Nuclear Power Plant

Bellefonte Nuclear Generating Station,

Yash K.

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Introduction
The reservoirs of natural resources like coal and fuel in the
world are limited and will exhaust soon.
It is necessary to look for new sources of power and
Nuclear power is one such source.
It is interesting to note that heat energy released from 1
kg of atomic material is equal to heat obtained by
burning 27,50,000 kg of coal.
Nuclear station is identical to thermal station except the
boiler is replaced by a nuclear reactor.
Inside nuclear reactor energy is released by nuclear
fission.
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Advantages
The amount of fuel required is quite small. Therefore there
is considerable saving in the cost of fuel transportation.
The area required for nuclear power station is quite less in
comparison to conventional thermal power plant.
It has low running charges as small amount of fuel is used for
producing bulk electrical energy.
It is very economical for producing bulk electrical energy.
It does not require large quantity of water.

Disadvantages
Capital cost is very high as compared to other types of plants.
Nuclear power plants are not suitable for variable loads as
reactors cannot be easily controlled to respond quickly to load
changes.
Maintenance charges are high.
The disposal of the products which are radioactive, is big problem.

Selection of site for

Nuclear Power Station
Availability of water
Disposal of waste
Distance from the populated area
Transportation facility
Cost of land
Distance from the load demand area.

Nuclear fission
Nuclear fission is a nuclear reaction in which a heavy
nucleus splits spontaneously or splits due to bombardment
of another particle, with the release of large amount of
energy.

U 235

Uranium exists in the form of

unstable.

which is highly

When the nucleus of an atom of Uranium is split, the

neutrons released hit another atoms and split them in turn.
More and more energy is released each time when another
atom splits. This is called as chain reaction.
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Nuclear fission contd.

Nuclear fission contd.

Elements of Nuclear Power

station
1. Nuclear
Reactor
2. Steam
Generator
3. Steam Turbine
4. Cooling tower

Nuclear Reactor
Reactor is the heart of the
nuclear power plant.
Large amount of energy is
released as a result of nuclear
fission of U-235.
This energy is utilized to heat
coolant.
Coolant flows through steam
generator where liquid water
gets convert into steam (Pool
boiling occurs) .
This steam is used to run steam
turbine.
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Main parts Nuclear Reactor

Fuel rod
It cylindrical fuel rods are made up of radioactive material
like U-235, plutonium-239.

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Main parts Nuclear Reactor contd

Control rods

They are used to control reaction and shut down the reactor
under emergency conditions.
Chain reaction can be controlled by using control rods which
are made up of neutron absorbing material.
Common material used for control rods are cadmium, boron,
hafnium.

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Main parts Nuclear Reactor contd

Coolant
Coolant transfers heat produced inside the reactor to heat
exchanger (steam generator).
Coolants can be water, heavy water, liquid metals like sodium,
gas(CO2, Air, H2)
Reflector
It surrounds reactor core and helps to bounce the escaping neutrons
back into the core.
This conserves nuclear fuel.
Shielding
It protects from the deadly , particles and rays as well as
neutrons.
A good shielding absorbs all radiation before they are emitted to
surrounding.
Concrete mixed with boron compounds
is used as shielding
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material.

Main parts Nuclear Reactor contd

Moderator
Innuclear reactor, amoderatoris a medium that
reduces the speed offast neutrons, thereby
turning them intothermal neutronscapable of
sustaining
anuclear
chain
reactioninvolvinguranium-235.
Generally water is used as moderator.
Now, lets have look on some Nuclear Power Plant videos..

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Types of Nuclear Reactor

Types:
Boiling water reactor(BWR)
Pressure water reactor(PWR)
High temperature gas
reactor(HTGR)
Fast breeder reactor(FBR)

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Boiling Water Reactor(BWR)

Steam is generated
reactor itself.

in

the

No separate heat exchanger is

required.
Heat generated due to fission of
fuel converts water into steam.
This is Pool boiling phenomena.
Water acts as both moderator
and coolant.

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Boiling Water Reactor(BWR)

Advantages
Heat exchanger (steam generator) is eliminated, this
reduces the cost and less space required.
BWR is more efficient than PWR.
In BWR the pressure inside the reactor vessel
is
considerably lower than in the case of PWR. As a result
the reactor vessel cost is much lower than PWR.
BWR is more stable than PWR.

Disadvantages
There is possibility of radioactive contamination in turbine
mechanism. Therefore, more safety measures are needed.
There is wastage of steam resulting in lower thermal
efficiency on part load operation.
BWR cannot meet suddent increase in load.
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Pressure Water Reactor(PWR)

Water
coolant.

acts

as

Separate
steam
generator is used.
Water under high
pressure
absorbs
heat generated in
the reactor.
This heat is the
rejected to the water
present
in
steam
generator.
this look
water-water
Lets
on PWR video
In have
heat
exchange

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Pressure Water Reactor(PWR)

Advantages
PWR is relatively compact in size.
Reactor responds to fluctuating demand.
There is no radioactive contamination in turbine, because water
used for production of steam does not come in direct contact
with reactor.

Disadvantages
Reactor vessel is under high pressure hence strong vessel is
required.
Separate heat exchanger is used which increases cost and
requires more space.
Thermal efficiency is lower than BWR.

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CANDU Type Reactor

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CANDU Type Reactor

CANDU stands for CANadian Deuterium Uranium.

This reactor is used in those countries where Enriched
Uranium is not produced or Enriched Uranium is costly.
This reactor uses natural uranium as fuel and heavy(D 2O)
water as moderator and coolant.

Control rods are not required. Reaction is controlled by

varying moderator level in the reactor.
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CANDU Type Reactor

Advantages
Fuel need not to be enriched.
No need of control rods.
Low fuel consumption.

Disadvantages
Extremely high cost of heavy water.
It has problem of leakage.
It requires high standard of design.

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High Temperature Gas Reactor(HTGR)

Helium (inert gas) is used as coolant.

Graphite is used as moderator.
Main advantage is less corrosion problem and natural
uranium can be used as fuel

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Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR)

This reactor has remarkable ability to both generate heat

and create additional nuclear fuel during its operation.
This reactor is the only reactor which can extract maximum
available energy from the nuclear fuel.
Central core contains fissionable Plutonium (Pu-239) and
this core is surrounded by non-fissionable U-238.
No moderator is required.
High speed neurons generated by fissioning Pu-239
bombard on the non-fissionable atoms of U-238.
In this large amount of energy is released which is utilized
to drive steam turbine and some atoms of U-238 capture
the flying neutrons and convets in to fissionable Pu-239
In this way nuclear fuel is generated

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Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR)

Advantages
Most efficient use of fuel.
More compact.
Higher efficiency.

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Nuclear Power Plants in

INDIA
There Are 4 Nuclear Power Plants.
1.

Tarapore atomic power station(1st nuclear power plant in

India)
Plant consist of 2 BWRs each of 190MW.

2. Rana pratap sagar power station, Kota, Rajasthan.

Plant consist of CANDU reactors each of 220MW.
3. Kalapakkam power station, Tamilnadu.
Plant consist of CANDU reactors each of 235MW.
4. Narora Power Station, UP.
Plant can produce 235MW power.
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