FAHIM FAISAL

2015339008
A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. A nuclear reactor,
formerly known as an atomic pile, is a device used to initiate and control a self-sustained nuclear chain reaction. As
it is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to
a generator that produces electricity. As of 2014, the International Atomic Energy Agency reports there are
450 nuclear power reactors in operation in 31 countries.

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There is strategic as well as economic necessity for nuclear power in most parts of the world. The strategic
importance lies primarily in the fact that one large nuclear power plant saves more than 50,000 barrels of oil per
day. At $30 to $40 per barrel (1982), such a power plant would pay for its capital cost in a few short years. For
those countries that now rely on but do not have oil, or must reduce the importation of foreign oil, these strategic
and economic advantages are obvious. For those countries that are oil exporters, nuclear power represents an
insurance against the day when oil is depleted. A modest start now will assure that they would not be left behind
when the time comes to have to use nuclear technology.

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Most of the nuclear power plants are operated in Europe, North
America, East Asia and South Asia. China has the fastest growing
nuclear power program with 28 new reactors under construction, and a
considerable number of new reactors are also being built
in India, Russia and South Korea. Some countries operated nuclear
reactors in the past but have currently no operating nuclear plants.
Among them, Italy closed all of its nuclear stations by 1990 and
nuclear power has since been discontinued because of the 1987
referendums on which Italians voted. Several countries are currently
operating nuclear power plants but are planning a nuclear power
phase-out. These are Belgium, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland.
Kori, a South Korean nuclear power plant is the largest active nuclear
power plant which has a capacity 7411 MW. Only 10.7% of world
electricity is generated by nuclear power plant.

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Bangladesh first conceived building a nuclear power plant in 1961. The Bangladesh Atomic Energy
Commission was established after independence in 1973. The country currently operates a TRIGA research
reactor at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Savar.
In February 2011, Bangladesh reached an agreement with Russia to build the 2,000 MW Ruppur Nuclear Power
Plant with two reactors, each of which will generate 1,200 MW of power. The nuclear power plant will be built at
Ruppur, on the banks of the Padma River, in the Ishwardi subdistrict of Pabna, in the northwest of the country. The
RNPP is estimated to cost up to US$2 billion, and start operating by 2021. The inter-governmental agreement
(IGA) was officially signed on 2 November 2011. On 29 May 2013 Bangladesh's Prime Minister declared that a
second nuclear power plant will be constructed on an inland river island in southern region of the country.

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Location Rooppur, Ishwardi,
Pabna, Bangladesh
Status Under construction
Construction cost $12.65 billion
Construction began 30 November 2017

Nameplate capacity 2,160 MW

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The conversion to electrical energy takes place indirectly, as in
conventional thermal power stations. The fission in a nuclear
reactor heats the reactor coolant. The coolant may be water or gas,
or even liquid metal, depending on the type of reactor. The reactor
coolant then goes to a steam generator and heats water to produce
steam. The pressurized steam is then usually fed to a multi-
stage steam turbine. After the steam turbine has expanded and
partially condensed the steam, the remaining vapor is condensed in
a condenser. The condenser is a heat exchanger which is
connected to a secondary side such as a river or a cooling tower.
The water is then pumped back into the steam generator and the
cycle begins again. The water-steam cycle corresponds to
the Rankine cycle.
Fig: Working principle of a nuclear power plant

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In a nuclear power plant, power is generated by the fission
reaction inside a nuclear reactor.
Fission can be caused by bombarding with high energy α-
particles, protons, deuterons, X-rays as well as neutrons.
However, neutrons are most suitable for fission which is
electrically neutral, can strike and fission the positively charged
nucleus at any speeds without being repulsed. Neutrons are the
only practical that result in a sustained reaction because two or
three neutrons are usually released for each one absorbed in
fission. These keep the reaction going. There are only a few
fissionable isotopes U235, Pu239 and U233 are fissionable by
neutrons of all energies. The immediate products of a fission
reaction, such as Xe140 and Sr94 above, are called fission Fig: Nuclear Fission
fragments, which along with other decay products (α,β,γ etc.) are
called fission products.
235+ n1→ Xe140+ Sr94+2 n1
92U 0 54 38 0

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There are many fission reactions that release different energy values. For the reaction,
235+ n1→ Xe140+ Sr94+2 n1
92U 0 54 38 0

Here, the mass defect, Δm = (136.9061 + 96.9212 + 2 × 1.00867) - (235.0439 + 1.00867)

= -0.2080 amu
Therefore, ΔE = -0.208x931 = -193.6 MeV
More energy, however, is produced because of the slow decay of the fission fragments into fission products and
the non-fission capture of excess neutrons in reactions that produce energy, though much less than that of fission.
So, the total energy, produced per fission reaction is about 200 MeV.
𝐴𝑣𝑜𝑔𝑎𝑑𝑟𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡
Thus, 1g of U-235 nuclei produce = x 200 MeV
𝑀𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑈−235 𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑒

= 0.984 MW-day.
So, a reactor burning 1 g of fissionable material generates nearly 1 MW-day of energy.

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A nuclear reactor is an apparatus in which heat is produced due to
nuclear fission chain reaction.

The various parts of a reactor are as follows :

1. Nuclear Fuel: U238 = 99.3%, U235 = 0.7%.

2. Moderator: Reduces neutrons speed.
3. Control Rods: Made of boron or cadmium. It controls the
reaction.
4. Reflector: Surrounds the reactor core and reflect neutrons.
5. Reactors Vessel: A strong walled container housing of the power
reactor.
6. Biological Shielding: Shielding the radioactive zones.
Fig: Nuclear Reactor
7. Coolant: Flows through and around the reactor core.

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Nuclear reactors are classified in many ways.
By type of nuclear reaction:  By coolant: 1.Pressurized
i. Thermal reactors water
ii. Fast neutron reactors Water Cooled reactor (PWR)
Reactor
By moderator material: Boiling water
Nuclear reactor (BWR)
i. Graphite-moderated reactors Gas Cooled
ii. Water moderated reactors Reactor Reactor
a. Heavy-water reactors Liquid Metal
b. Light-water-moderated reactors Cooled Reactor
iii. Light-element-moderated reactors

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Pressurized water reactors (PWR) constitute the large majority of the world's nuclear power plants. A Pressurized
Water Reactor power plant is composed of two loops in series, the coolant loop, called the primary loop, and the
water-steam or working fluid loop. The coolant picks up the heat in the reactor and transfers it to working fluid in
the steam generator. The steam is then used in a Rankine cycle to produce electric power. Pressure in the primary
coolant loop prevents the water from boiling within the reactor. All LWRs use ordinary water as both coolant
and neutron moderator.
The most important limitation on a PWR is the critical temperature of water, 374°C. This is the maximum possible
temperature of a coolant in the reactor and in practice it is considerably less, possibly about 300°C, to allow a
margin of safety. In a PWR, the coolant pressure must be greater than the saturation pressure at, say, 300°C
(85.93 bar) to suppress boiling. The pressure is maintained at about 155 bar so as to prevent bulk boiling.
The fuel in Pressurized Water Reactors is slightly enriched uranium in the form of thin rods or plates. The cladding
is either of stainless steel or zircaloy. Because of very high coolant pressure, the steel pressure vessel containing
the core thickness must be about 20 to 25 cm. A typical Pressurized Water Reactor contains about 150 to 250 fuel
assemblies with 80-100 tons of uranium. Each assembly being an array of rods. Generally in a every fuel
assembly, there are 200-300 fuel rods and 24 guide tubes for control rods. Grid spacers maintain a separation
between the fuel rods to prevent excessive vibration and allow some axial thermal expansion. Refuelings for most
commercial PWRs is on an 18–24 month cycle.
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Fig: Schematic of a PWR power plant
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A boiling water reactor (BWR) is a type of light water nuclear
reactor used for the generation of electrical power. It is the second
most common type of electricity-generating nuclear reactor after
the pressurized water reactor (PWR). The main difference between a
BWR and PWR is that in a BWR, the reactor core heats water, which
turns to steam and then drives a steam turbine.
Heat is produced by nuclear fission in the reactor core, and this causes
the cooling water to boil, producing steam. The steam is directly used
to drive a turbine, after which it is cooled in a condenser and converted
back to liquid water. This water is then returned to the reactor core,
completing the loop. The cooling water is maintained at about 75 atm
so that it boils in the core at about 285 °C.
A modern BWR fuel assembly comprises 74 to 100 fuel rods, and there Fig: Schematic of a BWR power plant
are up to approximately 800 assemblies in a reactor core, holding up to
approximately 140 short tons of low-enriched uranium. A typical fuel
cycle lasts 18–24 months.

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The first gas-cooled reactors with carbon dioxide (CO2) gas as coolant at a pressure of 16 bar and graphite as
moderator were developed in Britain. The fuel used is natural uranium, clad with an alloy of magnesium called
Magnox.
Several types of gas-cooled reactors have been designed and built, with England developing an advanced gas-
cooled reactor (AGR) system. The AGR uses UO2 as the fuel clad in stainless steel tubes with CO2 gas a coolant
and graphite as moderator.
The graphite moderated helium-cooled HTGR (High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor) is designed to use U-233
as the fissile material and Thorium as fertile material. Initially, the system would have to be fueled with U-235, until
sufficient U-233 is available for makeup fuel. Because of the very high melting point of graphite, these fuel
elements can operate at very high temperatures and it is possible to generate steam at conditions equivalent to
those in modern coal-fired power plant. The basic fuel forms are small spheres of fissile and fertile and fertile
material as carbides, UC2 or ThC2. The fissile spheres are 0.035 to 0.050 cm in diameter and the fertile spheres
are 0.06 to 0.07 cm in diameter. Each sphere is coated with two or three layers of carbon and silicon carbide to
prevent fission products from escaping from the particles. Helium is suitable coolant in the sense that it is
chemically inert, has good heat transfer characteristics and low neutron absorption. Being a monoatomic gas, it
can produce more power for given temperatures in the Brayton cycle with higher thermal efficiency.

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Fig: Schematic of a GCR power plant
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Fig: A-HTGR direct cycle gas turbine plant using helium
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A liquid metal cooled nuclear reactor, liquid metal fast reactor or LMFR is an advanced type of nuclear
reactor where the primary coolant is a liquid metal. In practice, all liquid metal cooled reactors are fast-neutron
reactors, and to date most fast neutron reactors have been liquid metal cooled fast breeder reactors (LMFBR)
Since water is a moderator, it cannot be used as a coolant in a fast reactor.
Metal coolants remove heat more rapidly and allow much higher power density. To improve cooling with water,
most reactor designs are highly pressurized to raise the boiling point, which presents safety and maintenance
issues that liquid metal designs lack. Additionally, the high temperature of the liquid metal can be used to produce
vapor at higher temperature than in a water-cooled reactor, leading to a higher thermodynamic efficiency. This
makes them attractive for improving power output in conventional nuclear power plants.
There are two primary design. The pool type system and the loop type system. In the pool type system the reactor
core, pumps and intermediate heat exchanger are all placed in a large pool of liquid sodium contained in the
reactor vessel. The liquid sodium is discharged from the intermediate heat exchanger to the pool. It is then pump
upward through the core and re enters the heat exchanger. In the loop type system the intermediate heat
exchanger is located outside the reactor vessel. The pool type configuration is widely used in Europe but the loop
type configuration is mostly used in the USA.

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 (a) (b)
Fig: Liquid metal fast breeder reactor (a) pool type, (b) loop type 19
1. Space requirement of a nuclear power plant is less as compared to other conventional power plants are of
equal size.
2. A nuclear power plant consumes very small quantity of fuel. Thus fuel transportation cost is less and large fuel
storage facilities are not needed Further the nuclear power plants will conserve the fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas
etc.) for other energy need.
3. There is increased reliability of operation.
4. Nuclear power plants are not effected by adverse weather conditions.
5. Nuclear power plants are well suited to meet large power demands.
6. Materials cost on metal structures, piping, storage mechanisms are much lower for a nuclear power plant than
a coal burning power plant.
7. It does not require large quantity of water.

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1. Initial cost of nuclear power plant is higher as compared to hydro or steam power plant.
2. Nuclear power plants are not well suited for varying load conditions.
3. Radioactive wastes if not disposed carefully may have bad effect on the health of workers and
other population.
4. Maintenance cost of the plant is high.
5. It requires trained personnel to handle nuclear power plants.
6. Nuclear disaster is too much dangerous for plants, animals as well as human being. So, the risk at nuclear
power plant is very high.

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Chernobyl, Ukraine Fukushima Daiichi, Japan
26 April, 1986 11 March, 2011

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The invention of nuclear power plant is a great revolution in the history of science. Though it has some problems,
the densely populated country like ours which can’t produce enough electricity, can use this technology to solve
this problem. But we also need to think about our safety issue, cause any disaster can be a threat to our nation.
As we are building two nuclear power plant in Bangladesh, it’s very important to learn properly how to operate a
nuclear power plant. Any mistake can be a serious issue for us. In 2001 Bangladesh adopted a national Nuclear
Power Action Plan. In May 2010, Bangladesh entered into a civilian nuclear agreement with the Russian
Federation. It also has framework agreements for peaceful nuclear energy applications with the US, France and
China.
We also have to concern about waste disposal. If we can’t dispose waste properly then we have to face ecological
disaster. If we can maintain nuclear power plant properly, it can be our solution for the future electricity supply. So,
nuclear power plant is very important for the future development of our country.

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Book: “Power Plant Engineering” by “A.K. Raja, Amit Prakash Srivastava, Manish Dwivedi.”
Book: “Power Plant Engineering” by “P K Nag”
Websites:
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_plant
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_reactor
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_energy_in_Bangladesh

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THANK YOU

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