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3a.nuclear Plant Diagram

Nuclear power currently accounts for 3% of India's total power generation from stations located in various states. Several new nuclear power stations will be commissioned by 2012, with the goal of generating 10,000 MW of power from nuclear sources by 2010. Nuclear power works by bombarding uranium-235 with neutrons to initiate a self-sustaining fission chain reaction that produces heat energy. This heat is used to generate steam to power turbines and generate electricity. Moderators like graphite or heavy water are used to reduce neutron speeds and control rods made of neutron-absorbing materials are used to regulate the reaction rate.

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15 views1 page

3a.nuclear Plant Diagram

Nuclear power currently accounts for 3% of India's total power generation from stations located in various states. Several new nuclear power stations will be commissioned by 2012, with the goal of generating 10,000 MW of power from nuclear sources by 2010. Nuclear power works by bombarding uranium-235 with neutrons to initiate a self-sustaining fission chain reaction that produces heat energy. This heat is used to generate steam to power turbines and generate electricity. Moderators like graphite or heavy water are used to reduce neutron speeds and control rods made of neutron-absorbing materials are used to regulate the reaction rate.

Uploaded by

ds vidhya
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Nuclear Plant

In India, at present, this source accounts for only 3% of the total power generation with nuclear stations at Tarapur (Maharashtra), Kota (Rajasthan),
Kalpakkam (Tamil Nadu), Narora (UP) and Kakrapar (Gujarat).

Several other Nuclear Power Station will be commissioned by 2012. In future, it is likely that more and more power will be generated using this
important resource (it is planned to raise nuclear power generation to 10,000 MW by the year 2010).

Working principle

When Uranium-235 is bombarded with neutrons, fission reaction takes place releasing neutrons and heat energy. These neutrons then participate in the
chain reaction of fissioning more atoms of 235U.

In order that the freshly released neutrons be able to fission the uranium atoms, their speeds must be reduced to a critical value. Therefore, for the
reaction to be sustained, nuclear fuel rods must be embedded in neutron speed reducing agents (like graphite, heavy water, etc.) called moderators

For reaction control, rods made of neutron-absorbing material (boron-steel) are used which, when inserted into the reactor vessel, control the amount
of neutron flux thereby controlling the rate of reaction. However, this rate can be controlled only within a narrow range.

The heat released by the nuclear reaction is transported to a heat exchanger via primary coolant (CO 2, water, etc.). Steam is then generated in the heat
exchanger, which is used in a conventional manner to generate electric energy by means of a steam turbine. Various types of reactors are being used in
practice for power plant purposes, viz., advanced gas reactor (AGR), boiling water reactor (BWR), and heavy water moderated reactor, etc.

Merits:
1. A nuclear power plant is totally free of air pollution.
2. It requires little fuel in terms of volume and weight, and therefore poses no transportation problems and may be sited, independently of
nuclear fuel supplies, close to load centres. However, safety considerations require that they be normally located away from populated
areas.

Demerits:
1. Nuclear reactors produce radioactive fuel waste, the disposal of which poses serious environmental hazards.
2. The rate of nuclear reaction can be lowered only by a small margin, so that the load on a nuclear power plant can only be permitted to be
marginally reduced below its full load value. Nuclear power station must, therefore, be realiably connected to a power network, as tripping
of the lines connecting the station can be quite serious and may required shutting down of the reactor with all its consequences.
3. Because of relatively high capital cost as against running cost, the nuclear plant should operate continuously as the base load station.
Wherever possible, it is preferable to support such a station with a pumped storage scheme mentioned earlier.

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