Nuclear power plant

NUCLEAR POWER
PLANT
Someday man will harness the rise and
fall of the tides, imprison the power of the
sun, and release atomic power.
Thomas Alva Edison

INTRODUCTION
1. As of July 2015, 30 country
worldwide are operating 438
nuclear reactors for electricity
generation.
2. Obninsk APK-1 was the first
nuclear power plant in the world.

Nuclear Power plant

PRINCIPLE
1.Nuclear energy can be derived from many forms such as nuclear fission energy,
fusion energy, and radioisotopic energy.
2. Nuclear Fission Energy
The essence of nuclear fission energy is that the heat produced by the splitting of
heavy radioactive atoms (nuclear fission) during the chain reaction is used to
generate steam (or other process uid) that helps rotate the steam turbine
generator, thus producing electricity. Nuclear fission energy is the most common
mode of producing the bulk of the nuclear energy.
3. Nuclear Fusion Energy
A huge amount of energy (much higher than fission) can be produced using the
nuclear fusion reaction (deuteriumtritium reaction). There is currently no
commercial fusion reactors and is not envisioned to be set up for many years. A
prototype

fusion

reactor

known

as

ITER

(International

Thermonuclear

Experimental Reactor) is being built in France and scheduled to produce the first
plasma by 2018.

Nuclear Fission Reaction

n = neutron FP = fission products.

Fuel is consumed during fission.
Fuel is changing composition during irradiation.
Neutrons are needed to sustain a fission chain reaction.
Every neutron does NOT lead to fission.
Fissile isotopes: fission is possible with neutrons of any energy.
Fissile: 233U, 235U, 239Pu, 241Pu

COMPONENTS

Fuel.Uraniumis the basic fuel. Usually pellets of uranium oxide (UO 2) are
arranged in tubes to form fuel rods. The rods are arranged into fuel
assemblies in the reactor core

Moderator.Material in the core which slows down the neutrons released

from fission so that they cause more fission. It is usually water, but may
be heavy water or graphite.

Pressure vessel or pressure tubes.Usually a robust steel vessel

containing the reactor core and moderator/coolant, but it may be a series
of tubes holding the fuel and conveying the coolant through the
surrounding moderator.

Coolant.A uid circulating through the core so as to transfer the heat from it. In
light water reactors the water moderator functions also as primary coolant.
Except in BWRs, there is secondary coolant circuit where the water becomes
steam.

Control rods.These are made with neutron-absorbing material such as

cadmium, hafnium or boron, and are inserted or withdrawn from the core to
control the rate of reaction, or to halt it.* In some PWR reactors, special control
rods are used to enable the core to sustain a low level of power
efficiently.(Secondary control systems involve other neutron absorbers, usually
boron in the coolant its concentration can be adjusted over time as the fuel
burns up.)

Steam generator.Part of the cooling system of pressurised water

reactors (PWR & PHWR) where the high-pressure primary coolant
bringing heat from the reactor is used to make steam for the turbine, in
a secondary circuit. Essentially a heat exchanger like a motor car
radiator*. Reactors have up to six 'loops', each with a steam
generator.Since 1980 over 110 PWR reactors have had their steam
generators replaced after 20-30 years service, 57 of these in USA.

NUCLEAR REACTOR SAFETY SYSTEM

Reactor protection system(RPS). A reactor protection system is

designed to immediately terminate the nuclear reaction. By
breaking the chain reaction, the source of heat is eliminated. Other
systems can then be used to remove decay heat from the core. All
nuclear plants have some form of reactor protection system.

Emergency core cooling system. Emergency core cooling systems

(ECCS) are designed to safely shut down a nuclear reactor during
accident conditions. The ECCS allows the plant to respond to a
variety of accident conditions (e.g. LOCAs) and additionally
introduce redundancy so that the plant can be shut down even
with one or more sub system failures.

Stand by gas treatment. A stand by gas treatment (SBGT) system is part

of the secondary containment system. The SBGT system filters and pumps
air from secondary containment to the environment and maintains a
negative pressure within the secondary containment to limit there lease of
radioactive material.

Ventilation and radiation protection. In case of a radioactive release, most

plants have a system designed to remove radioactivity from the air to
reduce the eects of the radioactivity release on the employees and
public. This system usually consists of containment ventilation that
removes radioactivity and steam from primary containment. Control room
ventilation ensures that plant operators are protected. This system often
consists of activated charcoal filters that remove radioactive isotopes from
the air.

Fuel cladding. The fuel cladding is the first layer of protection

around the nuclear fuel and is designed to protect the fuel from
corrosion that would spread fuel material throughout the reactor
coolant circuit. In most reactors it takes the form of a sealed
metallic or ceramic layer. It also serves to trap fission products,
especially those that are gaseous at the reactors operating
temperature, such as krypton, xenon and iodine. Cladding does
not constitute shielding, and must be developed such that it
absorbs as little radiation as possible. For this reason, materials
such as magnesium and zirconium are used for their low neutron
capture cross sections.

Emergency electrical systems. Under normal conditions, nuclear

power plants receive power from o-site. However, during an
accident a plant may lose access to this power supply and thus
may be required to generate its own power to supply its
emergency systems. These electrical systems usually consist
ofdiesel generatorandbatteries.

Containment systems . Containment systems are designed to

prevent the release of radioactive material into the environment.

NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IN INDIA