Nuclear power plant
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors.
Nuclear power plants are base load stations, which work best when the power output is constant (although boiling water reactors can come down to half power at night). Their units range in power from about 40 MWe to over 1200 MWe. New units under construction in 2005 are typically in the range 600-1200 MWe. The largest nuclear reactors currently in operation are the Tokyo Electric Power Company's 1356 MWe advanced boiling water reactors at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, Japan, built by Toshiba, Hitachi and General Electric.
As of 2007 the IAEA reported there are 435 nuclear power reactors in operation in the world [1], operating in 31 different countries [2]. Together they produce about 17% of the world's electric power.
(According to the above references, the U.S., France, and Japan together account for 49% of all nuclear power plants and 57% of all nuclear generated electricity.)
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[edit] History
Electricity was generated for the first time by a nuclear reactor on December 20, 1951 at the EBR-I experimental station near Arco, Idaho in the United States. On June 27, 1954, the world's first nuclear power plant to generate electricity for a power grid started operations at Obninsk, USSR [3]. The world's first commercial scale power station, Calder Hall in England opened in October 17, 1956. [4].
- For more history, see nuclear reactor and nuclear power.
- For information on the Chernobyl accident which only had a partial containment structure, see that subject and RBMK and nuclear power.
[edit] Advantages and Disadvantages
Compared to fossil fuels, advantages of nuclear power plants are:
- No greenhouse gas emissions (during normal operation) - greenhouse gases are emitted only when the Emergency Diesel Generators are tested (the processes of uranium mining and of building and decommissioning power stations produce relatively small amounts)
- Does not pollute the air - zero production of dangerous and polluting gases such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, aerosols, mercury, nitrogen oxides, particulates or photochemical smog
- Small solid waste generation (during normal operation)
- Low fuel costs - because so little fuel is needed
- Large fuel reserves - (e.g., in Canada and Australia) again, because so little fuel is needed
- Nuclear Batteries - (see SSTAR)
Disadvantages include:
- Risk of accidents - the most well-known example of such an event is the explosion and fire in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the worst nuclear accident in history.
- Nuclear waste - high-level radioactive waste (mostly spent nuclear fuel) can remain dangerous for tens of thousands of years. [1]
- Plutonium produced from nuclear reactions can be used to make nuclear bombs, aiding nuclear proliferation (see Magnox)
- High initial costs
- High energy inputs during construction (equivalent to ~7 years power output)
- High maintenance costs
- Security concerns
- High cost of decommissioning plants
- Thermal pollution - Like fossil-fueled power plants, nuclear reactors emit thermal pollution
- Finite fuel source - Nuclear fuels depend on mined uranium, a finite resource
Nuclear power is highly controversial, enough so that the building of new commercial nuclear power plants has ceased—at least temporarily—in the U.S. and most of Western Europe. Several countries, including Germany, have even decided to phase out nuclear energy. On the other hand, as of 2006, new nuclear power plants are under construction in several Asian countries such as China and India, as well as in Argentina, Russia, Finland, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Romania. In the U.S., a consortium of six major companies is planning construction of a new nuclear power plant, which would be the first since the 1970s. [2] [5] [6] Almost all the advantages and disadvantages of commercial nuclear power are disputed in some degree by the advocates for and against nuclear power.
The cost benefits of nuclear power are also in dispute. It is generally agreed that the capital costs of nuclear power are high and the cost of the necessary fuel is low compared to other fuel sources. Proponents claim that nuclear power has low running costs, opponents claim that the numerous safety systems required significantly increased running costs.
Disposal of spent fuel and other nuclear waste is claimed by some as an advantage of nuclear power, claiming that the waste is small in quantity compared to that generated by competing technologies, and the cost of disposal small compared to the value of the power produced. Others list it as a disadvantage, claiming that the environment cannot be adequately protected from the risk of future leakages from long-term storage.
[edit] Reprocessing
Reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel can extend the usefulness of mined uranium. However, it is generally conceded that reprocessed fuel is more expensive than fuel from mined uranium (providing that adequate disposal space is available). Such processing of civilian fuel has long been employed in Europe (at the COGEMA La Hague site) and briefly at the West Valley Reprocessing Plant in the U.S.
Reprocessing of spent fuel to obtain plutonium for nuclear weapons has been done in a number of countries: however these programs are typically separate from civilian activities, and usually cloaked in secrecy.
Use of breeder reactors combined with reprocessing could extend the usefulness of mined uranium by more than 60 times. [2] However, breeder reactors, not yet well developed, are currently significantly more difficult to operate.
[edit] Accident indemnification
The Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage puts in place an international framework for nuclear liability [7]. However states with a majority of the world's nuclear power plants, including the U.S., Russia, China and Japan, are not party to international nuclear liability conventions.
In the U.S., insurance for nuclear or radiological incidents is covered (for facilities licensed through 2025) by the Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act.
Per the Energy policy of the United Kingdom through its Nuclear Installations Act of 1965, liability is governed for nuclear damage for which a UK nuclear licensee is responsible. The Act requires compensation to be paid for damage up to a limit of £150 million by the liable operator for ten years after the incident. Between ten and thirty years afterwards, the Government meets this obligation. The Government is also liable for additional limited cross-border liability (about £300 million) under international conventions (Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy and Brussels Convention supplementary to the Paris Convention). [8]
[edit] Future reactors
The 1600 MWe European Pressurized Reactor reactor is being built in Olkiluoto, Finland. A joint effort of French AREVA and German Siemens AG, it will be the largest reactor in the world. In December 2006 construction was about 18 months behind schedule so completion was expected 2010-2011.[9][10]
As of March, 2007, there are seven nuclear power plants under construction in India, and five in China. [11]
[edit] In Popular Culture
On the fourth season of the television show 24, Habib Marwan (and his associates) attempt to hijack and melt down every nuclear reactor in the United States, but all stay stable except one.
The 1979 movie "The China Syndrome" features an accident and implied core meltdown at a nuclear power plant.
In the 2006 movie, 10.5: Apocalypse, a moving trench heads toward the 2 largest nuclear reactors in the United States, located in Texas.
Homer Simpson from the Simpsons works mainly at a nuclear power plant. In one episode he builds a small-scale nuclear reactor for his daughter Lisa Simpson's science project, using plutonium created from the plant at which he works.
[edit] References
- ^ NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS INFORMATION, by IAEA, 15/06/2005
- ^ a b World NUCLEAR POWER REACTORS 2005-06, 15/08/2006, Australian Uranium Information Centre
- ^ World Nuclear Association, Nuclear Power in Russia, June 2006
- ^ 1956: Queen switches on nuclear power, BBC, 17/10/2005
- ^ Nuclear power plants in Europe, by the European Nuclear Society, 10/05/2006
- ^ Stronger Future for Nuclear Power, Physic Today.org, February 2006
- ^ Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage, IAEA, 12/11/1977
- ^ Nuclear section of the UK Department of Trade & Industry's website
- ^ Finland nuclear reactor delayed again, Business Week, 4 December 2006
- ^ Areva to take 500 mln eur charge for Finnish reactor delay, Forbes, 5 December 2006
- ^ http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9125556
[edit] See also
- List of nuclear reactors
- Nuclear power by country
- Nuclear Information and Resource Service
- Gerald W. Brown, American whistleblower on passive fire protection/circuit integrity deficiencies in US and Canadian plants
- Nuclear fuel cycle
- Containment building
- Safety engineering
- SCRAM
- FEMA
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission of the USA
- Auxiliary feedwater
- Uranium market
[edit] External links
- IPPNW - International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (Nobel Peace Prize 1985)
- MAPW - Information on Australia's research reactor
- Freeview Video 'Nuclear Power Plants - What's the Problem' A Royal Institution Lecture by John Collier by the Vega Science Trust.
- Non Destructive Testing for Nuclear Power Plants
- Web-based simple nuclear power plant game
- Uranium.Info publishing uranium price since 1968.
- Information about all NPP in the world
- U.S. plants and operators
- SCK.CEN Belgian Nuclear Research Centre in Mol.
- Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage - World Nuclear Association
- Protection against Sabotage of Nuclear Facilities: Using Morphological Analysis in Revising the Design Basis Threat From the Swedish Morphological Society
- Critical Hour: Three Mile Island, The Nuclear Legacy, And National Security Online book by Albert J. Fritsch, Arthur H. Purcell, and Mary Byrd Davis (2005). Updated edition June 2006
- An Interactive VR Panorama of the cooling towers at Temelin Nuclear Power Plant, Czech Republic
- Interactive map with all nuclear power plants US and worldwide (Note: missing many plants)
