NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

BY,
ASHOK MAITI
BAPPA MAITY
CHINMAY HAZRA
SUBHAS MANDAL
Basic Principle of Nuclear Power Plant
 Nuclear power plant use the heat generated from
nuclear fission in a contained environment to
convert water to steam, which powers generator to
produce electricity.
Nuclear Fuel
 Nuclear fuel is any material that can be consumed to
drive nuclear energy by nuclear fission in a nuclear
reactor.

 The most common nuclear fuels are U235 and Pu239.

Not all nuclear fuels are used in fission chain reactions.
Source of Nuclear Fuel

 Australia has 30% of the world's Uranium

below its top soil.

 Canada is the next largest source of

Uranium.
 Nuclear Fission

Uranium is very unstable During fission it releases

because of having largest
atom of it. So, the nucleus
of it can easily break up
into two smaller pieces.
This process is known as
‘FISSION’.
a large amounts of
energy both as
electromagnetic radiation
and as a kinetic energy
of the fragments.
Diagram
Nuclear Chain
Reaction
 Uranium atom releases 2 or 3 neutrons during fission.
When one of those neutrons collides with another
Uranium nucleus that nucleus also breaks up and
process will simultaneously going on. This reaction is
called as chain reaction.

 U235 + n → Fission + 2 or 3 n + 200Mev

Diagram
Line Diagram of Plant
Nuclear Reactor
 A nuclear reactor is a device in which the chain reactions are
initiated, controlled, sustained at a steady rate, in which the
chain reaction occurs in a fraction of a second.
 Control Rods

 Control rods are used to keep the rate of fission

constant and it helps to maintain the desired
temperature of the Reactor.

 However each fission produces several neutrons so,

only of these neutrons should induce one in fission.
So the other neutrons are induced by the
‘CONTROL RODS’, which is essentially made up of
Boron, Cadmium or Indium.
Steam Generator
 Steam Generators are heat exchangers,
used to convert water into steam from
heat produced in a nuclear Reactor core.
Steam Turbine
 It is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy
from pressurized steam and converts it into useful
mechanical energy.

 Various alloys and super alloys have been used for

steam turbine.
Coolant Pump
 The coolant pump pressurizes the coolant to the Reactor
to keep it cool.

 The pressure of the coolant loop is maintained almost

constant with the help of the pump and a pressurize unit.
Feed Pump
 Steam coming out of the turbine, flows through the
condenser for condensation and circulated for the
next cycle of operation by the FEED PUMP.
Condenser
 It is a device or a unit which is used to condense vapor
into liquid.

 The purpose of condenser is to reduce the turbine exhaust

pressure to increase the efficiency and to recover high
quality feed water to feed back it to steam generator.
Cooling Tower
 Cooling towers are used to transfer process
waste heat to the atmosphere.
 Water circulating through the condenser is taken
to the cooling tower for cooling and reuse.
Advantages
 Nuclear power generation does emit relatively low
amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2). So the
contribution of nuclear power plants to global
warming is therefore relatively little.

 It is possible to generate a high amount of

electrical energy in one single plant.
Disadvantages
 It is technically impossible to build a plant with
100% security.
 Uranium is a scarce resource, its supply is
estimated to last only for the next 30 to 60
years depending on the actual demand.
 Nuclear power plants as well as nuclear waste
could be preferred targets for terrorist attacks.
 During the operation of nuclear power plants,
radioactive waste is produced, which in turn can
be used for the production of nuclear weapons.
Use of Nuclear Power