NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

NUCLEAR

POWER

PLANT

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ABSTRACT

A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor.
As is typical in all conventional thermal power stations the heat is used to generate steam which
drives a steam turbine connected to an electric generator which produces electricity. Nuclear
power plants, are usually considered to be base load stations, since fuel is a small part of the cost
of production. Nuclear power plants are not located according to specific attributes of geography,
and are therefore found all over the world.

Nuclear plants are also termed as Nuclear Power Plants as they use the process of nuclear fission
to generate the electricity. Nuclear Plants is administered by the Department of Atomic Energy
(DAE). These nuclear fission takes place inside the nuclear reactor. The heat produced is used to
convert water into steam, then steams runs the turbine and generator and at last, generator
produce electricity.

The main difference between nuclear plant and Thermal plant is that, the thermal plant gets heat
energy by burning of coal whereas the nuclear plant produces heat by the process, called Fission
of Uranium (U-235). Uranium and Plutonium are slightly radioactive atoms for fission. Nuclear
power plant works on RANKINE CYCLE.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my profound gratitude to my guide for his invaluable

support, encouragement, supervision and suggestions throughout this seminar
work. Under whose able guidance and support I’ll be able to complete my seminar
report. His moral support and continuous guidance at each point of time enabled
me to complete my work successfully and on time.

I would also like express my deep gratitude to our principal and HOD, Mechanical
Engineering Department for his continuous effort in creating more competitive and
knowledgeable environment in our college and encouragement by organizing
workshop and meetings time to time.

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CONTENTS
ABSTRACT 1
ACKNOLEDGEMENT 2
CERTIFICATE 3

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO NUCLEAR POWER PLANT 6

1.1 INTRODUCTION 6
1.2 FIRST NUCLEAR POWER PLANT (INDIA) 7
1.3 NUCLEAR POWER STATION IN INDIA 8
1.4 OPERATING PLANT IN INDIA 8
CHAPTER 2: HISTORY OF NUCLEAR ENERGY & POWER GENERATION 9
2.1 HISTORY 9
CHAPTER 3: NUCLEAR REACTION 10
3.1 DEFINITION OF NUCLEAR REACTION 10
3.2 NUCLEAR FISSION 10
3.3 NUCLEAR FUSION 11
3.4 DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN NUCLEAR FISSION AND NUCLEAR FUSION 12
CHAPTER4: COMPONENTS OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANT 13
4.1 VARIOUS COMPONENTS 13
4.2 LAYOUT OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANT 20
CHAPTER 5: COMPONENTS OF NUCLEAR REACTOR 21
5.1 VARIOUS COMPONENTS 21
5.2 DIAGRAM OF NUCLEAR REACTOR 22
CHAPTER 6: WORKING OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANT 23
6.1 WHAT IS ATOMIC ENERGY? 23
6.2 HOW MUCH ENERGY CAN ONE ATOM MAKE? 23
6.3 WHAT IS CHAIN REACTION? 24
6.4 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT & NUCLEAR BOMB 25
6.5 HOW DOES NUCLEAR POWER PLANT WORKS? 25
6.6 ADVANTAGES 26
6.7 DISADVANTAGES 26

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CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION 27
REFERENCES 28

LIST OF TABLES PAGE NO.

1. OPERATING PLANT IN INDIA 8
2. DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN NUCLEAR FISSION & NUCLEAR FUSION 12

LIST OF FIGURES
1. TARAPUR ATOMIC POWER STATION 7
2. NUCLEAR PLANTS IN INDIA 8
3. NUCLEAR FISSION 10
4. NUCLEAR FUSION 11
5. NUCLEAR REACTOR 13
6. COOLING SYSTEM 14
7. PWR STEAM GENERATOR 15
8. BWR STEAM GENERATOR 15
9. PRESSURE SAFETY VALVE 16
10. FEED WATER PUMP 16
11. STEAM TURBINE 17
12. ELECTRIC GENERATOR 17
13. NDCT 18
14. IDCT 19
15. BATTERY ROOM 20
16. SCHEMATIC LAYOUT OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANT 20
17. NUCLEAR REACTOR 22
18. ATOM 24

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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TO NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

1.1 INTRODUCTION
A nuclear power plant or nuclear power station is a thermal power station in which the heat
source is a nuclear reactor. As a typical in all conventional thermal power stations the heat is
used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to an electric generator which
produces electricity. As of 23 April 2014, the IAEA report there are 435 nuclear power reactors
in operation operating in 31 countries. Nuclear power stations are usually considered to be base
load stations, since fuel is a small part of the cost of production. Their operations and
maintenance are fuel costs are, along with hydropower stations, at the low end of the spectrum
and make them suitable as base load power suppliers. The cost of spent fuel management,
however is somewhat uncertain.

Conventional thermal power stations use oil or coal as the source of energy. The reserves of
these fuels are becoming depleted in many countries and thus there is a tendency to seek
alternatives sources of energy. In a nuclear power station instead of a furnace there is a nuclear
reactor, in which heat is generated by splitting atoms of radioactive materials under suitable
conditions. The conversion to electrical energy takes place directly, as in conventional thermal
power plants. The heat is produced by fission in a nuclear reactor. Directly or indirectly, water
vapors (steam) is produced. The pressurized steam is then usually fed to a multistage steam
turbine. For economical use in a power system a nuclear power station generally has to be large
and where large units are justifiable.

The main difference between the Nuclear Power Plant and the Thermal Power Plant is that
Thermal Power Plant gets heat energy by burning coal whereas the Nuclear Power Plant
produces heat by the process called Fission of Uranium(U-235) Nuclei. The heat produced is
used to convert water into steam. The steam runs the turbine and generator and the electricity is
generated by the generator which is then transmitted to Grid.

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1.2 FIRST NUCLEAR POWER PLANT (INDIA)

Tarapur Atomic Power Station (T.A.P.S) was the first nuclear power plant in India. The
construction of the plant was started in 1962 and the plant went operational in 1969. The 320
MW Tarapur nuclear power station housed two 160MW boiling water reactors, the first in Asia.

The Tarapur Plant was originally constructed by the American companies Bechtel and GE, under
a 1963 123 Agreement btween India, the United States, and the IAEA.

The Tarapur Atomic Power Station is under the control of Nuclear Power Corporation of India
Limited (NPCIL).

Fig 1: Tarapur Atomic Power Station

More recently, an additional two pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) units of 540 MW
each were constructed by BHEL, L&T and Gammon India, seven months ahead of schedule and
well within the original cost estimates. Unit 3 was brought online for commercial operation on
18 August 2006, and unit 4 on 12 September 2005.

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1.3 NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS IN INDIA

The site for a nuclear power plant is selected by a high-powered committee, based on the
need of electrical power in the area, the potential for industrial expansion, availability of large
source of water and low population.

Fig 2 : Nuclear Plants In India

1.4 OPERATING PLANTS IN INDIA

S. No. Name of unit & place Capacity Total

1. TAPS-1&2, Tarapur 2X160 Mwe 320 Mwe
2. TAPS-3&4, Tarapur 2x540 Mwe 1080 Mwe
3. RAPS-1, Rawatbhata 1x100 Mwe 100 Mwe
4. RAPS-2, Rawatbhata 1x200 Mwe 200 Mwe
5. RAPS-3&4, Rawatbhata 2 x 220 MWe 440 Mwe
6. RAPS-5&6, Rawatbhata 2 x 220 MWe 440 Mwe
7. MAPS-1&2, Kalpakkam 2x220 Mwe 440 Mwe
8. NAPS-1&2, Narora 2x220 Mwe 440 Mwe
9. KAPS-1&2,Kakrapar 2x220 Mwe 440 Mwe
10. KGS-1&2, Kaiga 2x220 Mwe 440 Mwe
11. KGS-3&4, Kaiga 2x220 Mwe 440 Mwe
12. KKNPP-1&2, Kudankulam 2x1000 Mwe 2000 Mwe
CHAPTER 2
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HISTORY OF NUCLEAR ENERGY AND POWER

GENERATION

2.1 HISTORY
The neutron was discovered in 1932. The concept of a nuclear chain reaction brought about by
nuclear reactions mediated by neutrons was the first realized shortly thereafter, by Hungarian
Scientist Leo Szilard, in 1933. Inspiration for a new type of reactor using uranium came from the
discovery by Lise Meitner, Fritz Strassmann and Otto Hahn in 1938 that bombardment of
uranium with neutrons produced a barium residue, which they reasoned was created by the
fissioning of the uranium nuclei.

On 27 June 1954, the USSR’s Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant became the world’s first nuclear
power plant to generate electricity for power grid, and produced around 5 megawatt of electric
power. The first commercial nuclear power station, Calder Hall in Sellafield, England was
opened in 1956 with an initial capacity of 50MW (later 200MW).

India’s first research nuclear reactor and its first nuclear power plant were built with assistance
from Canada. The 40MW research reactor agreement was signed in 1956, CIRUS achieved first
criticality in 1960. This reactor was supplied to India on the assurance that it would not be used
for military purposes, but without effective safeguards against such use. The technical and design
information were given free of charge by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited to India.

The United States and Canada terminated their assistance after the detonation of India’s first
nuclear explosion in 1974.

Tarapur Atomic Power Station located in Tarapur, Maharashtra is the first nuclear power reactor
of India. It was established in October 28, 1969. It has the total capacity of 1400MW.

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CHAPTER 3
NUCLEAR REACTIONS

3.1 DEFINITION OF NUCLEAR REACTION

In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, a nuclear reaction is semantically considered to be the
process in which two nuclei, or else a nucleus of an atom and a subatomic particle such as a
proton, neutron, or high energy electron from outside the atom, collide to produce one or more
nuclides that are different from the nuclides that began the process. Thus, a nuclear reaction must
cause a transformation of at least one nuclide to another. If a nucleus interacts with another
nucleus or particle and they then separate without changing the nature of any nuclide, the process
is simply referred to as a type of nuclear scattering rather than a nuclear reaction. There are two
types of nuclear reactions which are as follows:

a) Nuclear Fission
b) Nuclear Fusion

3.2 NUCLEAR FISSION

In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, nuclear fission is either a nuclear reaction or
radioactive decay process in which the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts (lighter
nuclei). The fission process often produces free neutron and photons (in the form of gamma
rays), and releases a very large amount of energy even by the energetic standards of radioactive
decay.

Fig 3: Nuclear Fission

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Fission as encountered in the modern world is usually a deliberately produced man made nuclear
reaction induced by a neutron. In an induced fission reaction, a neutron is absorbed by uranium-
235 nucleus turning it briefly into an excited uranium-236 nucleus, with the excitation energy
provided by the kinetic energy of the neutron plus the forces that bind the neutron. The uranium-
236 in turn splits into a fast moving lighter elements (Fission Products) and releases three free
neutrons at the same time, one or more “prompt gamma rays” are produced as well.

3.3 NUCLEAR FUSION

In nuclear physics, nuclear fusion is a nuclear reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei
collide at a very high speed and join to form a new type of atomic nucleus. During this process,
matter is not considered because some of the matter of the fusing nuclei is converted to photons
(energy). Fusion power is the energy generated by nuclear fusion processes. The origin of the
energy released in fusion of light elements is due to interplay of two opposing forces, the nuclear
force which combines together protons and neutrons, and the coulomb force which causes
protons to repel each other. The protons are positively charged and repel each other but they
nonetheless stick together, demonstrating the existence of another force referred to as nuclear
attraction. This force, called the nuclear force, overcomes electric repulsion in a very close range.
Most nuclear fusion reactions involve the fusion of two hydrogen isotope to form a helium atom
releasing huge amount of energy and a neutron.

Fig 4: Nuclear Fusion

Nuclear fusion is currently in its experimental phase and is not being utilized for commercial
purposes due to its requirement of high initial energy and pressure so as to overcome the
columbic forces and bring the nuclei in close proximity.

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3.4 DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN NUCLEAR FISSION AND NUCLEAR

FUSION
The difference between Nuclear Fission and Nuclear Fusion is shown below:

NUCLEAR FISSION NUCLEAR FUSION

A heavy nucleus breaks up to form a two Two light nuclei combines to form a heavy
lighter nuclei. nucleus.

It involves a chain reaction. Chain reaction is not involved.

The heavy nucleus is bombarded with Light nuclei are heated to an extremely high
nucleus. temperature.

We have proper mechanism to control fission Proper mechanism to control fusion reaction
reactions for generating electricity. are yet to be developed.

Disposal of nuclear waste is a great Disposal of nuclear waste is not involved.

environmental problem.

Raw material is not easily available and is Raw material is comparatively cheap and
costly. easily available.

CHAPTER 4
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COMPONENTS OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

4.1 VARIOUS COMPONENTS

The various components of Nuclear power plants are:

Nuclear Reactor:

A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. In its

central part, the reactor core’s heat is generated by controlled nuclear fission. With this heat, a
coolant is heated as it is pumped through the reactor and thereby removes the energy from the
reactor. Heat from nuclear fission is used to raise steam, which runs through turbines, which in
turn powers either ship’s propellers or electrical generators.

Fig 5: Nuclear Reactor

Cooling System:

A cooling system removes heat from the reactor core and transports it to another area of the
plant, where the thermal energy can be harnessed to produce electricity or to do other useful
work. Typically, the hot coolant is used as a heat source for a boiler, and the pressurized steam
from that one or more steam turbine driven electrical generators. Almost all currently operating
nuclear power plants are light water reactors using ordinary water under high pressure as coolant
and neutron moderator. A neutron moderator slows down the speed of the neutron as a medium,

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Fig 6: Cooling System

thereby turning them into thermal neutrons capable of sustaining nuclear chain reaction
involving uranium-235. Heavy water reactors use deuterium oxide which has similar properties
to ordinary water but much lower neutron capture, allowing more thorough moderation.

Steam Generator / Boiler:

The heat from the reactor is used to convert water to steam, this steam is used to run a turbine to
produce electricity. The position of the boiler depends on the type of reactor. The two most
widely used reactors are:

a) Pressurized Water Reactor(PWR): These constitute the majority of the reactors. The
primary characteristic of PWR is a pressurizer, that is a specialized pressure vessel that
stores the coolant in it and is sent into the reactor as per the requirement. In a PWR the
boiler is situated in a different assembly, away from the reactor. Two fluid systems are
used in a PWR, one coolant cycle circulated in the reactor and pumped into the steam
generator. This hot fluid from the reactor is used to heat the water to generate steam to be
sent to the steam turbine. The water used in the turbine is not radioactive.

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Fig 7: PWR Steam Generator

b) Boiling Water Reactor(BWR): BWRs are characterized by boiling water around the fuel
rods in the lower portion of a primary reactor pressure vessel. A boiling water reactor
uses U-235 enriched as uranium dioxide, as its fuel. The fuel is assembled into rods
housed in a steel vessel that is submerged in water. The nuclear fission causes the water
to boil, generating steam. This steam flows through pipes into turbines. The turbines are
driven by the steam, and this process generates electricity. The main characteristic is that
the boiler here is the reactor itself and the coolant itself is used to drive the turbines. The
fluid used in the turbine is radioactive.

Fig 8: BWR Steam Generator

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Safety valves:

In the event of an emergency, safety valves can be used to prevent pipes from bursting or the
reactor from exploding. The valves are designed so that they can derive all of the supplied flow
rates with little increase in pressure. In the case of the BWR, the steam is directed into the
suppression chamber and condenses there. The chambers on a heat exchanger are connected to
the intermediate cooling circuit.

Fig 9: Pressure Safety Valves

Feed water Pump:

The water level in the steam generator and nuclear reactor is controlled using the feed water
system. The feed water pump has the task of taking the water from the condensate system,
increasing the pressure and forcing it into either the steam generators (in the case of a
pressuri9ed water reactor) or directly into the reactor (for boiling water reactors).

Fig 10: Feed Water Pump

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Steam Turbine:

The steam generated from the boiler is used to drive the turbine. This turbine is connected to an
electric generator so as to generate electricity. Care is taken in maintaining the condition of the
turbine as it handles steam of very high heat capacity. The turbines used in BWRs have to be
radioactively sealed so as to avoid leakage of the radioactive water.

Fig 11: Steam Turbine

Electric Generator:

The generator converts kinetic energy supplied by the turbine into electrical energy. Low pole
AC synchronous generators of high rated power are used.

Fig 12: Electric Generator

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Cooling Towers:

A cooling tower is a heat rejection device which extracts waste heat to the atmosphere through
the cooling of a water stream to a lower temperature. Cooling towers may either use the
evaporation of water to remove process heat and cool the working fluid to near the wet-bulb
temperature or in the case of closed circuit dry cooling towers, rely solely on air to cool the
working fluid to near dry-bulb air temperature.

Cooling Towers are of two types:

a) Natural draught cooling tower (NDCT)

Fig 13: NDCT

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b) Induced draught cooling tower (IDCT)

Fig 14: IDCT

Emergency power supply:

Most nuclear plants require two distinct sources of offsite power feeding station service
transformers that are sufficiently separated in the plant’s switchyard and can receive power from
multiple transmission lines. Nuclear power plants are equipped with emergency power systems
to maintain safety in the event of unit shutdown and loss of offsite power. Batteries provide
uninterruptible power to instrumentation, control systems, and valves. The emergency diesel
generators do not power all plant systems, only those required to shut the reactor down safely,
remove decay heat from the reactor, provide emergency core cooling, and, in some plants, spent
fuel pool cooling.

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Fig 15:
Battery
Room

4.2

LAYOUT OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

Fig 16: Schematic Layout of Nuclear Power Plant

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CHAPTER 5
COMPONENTS OF NUCLEAR REACTOR

5.1 VARIOUS COMPONENTS

Nuclear fuel:

Fuel of a reactor should be fissionable material which can be defined as a fissionable material
which can be defined as an element or isotope whose nuclei can because to undergo nuclear
fission nuclear bombardment and to produce a fission chain reaction. The fuels used are: U-
238, U-235, U-234, UO2.

Fertile materials, those which can be transformed into fissile materials, cannot sustain chain
reactions. Ehen a fertile material is hit by neutrons and absorbs some of them, it is converted
to fissile material. U-238 and Th-232 are examples of fertile materials used for reactor
purposes.

Reactor Core:

This contains a number of fuel rods made of fissile material.

Moderator:

This material in the reactor core is used to moderate or to reduce the neutron speeds to a
value that increases the probability of fission occurring.

Control Rods:

The energy inside the reactor is controlled by the control rod. These are in cylindrical or
sheet form made of boron or cadmium. These rods can be moved in and out of the holes in
the reactor core assembly.

Reflector:

This completely surrounds the reactor core within the thermal shielding arrangement and
helps to bounce escaping neutrons back into the core. This conserves the nuclear fuel.

Reactor Vessel:

It is a strong walled container housing the core of the power reactor. It contains moderate,
reflector, thermal shielding and control rods.

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Biological Shielding:

Shielding helps in giving protection from the deadly α and β particle radiations and ϒ-rays as
well as neutrons given off by the process of fission within the reactor.

Coolant:

This removes heat from the core produced by nuclear reaction. The types of coolants used are
carbon dioxide, air, hydrogen, helium, sodium or sodium potassium.

5.2 DIAGRAM OF NUCLEAR REACTOR

Fig 17: Nuclear Reactor

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CHAPTER 6
WORKING OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS

6.1 WHAT IS ATOMIC ENERGY?

Atoms (the building blocks of matter) are much the same. Some large atoms are very stable and
quite happy to stay as they are pretty much forever. But other atoms exist in unstable forms
called radioactive isotopes. They're the atomic equivalents of wobbly old buildings: sooner or
later, they're bound to fall apart, splitting into bits like a large building tumbling to the ground
and releasing energy on the way. When large atoms split into one or more smaller atoms, giving
off other particles and energy in the process, we call it nuclear fission. That's because the central
part of the atom (the nucleus) is what breaks up and fission is another word for splitting apart.
Nuclear fission can happen spontaneously, in which we case we call it radioactive decay (the
conversion of unstable, radioactive isotopes into stable atoms that aren't radioactive). It can also
be made to happen on demand—which is how we get energy out of atoms in nuclear power
plants. That type of fission is called a nuclear reaction.

6.2 HOW MUCH ENERGY CAN ONE ATOM MAKE?

A surprisingly large amount! That was what physicist Albert Einstein meant when he wrote out
this simple and now famous equation:

E = mc2
If E is energy, m is mass (the scientific word for the ordinary stuff around us), and c is the speed
of light, Einstein's equation says that you can turn a tiny amount of mass into a huge amount of
energy. How come? Looking at the math, c is a really huge number (300,000,000) so c2 is even
bigger: 90,000,000,000,000,000. That's how many joules (the standard measurement of energy)
you'd get from a kilogram of mass. In theory, if you could turn about seven billion hydrogen
atoms completely to energy, you'd get about one joule (that's about as much energy as a 10-watt
lightbulb consumes in a tenth of a second). Remember, though, these are just ballpark,
guesstimate numbers. The only point we really need to note is this: since there are billions and
billions of atoms in even a tiny spec of matter, it should be possible to make lots of energy from
not very much at all. That's the basic idea behind nuclear power.

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In practice, nuclear power plants don't work by obliterating atoms completely; instead, they split
very large atoms into smaller, more tightly bound, more stable atoms. That releases energy in the
process—energy we can harness. According to a basic rule of physics called the law of
conservation of energy, the energy released in a nuclear fission reaction is equal to the total mass
of the original atom (and all the energy holding it together) minus the total mass of the atoms it
splits into (and all the energy holding them together). For a more detailed explanation of why
nuclear reactions release energy, and how much they can release, see the article binding energy
on Hyper physics.

Fig 18: Atom [Atoms are made of protons (red), neutrons (blue), electrons (green), and energy
binding them together (yellow). By splitting large unstable atoms into smaller and more stable
ones, we can release some of this "binding energy." That's where nuclear power plants get their
energy from.]

6.3 WHAT IS CHAIN REACTION?

What if you could make lots of atoms split up one after another? In theory, you could get them to
release a huge amount of energy. If breaking up billions of atoms sounds like a real bore (like
breaking billions of eggs to make an omelet), there's one handier thing that helps: some
radioactive isotopes will go on splitting themselves automatically in what's called a chain
reaction, producing power for pretty much as long as you want.

Suppose you take a really heavy atom—a stable kind of uranium called uranium-235. Each of its
atoms has a nucleus with 92 protons and 143 neutrons. Fire a neutron at uranium-235 and you
turn it into uranium-236: an unstable version of the same atom (a radioactive isotope of uranium)
with 92 protons and 144 neutrons (remember that you fired an extra one in). Uranium-236 is too
unstable to hang around for long so it splits apart into two much smaller atoms, barium and
krypton, releasing quite a lot of energy and firing off three spare neutrons at the same time.

Now the brilliant thing is that the spare neutrons can crash into other uranium-235 atoms, making
them split apart too. And when each of those atoms splits, it too will produce spare neutrons. So

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a single fission of a single uranium-235 atom rapidly becomes a chain reaction—a runaway,
nuclear avalanche that releases a huge amount of energy in the form of heat.

6.4 WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A NUCLEAR POWER

PLANT AND A NUCLEAR BOMB?
In a nuclear bomb, the chain reaction isn't controlled, and that's what makes nuclear weapons so
terrifyingly destructive. The entire chain reaction happens in a fraction of a second, with one
splitting atom producing two, four, eight, sixteen, and so on, releasing a massive amount of
energy in the blink of an eye. In nuclear power plants, the chain reactions are very carefully
controlled so they proceed at a relatively slow rate, just enough to sustain themselves, releasing
energy very steadily over a period of many years or decades. There is no runaway, uncontrolled
chain reaction in a nuclear power plant.

6.5 HOW DOES NUCLEAR POWER PLANT WORKS?

A nuclear power plant works pretty much like a conventional power plant, but it produces heat
energy from atoms rather than by burning coal, oil, gas, or another fuel. The heat it produces is
used to boil water to make steam, which drives one or more giant steam turbines connected to
generators—and those produce the electricity we're after. Here's how:

a) 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.
b) 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.
c) 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.
d) 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.
e) 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.
f) The spinning turbine is connected to an electricity generator and makes that spin too.
g) The generator produces electricity that flows out to the power grid—and to our homes,
shops, offices, and factories.

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6.6 ADVANTAGES
a) Space requirement of a nuclear power plant is less as compared to other conventional power
plants of equal size.

b) A nuclear power plant consumes very small quantity of fuel. Thus fuel transportation cost is
less and large fuel storage facility is not needed.

c) There is increased reliability of operation.

d)Nuclear power plants are not affected by adverse weather conditions.

e) Nuclear power plants are well suited to meet large power demands. They give better
performance at higher load factors (80-90%).

f) Materials expenditure on metal structures, piping, storage mechanisms are much lower for a
nuclear power plant than a coal burning power plant.

g) It does not require large quantity of water.

h) The generation of electricity through nuclear energy reduces the amount of energy generated
from fossil fuels (coal and oil).

i) Currently, fossil fuels are consumed faster than they are produced, so in the next future these
resources may be reduced or the price may increase becoming inaccessible for most of the
population.

j) The production of electric energy is continuous. A nuclear power plant is generating electricity
for almost 90% of annual time. It reduces the price volatility of other fuels such as petrol.

6.7 DISADVANTAGES
a) Initial cost of nuclear power plant is higher as compared to hydro or steam power plant.

b) Nuclear power plants are not well suited for varying load conditions.

c) Radioactive wastes if not disposed carefully may have bad effect on the health of workers and
other population.

d) Maintenance cost of the plant is high.

e) It requires highly trained personnel to handle nuclear power plants.

f) Nuclear power plants are objectives of terrorist organizations.

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CHAPTER 7
CONCLUSION

Widely used nuclear energy can be of great benefit for mankind. It can bridge the gap caused by
inadequate coal and oil supply. It should be used to as much extent as possible to solve power
problem. With further developments, it is likely that the cost of nuclear power stations will be
lowered and that they will soon be competitive. With the depletion of fuel reserves and the
Question of transporting fuel over long distances, nuclear power stations are taking an important
place in the development of the power potentials of the nations of the world today in the context
of “the changing pattern of power”.

The Nuclear energy is good because it does not pollute our environment and it is renewable
source of energy. Though nuclear power poses a potential threat. In capabilities of convential
sources to fulfill future power requirement makes role of nuclear power decisive and critical in
India.

Self-dependency on technology and availability of vast thorium deposits make nuclear energy
economically viable in India.

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 NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

REFERENCES

1. Explainthatstuff.com
2. Scribd.com
3. Slideshare.net
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/nuclear-reaction
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki.nuclear-fusion
6. Introduction to Nuclear Power Generation by P.K Nag
7. Nuclear Power Plant by R.K Rajput
8. Learnfatafat.com
9. Thehindubusinessline.com
10. ieefa.org
11. en.wikipedia.org
12. bangkokpost.com
13. nuclear-power.net
14. researchgate.net
15. nrc.gov
16. ohio.edu
17. sbsbattery.com
18. engineerspathshala.in
19. hamon.com
20. coolingtowerproducts.com

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