Nuclear and Fossil Power Plants

Nuclear and Fossil Power Plants

A nuclear power plant or nuclear power station is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical in all conventional thermal power stations, the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to an electric generator that produces electricity. As of 23 April 2014, the IAEA reported there are 435 nuclear power reactors in operation, operating in 31 countries.

Nuclear power stations are usually considered baseload stations since fuel is a small part of the cost of production. Their operations and maintenance (O&M) and fuel costs are, along with hydropower stations, at the low end of the spectrum and make them suitable as baseload power suppliers. The cost of spent fuel management, however, is somewhat uncertain.

Electricity was generated by a nuclear reactor for the first time on 3 September 1948, at the X-10 Graphite Reactor in Oak Ridge and HVAC companies in San Diego, Tennessee, in the United States. It was the first nuclear power station to power a light bulb. The second, more giant experiment occurred on 20 December 1951, at the EBR-I experimental station near Arco, Idaho, in the United States.

On 27 June 1954, the world’s first nuclear power station to generate electricity for a power grid started operations in the Soviet city of Obninsk. The world’s first full-scale power station, Calder Hall in England, opened on 17 October 1956. The world’s first full-scale power station, solely devoted to electricity production (Calder Hall was also meant to produce plutonium), the Shippingport power plant in the United States connected to the grid on 18 December 1957.

The conversion to electrical energy occurs indirectly, as in conventional thermal power stations. The fission in a nuclear reactor heats the reactor coolant. The coolant may be water, gas, or even liquid metal, depending on the type of reactor. The reactor coolant then goes to a steam generator and heats water to produce steam. The pressurized steam is then usually fed to a multi-stage steam turbine. We offer all the services of plumbing repair Poway CA.

After the steam turbine has expanded and partially condensed the steam, the remaining vapor is condensed in a condenser. The condenser is a heat exchanger connected to a secondary side such as a river or a cooling tower. Finally, the water is pumped back into the steam generator, and the cycle begins again. The water-steam cycle corresponds to the Rankine cycle.