What is Nuclear power plant: Definition and 37 Discussions

A nuclear power plant (sometimes abbreviated as NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a generator that produces electricity. As of 2018, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported there were 450 nuclear power reactors in operation in 30 countries around the world.Nuclear plants are usually considered to be base load stations since fuel is a small part of the cost of production and because they cannot be easily or quickly dispatched. Their operations, maintenance, and fuel costs are at the low end of the spectrum, making them suitable as base-load power suppliers. However, the cost of proper long term radioactive waste storage is uncertain.

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  1. E

    This is a 3D model I made of a nuclear power plant control room

    I spent the past several weeks making this 3D model of a nuclear power plant control room.
  2. Greg Bernhardt

    Ukraine nuclear power plant Zaporizhzhia on fire

    Let's keep this non-political, similar to the Fukushima thread. Thanks! https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-ukraine-nuclear-power-plant-001225198.html
  3. K

    Questions on operating a nuclear power plant on the Moon or Mars

    Heat cannot be removed by liquid-to-gas heat exchangers since there is no substantial atmospheres on the Moon or on Mars. It cannot be dissipated by venting steam since there is a critical water shortage. It cannot be dissipated by rocks or soil since both are essentially thermal insulators. It...
  4. parazit

    Mass of the fuel consumed at the reactor each year?

    Hi fellows. I am dealing with the following question and any help to solve it will be a huge favor. Let us consider a nuclear power plant which delivers 100 MWe. The plant is based on a Rankine cycle, where the steam exiting the reactor is at 350 C and water exits the condenser at 20 C. The...
  5. T

    What are benefits of Electricity of nuclear power plant

    Hello What are benefits of nuclear power plant electricity than hydro power generated electricity Does it cost less per unit any or the waveform is pure sine wave how engineer build it .
  6. Fabio Pastorino

    What is the size of the nuclear reactor part of a nuclear power plant

    Good morning at all, I have to do one research of the transport of large nuclear reactors, and I need to have an idea of which is the DIAMETER, HEIGHT and WEIGHT of the reactor I think that there are a lot of different dimension, but i want to know only approximately, because i don't have...
  7. J

    Chernobyl Interesting new paper on Chernobyl

    http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00295450.2017.1384269 According to this paper, two nuclear explosions and one steam explosion took place.
  8. Delta Force

    Question about Midland Cogenerating Nuclear Power Plant

    Midland Nuclear Power Plant was going to have two nuclear reactors from Babcock & Wilcox. Unit 1 was to have a capacity of 460 MWe, while Unit 2 was to have a capacity of 808 MWe. Were the reactors twins that simply had different steam machinery due to the cogeneration requirements or were they...
  9. K

    B Why uranium dioxide is used in nuclear reactors?

    In Wikipedia I read that Uranium-235 is a nuclear is fuel in fission reactors, also that Uranium-235 is split (fission) and energy is revealed. But in some images showing how nuclear reactors work, they show Uranium dioxide as nuclear fuel elements. In Wikipedia, it's written that the oxides...
  10. T

    Understanding Nuclear Fission in Power Plants

    So I need some help verifying this information.(I had to dumb it down, for the younger ones) - The Nuclear Fission process is started when the Nuclear fuels rods are submerged in coolant water to moderate the Nuclear fission process. When the Fuel rods are put close together this sets of a...
  11. EnumaElish

    What is the fixed cost vs. variable cost breakdown for a nuclear power plant?

    I am trying to understand the fixed cost of a nuclear power plant relative to variable cost. By fixed cost I mean "cost that does not vary with the amount of the power outputted over a given time period." By variable cost I mean "cost items that vary with the amount of the power outputted...
  12. Gleaner

    Educating the general public about pro nuclear energy?

    Pardon my ignorance, but why would nuclear energy be better option, I hear a lot of fears from the general public of why it is not safe? How would someone convince someones fear about the safety of nuclear power, considering what happened in Japan? cheers,
  13. wronski11

    Role of the control rods during the core cycle

    Dear all, I would like to learn more about what happens to CRs during the reactor cycle. At the beginning of the cycle large excess reactivity is present in the core and has to be compensated with burnable absorbers (lumped in rods and WABA coating), chemical shim and CRs. There are several...
  14. Strife_Cloud

    Rod Motion -> power level calc +loss of all station air

    HELLO PEOPLE! Sorry for the enthusiasm but, this is my first post. I am in the process of getting my masters in material science and engineering and I liked my nuclear materials course so I decided to jump right into the integration of mechanical systems in nuclear engineering this summer. I...
  15. Cyril St-Amand

    Dismantlement of Nuclear Power Plant (Canada)

    Hi everyone this is my first time posting here, First of all, excuse my english because here in Mtl we speak French mostly. My team and I are working on an university project in Montreal (Qc) Canada (Polytechnique) regarding the recycling of radioactive material waste. We are working on the...
  16. L

    Nuclear power plant - Control system

    Hi guys, I do apologize if this thread is in the incorrect place.. Long story short, I'm doing a university project based on developing an AI to control the power plant energy output. From my research so far, I've concluded that the control rods control the fission rate. The problem is, I for...
  17. E

    Zaporizhya Nuclear Power Plant Issues

    There are reports of a renewed reactor shutdown at Zaporizhya, the Ukraine's largest nuclear power station, as well as rumors of possible radiation leaks: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-30/ukraine-hiding-huge-radiation-leak-largest-nuclear-power-plant-Europe Given wretched weather and a...
  18. E

    News South Africa set to get a nuclear power plant funded by Russia

    South Africa is set to get a nuclear power plant, following the signing of a cooperation deal with Russia recently. Both sides noted that the nuclear power plant will have a production capacity of up to 9.6 GW based on Russian Technology, by 2030. Read more here...
  19. V

    Engineering Mechanical Engineer at a Nuclear Power Plant

    Can anyone tell me who is a Mechanical Engineer and works in a Nuclear Power Plant, just what their daily duties include? How they like the work environment and such. I'm interested in knowing because as a student, my university has a Co-op program. Recently, I sent out my resume to FirstEnergy...
  20. R

    Where can I buy a nuclear power plant section plan?

    where can I buy a nuclear power plant section plan? Thank you !
  21. A

    Nuclear Power Plant Spent Fuel Types

    nuclear engineers it does seem like it requires types of current nuclear power plants. so what are they and what are the spent fuels? Have A Nice Day!
  22. S

    What if a nuclear power plant loses outside electricity?

    Nuclear power plants as well as power plants in general are not self-sufficient in terms of electricity. If a nuclear power plant loses outside electrical power, the plant must then be powered with emergency diesel generators which typically have about 10-12 hours worth of fuel, and then...
  23. R

    How to design a nuclear power plant reactor power control system ?

    Can you give me some advice of this topic? Thank you!
  24. A

    Questions on nuclear power plant

    After reading news of the Japan nuclear power plant, I have some questions: (1) If the fuel rod heats up on their own to the point of melting, how were they created to begin with, and how were they transported, or stored? (2) What is the source of the fuel rods? If the radioactive...
  25. Z

    Nuclear Power Plant criticallity question?

    Hi, I needed to know some things about reactivity and how it is changed by different factors while making a reactor critical? Control Rods, Booster Rods, Boron, Moderator Level, Xenon etc are affecting the reactivity of the reactor, but how to find out their contribution at certain point and...
  26. Z

    Need help with solving nuclear power plant problem

    How to calculate for any nuclear power plant 1. Thermal efficiency 2. power plant load factor 3. availability factor 4. capacity factor 5. core power density 6. specific power 7. linear power density 8. fissile loading 9. fuel enrichment 10. fuel burn-up 11. fuel residence time
  27. E

    News How much for a nuclear power plant?

    http://counterpunch.com/wasserman09142010.html Why Atomic Energy Can't Compete Is the Nuclear Renaissance Dead Yet? By HARVEY WASSERMAN Soaring costs at Vogtle, the US's one active new reactor project, have stuck Georgia ratepayers with $108 million in unplanned overcharges Currently...
  28. A

    Nuclear Power plant calculation

    If a 1 GW nuclear power plant runs continuously for 18 months, determine the mass of U 235 consumed by the plant, assuming an average fission energy yield of 202 MeV. Any help would be appreciated.
  29. D

    Does working in a nuclear power plant cause cancer?

    hello everybody, I have the opportunity to study nuclear engineering in the us and i'll be sponsored by a corporation in my country and i need to sign a contract which will force me to work in their power plant, so my question is does it cause cancer or it is safe? am i going to bre...
  30. F

    Non nuclear part of a nuclear power plant

    Hi there, I have a simple question about nuclear power plant. There are two parts to it, which are the nuclear island (where the magic happens) and the non-nuclear part where the heat is transformed to electricity. Having to many languages in my head at the moment, could someone help me...
  31. V

    Nuclear Power Plant: 1GW/Year CO2 Emissions

    I think this might be an easy one but I am stucked right now and would really appreciate some help. How much mas is produced under a year by a nuclear power plant that gives 1,0 GW. Edit: ok seems like i made the newbie mistake to post this in the wrong forum, please forgive me moderator...
  32. D

    Working in a nuclear power plant

    Australia is going to move to nuclear power over the next decade. I would like to work in this area but don't have a degree. I have a particular interest in physics and have done a year of university maths/physics befor giving up. At the time I was getting average scores and had no prospect of...
  33. S

    Nuclear power plant at 34% efficiency - rising temperature of water

    A nuclear power plant generates 500MW at 34 percent efficiency. The waste heat goes into the connecticut river with an average flow of 3x10 to the 4th kg/s. How much does the water temperature rise? (it requires 4.8x10 to the 3 to raise the temperature of 1kg of water 1K
  34. G

    What safety measures prevent a LOCA at nuclear power plants?

    What safety systems are there to prevent a LOCA?? (Loss Of coolant Accident) I've googled but nothing has surfaced that relates to LOCA.
  35. C

    Practical size limit to nuclear power plant?

    Assuming the current anti-nuclear public/political climate remains in place and no new nuclear plant sites would be allowed (nor within a reasonable timeframe) why not just simply increase the existing capacity? For a hydro plant it makes sense there is only so much water that can be...
  36. Pengwuino

    Creating a nuclear power plant

    How long does it take for a nuclear power plant to be built and to have its first reactor come on line? Let's start the time line at basically when the permit is requested and end it when the first reactor goes fully online. What kind of time period are we looking at there in the best case...
  37. T

    How long is nuclear power plant waste really dangerous?

    I know that some of the isotopes have extremely long half-lifes. However, isn't it true that generally speaking, a longer half life correlates to a lower rate of radioactivity? So wouldn't the most dangerous elements be those with short half-lifes? Isn't most of the danger from waste therefore...
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