems at the
plant and manage the work done
(preventive maintenance, repairs, and
modifications) on their system.

Similarly, engineer training programs

are inspected and certified by the
accrediting board of the National
Nuclear Training Academy.

ENVIRONMENTAL
PURPOSES

Environmental purposes
What impact does nuclear energy have on the
environment?

Nuclear powerplantsdonot emit carbon dioxide,

sulfur dioxide, or nitrogen oxides as part of
thepowergeneration process.

However, fossil fuel emissions are associated with

the uranium mining and uranium enrichment
process as well as the transport of the uranium fuel
to and from thenuclear plant.

Is nuclear energy renewable or non

renewable?

The material most often used

innuclearpower plants is the element
uranium.
Uranium
non
renewableresource.Nuclearenergy
is a popular way of generating
electricity around the world.

Advantages and
disadvantages
ADVANTAGES:

Geographical limitations- nuclear power plants don't require a

lot ofspace; they do not need a large plot like a wind farm. But
they have to be built near alarge body of waterfor cooling
purposes - using the water as a heat sink. They are usually found on
the coast so there is no risk to drinking water sources.

Nuclear power stations do not contribute tocarbon emissions- no

CO2is given out - it therefore does not contribute to
global warming.

Nuclear power stations do not producesmoke particlesto pollute

the atmosphere or emit gases that contibute toacid rain.

Advantages and
disadvantages

Nuclear energy is by far the mostconcentrated form of

energy- a lot of energy is produced from a small mass of
fuel.
Thisreduces transport costs- (although the fuel is
radioactive and therefore each transport that does occur
is expensive because of security implications).

Nuclear power isreliable. It does not depend on the

weather.

Nuclear power produces asmall volume of

waste(although that waste is radioactive - see below)

Advantages and
disadvantages

We cancontrol the outputfrom a nuclear power station

to fit our needs.
It is relatively easy to control the output - although the
time factor for altering power output is not as small as for
fossil fuel stations.

It is said to have along 'start up' time. It cannot

respond immediately to demand.
That is why electricity companies try to 'even out'
demand by using tarrifs that encourage use at off peak
time perids.

Advantages and
disadvantages
DISADVANTAGES:

Disposal of nuclear waste is very expensive. As it is radioactive it

has to be disposed of in such a way as it will not pollute the
environment.

Decommissioningof nuclear power stations is expensive and takes

a long time. (In fact we have not yet decommissioned one!)

Nuclear accidentscan spread 'radiation producing particles' over a

wide area, This radiation harms the cells of the body which can make
humans sick or even cause death.
Illness can appear or strike people years after they were exposed to
nuclear radiation and genetic problems can occur too.

RADIATION

Effects of Radiation

Radiationtakes place when the atomic nucleus

of an unstable atom decays and starts releasing
ionizing particles, known as ionizing radiation.

When these particles come into contact with

organic material, such as human tissue, they will
damage them if levels are high enough, causing
burns andcancer. Ionizing radiation can be fatal
for humans.

Effect of Radiation
REM (roentgen equivalent in man)- this is a unit
we use to measure radiation dosage.
We use this measurement to determine what levels of
radiation are safe or dangerous for human tissue.
It is the product of the absorbed dose in rads and a
weighting factor (WR), which accounts for how
effective the radiation is in causing biological damage.

Effect of Radiation
A sudden, short dose of up to 50 rem will probably
cause no problems, except for some blood changes.
50 to 200 rem there may be illness, but fatalities are
highly unlikely.
A dose of between 200 and 1,000 will most likely
cause serious illness - the nearer the 1,000 it is, the
poorer the outlook for the human will be.
Any dose over 1,000 will typically cause death.

Bataan nuclear Power Plant

Construction on the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant began in 1976.

Following the 1979Three Mile Island accident in theUnited States,
construction on the BNPP was stopped, and a subsequent safety inquiry into
the plant revealed over 4,000 defects.
Among the issues raised was that it was built near major earthquake fault lines
and close to the then dormantMount Pinatubo.

Anti-nuclear movement

The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant was a focal point

foranti-nuclear protestsin the late 1970s and
1980s.

The project was criticised for being a potential

threat to public health, especially since the plant
was located in an earthquake zone,and because
a volcano formation was found near the location
of the plant.

2000s
Despite never having been commissioned,
the plant has remained intact, including the
nuclear reactor, and has continued to be
maintained.
The Philippine government completed paying
off its obligations on the plant in April 2007,
more than 30 years after construction began.

On January 29, 2008,

Energy SecretaryAngelo Reyesannounced that an
International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) eight-man team
led by Akira Omoto inspected the Bataan Nuclear power
station on rehabilitation prospects.
In preparing their report, the IAEA made two primary
recommendations.

On January 29, 2008,

First, the power plant's status must be
thoroughly evaluated by technical inspections
and economic evaluations.
Second, the IAEA mission advised the Philippines
government on the general requirements for
starting its nuclear power program, stressing
that the proper infrastructure, safety standards,
and knowledge be implemented.

On February 1, 2010,
NAPOCOR started evaluating the financial
plan ofKorea Electric Power Corporation
(KEPCO), assessing that it may cost US$1
billion to rehabilitate the nuclear plant.[7]

On February 22, 2011,

the Philippine government will reimburse
theNational Power Corporation
(NAPOCOR) 4.2 billion (US$96 million) it
spent for maintaining the Bataan Nuclear
Power Plant.
It requires an average of 40 million a
year just to maintain it.

In May 2011,
it was announced that the plant
would be turned into a tourist
attraction.

Chernobyl nuclear Power

Plant

On April 26, 1986, a sudden surge

ofpowerduring areactorsystems test
destroyed Unit 4 of thenuclear power
stationatChernobyl, Ukraine, in the
former Soviet Union.
The accident and the fire that followed
released massive amounts of radioactive
material into the environment.

The accident happened because of a

combination of basic engineering
deficiencies in the reactor and faulty
actions of the operators:
the safety systems had been switched
off, and the reactor was being operated
under improper, unstable conditions, a
situation which allowed an
uncontrollable power surge to occur.

1982 Reactor No. 1

On September 9, 1982, a partial coremeltdownoccurred in Reactor
No. 1 at the Chernobyl plant.
The extent of the accident was not made public until several years
later. The reactor was repaired and put back into operation within
months.

1986 Disaster Reactor No. 4

Saturday, April 26, 1986, a disaster occurred at Reactor No. 4,
which has been widely regarded as the worst accident in the
history of nuclear power in the world.
As a result, Reactor No. 4 was completely destroyed Large areas of
Europe were affected by the accident. The radioactive cloud spread
as far away asNorway.

1991 fire Reactor No. 2

The Chernobyl Nuclear Plant utilized one large, open turbine hall
for all four reactors without any separating walls. Each reactor
had two turbines.

On October 11, 1991, a fire broke out in the turbine hall of

Reactor No.2.

The fire began in Reactor No.2's Turbine4 (-4 in Russian)

while the turbine was being idled for repairs.

2013 collapse
On February 13, 2013, a 600-square-metre (6,500-squarefoot) portion of the roof and wall adjacent to the covered
part of the turbine hall collapsed into the entombed area
of the turbine hall.
The collapse did not affect any other part of the
Object Shelteror theNew Safe Confinement. No
variances in radiation levels as a result of the incident
were detected.

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plantis a

decommissionednuclearpower stationnear the city of
Pripyat, Ukraine,
14.5km northwest of the city ofChornobyl,
16km from the UkraineBelarus border, and about

The Chernobyl disaster was the worst

nuclear power plantaccident in history in
terms of cost and casualties.
It is one of only two classified as a level 7
event (the maximum classification) on the
International Nuclear Event Scale, the other
being the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disasterin 2011.

 The battle to contain the contamination

and avert a greater catastrophe
ultimately involved
over 500,000 workersand cost an
estimated 18billionrubles.
During the accident itself,
31 people died, and long-term effects
such as cancers are still being
investigated.

Decommissioning
In January 2008, the Ukraine
government announced a four-stage
decommissioning plan which
incorporated the above waste activities
and progresses towards a cleared site.

Resettlement of areas from which

people were relocated is ongoing. In
2011 Chernobyl was officially declared
a tourist attraction.