Nuclear Power!!!

By Ben Stansfield
 How Do Nuclear Reactors
Work!
The water which is boiled into steam is not heated by the nuclear reactions directly..The
nuclear reactions heat different water or gas or even liquid first. These coolants carry
heat energy from the reactor to the boiler. The turbine water passes through the boiler
pipes. And the coolants transfers its heat energy through the boiler pipes to the
turbine water , which is boiled into steam. The coolant contains radioactive
substances because it has passed through the reactor but the turbine water isn't
radioactive because it hasn’t been in contact with the reactor. The nuclear reactants
heat the coolants because the coolant is heated by metal fuel rods. Nuclear reactions
inside the fuel rods cause them to get hot. Heat energy is transferred from the fuel
rods to the coolant. The fuel rods are hollow metal cylinders which inside are fuel
pellets and these are where the nuclear reaction takes place. The fuel pellets are very
small so the fuel rods which the pellets are held in are very thin. The fuel rods are
bundled into fuel assemblies. These fuel assemblies are designed to make it easy to
fuel and unload the reactor. The fuel pellets are mostly uranium-238 with about 4%
uranium-235. The uranium is bound into pellets with other chemicals.
 What Is Nuclear Fission!
Nuclear reactors use a type of nuclear reaction called nuclear fission. Another type of
nuclear reaction- nuclear fusion- happens in the sun and other stars.
Nuclear power use a reaction called nuclear fission. Two isotopes in common use as
nuclear fuels are uranium-235 and plutonium-239.
Fission is another word for splitting . The process of splitting a nucleus is called nuclear
fission. Uranium and plutonium isotopes are normally used as the fuel in nuclear
reactors, because their atoms have relatively large nuclei that are easy to split ,
especially when hit by neutrons.
When a uranium-235 or pluonium-239 nucleus is hit by a neutron, the following happens;
1st the nucleus splits into two smaller nuclei, which are radioactive 2nd two or three
more neutrons are released and 3rd some energy is released.
The additional neutrons released may also hit other uranium or plutonium nuclei and
cause them to split . Even more neutrons are then released , which in turn can split
more nuclei. This is called a chain reaction. The chain reaction in nuclear reactors is
controlled to stop it going too fast.
 Where Are Nuclear Power
Stations In UK!
There are 15 nuclear power stations in the UK they are:
Dounreay (DFR, PFR)
Torness
Hunterston (A, B)
Chapel cross
Calder Hall
Hartlepool
Heysham (1, 2)
Wylfa
Trwasfynydd
Sizewell (A,B)
Berkeley
Oldbury
Bradwell
Hinkley Point (A,B)
Dungeness (A,B)
Winfrith
Advantages And Disadvantages
Of Nuclear Power!
• It is only in recent years, in the light of climate change, that the issue of nuclear power
is being debated once again because of its nature: it emits virtually no greenhouse
gases. Not only that, but the fuel for it, uranium, can be found in far more stable
regions of the world than oil. So, what are the advantages and disadvantages of
nuclear power?
• Advantages of Nuclear Power
• Efficient: Nuclear plants can produce significant quantities of electricity, up to about
2GW (at the large end of the range. They are generally comparable in output to coal
plants.
• Reliable: There is no need to worry about interruptions to the power supply: as long
as there is uranium, there will be power. This is a stark contrast to most renewable
energies which depend on the activity of the weather. In fact, nuclear plants are
designed to produce a base load, meaning that they are on constantly, rather than
turning on and off to meet demand as with gas, for example.
 Clean: I am using this term strictly to refer to the greenhouse gas emissions of a
nuclear plant. There are some greenhouse gas emissions associated with the life
cycle of uranium, as gases are emitted as it is mined and transported etc. However
this is significantly less than the emissions associated with the burning of fossil fuels.
Essentially, nuclear power would be "carbon-zero" if the the uranium were mined and
transported in a more efficient way. There are issues with radioactive waste,
however.
• Supply: No, it is not going to last forever, but at least what there is is more easily
accessible than oil. 24% of uranium resources are in Australia, and 9% in Canada.
These are hardly politically unstable regions! It is worth noting that there has been no
real exploration for fissile materials (as with oil and gas), so there is likely to be more
than is known. Not only that but other fuel cycles are available for power generation,
like Thorium.
• Disadvantages of Nuclear Power
• Waste: High level radioactive waste is very dangerous. It lasts for tens of thousands
of years before decaying to safe levels. If there is to be a "nuclear renaissance", a
sophisticated method of storing the waste for this period of time must be designed.
This point itself has sparked a surprising number of debates. For example, how do
you write "danger" on a concrete box, when in 5,000 years the word "danger" may no
longer exist?
• Proliferation: Some forms of nuclear reactor, known as "breeder" reactors produce
plutonium, which can be used to make nuclear weapons. There are other reactors
which do not have this problem, but it is another issue which must be addressed
before the possibility of a nuclear future can be taken seriously. That said, there are
also tens of thousands of nuclear warhead in existence, and actually making a
nuclear weapon from waste would be extremely difficult.
• Terrorism: While the chances of a modern reactor exploding like Chernobyl are near
zero, it is quite possible for intervention to have quite horrific results. Nuclear plants
would be very tempting targets to anyone wanting to disrupt the power supply and
devastate an entire region in one fell swoop.
• Cost: Nuclear plants are very expensive to run. I am not an economist, but I believe
nuclear plants are, like most other things, cheaper in bulk. Most of the cost comes
from the initial building of the plant; the running costs are comparatively low.