The Process Is Simple:Essentially, nuclear power plants generate electricity through controlled fission, producing high pressure steam to spin turbines.
Fission is a nuclear reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts, smaller nuclei. But how, exactly? Nuclear power plants control fission by allowing one neutron to move on from each fission reaction to cause another. It's important to know nuclear power plants are complex and made up of several segments or components: 1) Containment Building: core, control rods, fuel pellets, fuel rods, moderator, steam generators. 2) Power Generation: steam lines, turbine, generator, transformer. 3) Coolant: Body of water, water basin, condenser, cooling tower. The containment building houses the core of the nuclear power plant; the core consists of about 35,000-75,000 fuel rods packed with fuel pellets, control rods, a moderator and a coolant that circulates through the core. The fuel pellets, or uranium oxide fuel, are each about the size of a cigarette butt and hold the energy potential of 1 ton of coal or 4 barrels of crude oil. Uranium oxide fuel contains 97% non-fissionable uranium and 3% enriched (fissionable) uranium. The control rods are made from neutron-absorbing material, such as boron, and are moved in and out of spaces between fuel rods to absorb neutrons. A moderator, such as water, is also used to slow neutrons in order to continue fission reactions. |
Nuclear power plants are almost always located beside a natural body of water, this can be a river or lake, to keep the power plant cool throughout the power-generating process.
The cool water from the body of water is stored in a cold water basin below the cooling tower. The cool water from the basin is then transferred to the containment building, where the control rods are located. There, the water circulates through the core to keep the control rods cool while the fission reactions take place. The steam created by the heat of the rods and the coolness of the water is captured by steam generators. These steam generators allow for the steam to rise into steam lines or pipes that lead to a steam turbine. The steam causes the turbine to spin, generating electricity with the help of a generator, and condensing the used steam into liquid water for return to the body of water in which it was extracted, or releasing the steam into the air via cooling towers. |