NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

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 Brief History
• Nuclear energy was first discovered in 1934 by Enrico
Fermi.
• The first nuclear bombs were built in 1945 as a result
of the infamous Manhattan Project.
• On August 6th 1945 the first uranium bomb was
detonated over Hiroshima. Three days later a
plutonium bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.
• Electricity wasn’t produced with nuclear energy until
1951.

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 Mass & Energy
• The energy that exists within the nucleus of an atom is
known as “Nuclear Energy”.
• Einstein suggested that mass and energy are related
by
E=mc2 (c = 3.0 x 108 m/s)
Where,
E is the energy, m is the mass and c is the speed
sfdffsdffof light.

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 Nuclear Fuel
• Nuclear fuel is any material that can be consumed to
derive nuclear energy. The most common type of
nuclear fuel is fissile elements that can be made to
undergo nuclear fission chain reactions in a nuclear
reactor.
• The most common nuclear fuels are U235 and Pu239.

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 Radioactive Decay
• Element that has an unstable nucleus will decay and
emits radioactive radiation and heat to form a new
element which is more stable. This process is called
radioactive decay.
• Particles given off by unstable atoms are known as
radiations and they are of normally 3 types,
– Alpha radiation, (α)
– Beta radiation, (β)
– Gamma radiation, (γ)

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 Types of radioactive radiation
Different
Characteristics
Alpha radiation, Beta radiation, Gamma radiation,
(α) (β) (γ)
Types of particles Helium nucleus Electron Electromagnetic
wave

Types of charges Positive Negative Neutral

Attracted to Negative plate Positive plate Not attracted

Penetrating power •Lowest •High •Highest

•Can be blocked •Can be blocked •Can only be
by several sheets by a thin sheet of blocked by a
of paper aluminium block of lead or
thick concrete
Similar •Can be produced by radioactive substances
characteristics •Can be traced by Geiger-Muller counter

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 Half Life
• Time needed for one-half of the nuclei in a
radioisotope to decay and emit their radiation to form
a stable isotope.

Half-time Emitted
• Uranium 235 710 million years alpha, gamma
• Plutonium 239 24,000 years alpha, gamma

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 Nuclear Reactions
• Mainly we have two ways of harnessing the energy
generated by the atoms. They are,

1) Nuclear Fission 2) Nuclear Fusion

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 Nuclear Fission
• It is a process of splitting up of nucleus of fissionable
material like uranium into two or more fragments with
release of enormous amount of energy.
• Fission of heavy elements is an exothermic reaction
which can release large amounts of energy both as
electromagnetic radiation and as kinetic energy of the
fragments.

U235+0n1 Ba 141+Kr92+30n1+200 MeV

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 proton Kr-92 nucleus
neutron

energy

U-235 nucleus

Ba-141 nucleus

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 Nuclear Fission (cont.)
Chain Reaction:
• A chain reaction refers to a process in which neutrons
released in fission produce an additional fission in at
least one further nucleus. This nucleus in turn
produces neutrons, and the process repeats.
• If the process is controlled it is used for nuclear
power or if uncontrolled it is used for nuclear
weapons.

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 Nuclear Fusion
• In this process, light nuclei fuse together to form a
heavier nucleus.
deuterium nucleus neutron

energy

helium
tritium nucleus nucleus

proton neutron H2 + H3 He4 + n1 + energy

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 Fuel Preparation
• Since Plutonium -239 tends to occur artificially from
Uranium-235 it is less common.
• U235 is 'fissile', U238 is said to be 'fertile'.
• U235 occurs in most rocks in concentrations of 2 to 4
parts per million as tin, tungsten and molybdenum.
• It can be bombarded by neutrons and (by a non-
fission reaction) turned into Plutonium-239, (which is
fissile).
• Pu239 fissions like U235 and also yields a lot of energy.

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 Nuclear Fuel Cycle

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 Nuclear Fuel Cycle
(cont.)

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 Mining
• Uranium ores in mines typically range from about 0.05
to 0.3 percent and exists in the form of uranium oxide
(U3O8).
• Uranium is extracted by injecting a solution of water
(containing dissolved oxygen and sodium bi-
carbonate) into a uranium-bearing rock.
• The solution strips/dissolves, the uranium from the
parent rock.
• The resulting uranium-laden solution is pumped to
the surface for separation and refining of the uranium
into ‘yellowcake’.

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 Milling
• The ore is first crushed in a ball mill into smaller bits
and then mixed with water, thickened, and then put
into leaching tanks where 90% of the uranium ore is
leached out with sulfuric acid.
• Then the extracted ore is neutralized with lime, in a
multistage washing system.
• Meanwhile, the uranium solution is filtered, and then
passed through a solvent extraction process that
includes kerosene and ammonia to purify the uranium
solution.
• After purification it’s put into precipitation tanks,
resulting in a product commonly called ‘yellowcake’.
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 Transportation
• In the final processes, the yellow
cake is heated to 800˚Celcius
which makes a dark green
powder which is 98% U3O8.
• The dark green powder is put
into 200 liter drums and loaded
into shipping containers and are
shipped overseas to fuel nuclear
power plants.

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 Nuclear Fuel Cycle
(cont.)

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 Conversion

Honeywell Conversion Process

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 Nuclear Fuel Cycle
(cont.)

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 Enrichment
• The concentration of the fissionable isotope U235 (0.71
percent in natural uranium) is less then that required
to sustain a nuclear chain reaction in the reactor cores.
• Natural UF6 thus must be enriched in the fissionable
isotope for it to be used as nuclear fuel.
• The two stage process of enriching uranium includes,
—Gaseous Diffusion
—Gas Centrifuge

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 Nuclear Fuel Cycle
(cont.)

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 Fuel Fabrication
• Enriched UF6 is converted into
uranium dioxide (UO2)
powder which is then
processed into pellet form.
• The cylindrical pellets then
undergo a grinding process to
achieve a uniform pellet size.
• The pellets are put into long
tubes called fuel rods. A fuel
assembly is a cluster of these
sealed rods which go in the
core of the nuclear reactor.
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 Nuclear Fuel Cycle
(cont.)

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 Nuclear Power Plant
Nuclear Reactor:
• A nuclear reactor is a device in which nuclear chain
reactions are initiated, controlled, and sustained at a
steady rate, as opposed to a nuclear bomb, in which
the chain reaction occurs in a fraction of a second and
is uncontrolled causing an exploration.
• 1 kg of Uranium U235 can produce as much energy as
the burning of 4500 tones of high grade variety of
coal or 2000 tones of oil.

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 Reactor Components
• Core:
Here the nuclear fission
wwwprocess takes place.

• Moderator:
This reduces the speed
wwwof fast moving neutrons.
wwwMost moderators are
wwwgraphite, water or
wwwheavy water.

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 Reactor Components (Cont.)
• Control Rods:
They absorbs neutrons
eeeeefor propagating chain
eeeeereaction. They
eeeeeessentially contain
eeeeeneutron absorbers like,
eeeeeboron, cadmium or
eeeeeindium.

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 Reactor Components (Cont.)
• Coolant:
They carry the intense heat generated. Water is
wwwused as a coolant, some reactors use liquid sodium
wwwas a coolant.
• Radiation Shield (thermal shielding):
To protect the people working from radiation and
eeeeeradiation fragments.

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 Nuclear Power Plant (Cont.)
• Steam Generator:
Steam generators are heat exchangers used to
eeeeeconvert water into steam from heat produced in a
eeeeenuclear reactor core.
• Steam Turbine:
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that
eeeeeextracts thermal energy from pressurized steam,
eeeeeand converts it into useful mechanical energy.

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 Nuclear Power Plant (Cont.)
• Condenser:
Condenser is a device or unit which is used to
eeeeecondense vapor into liquid. The objective of the
eeeeecondenser are to recover high quality feed water
ffffffffin the form of condensate & feed back it to the
vvvvvsteam generator without any further treatment.
• Feed Pump:
The feed pump circulates the condensed water
ssssssback in the working fluid loop.

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 Reactor Types
• Main two types are,
—Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR)
—Does not boil water, but uses the pressure of the
water to heat a secondary source of water that
generates electricity.
—Most popular (accounts for 65% of reactors
world wide).
—Boiling Water Reactor (BWR)
—Boils water (coolant) that makes steam to turn
turbines.
—Conducive to internal contamination.

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 Pressurized Water
Reactor (PWR)

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 Nuclear Fuel Cycle
(cont.)

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 Reprocessing
• Spent fuel discharged from reactors contains
appreciable quantities of fissile (U235, Pu239), fertile
(U238), and other radioactive materials. These fissile
and fertile materials can be chemically separated and
recovered from the spent fuel.
• The recovered uranium, and plutonium, if economic
and institutional conditions permit, can be recycled
for use as nuclear fuel.
• Currently, plants in Europe and Japan are
reprocessing spent fuel from utilities in Europe.
repository

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 Waste Disposal
• A current concern in the nuclear power field is the
safe disposal and isolation of either spent fuel from
reactors or if the reprocessing option is used, wastes
from reprocessing plants.
• These materials must be isolated from the biosphere
until the radioactivity contained in them has
diminished to a safe level.
• Under the Nuclear Waste policy Act of 1982, as
amended , the Department of Energy has
responsibility for the development of the waste
disposal system for spent nuclear fuel and high –
level radioactive waste.
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 Waste Disposal (Cont.)
Low-Level Waste:
• Low level waste includes items that have become
contaminated with radioactive materials or have
become radioactive through exposure be neutron
radiation.
• This waste typically consists of contaminated
protective shoe covers and clothing, wiping rags,
mops, filters, reactor’s water treatment residues,
equipments and tools, luminous dials, swabs,
injections needles, syringes etc.

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 Waste Disposal (Cont.)
High-Level Waste:
• This includes the highly radioactive materials
produced as a by-product of the reactions that occur
inside nuclear reactors. High level wastes take one of
two forms:
—Spent (used) reactor fuel when it is accepted for
disposal.
—Waste materials remaining after spent fuel is
reprocessed.
• High-level wastes must be stored and finally
disposed of in a way that provides adequate
protection of the public for a very long time.

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 Benefits
• Little or no harmful emissions and emits no carbon
dioxide (CO2). The emissions of green house gases
and therefore the contribution to global warming is
relatively little.
• Requires less fuel to produce same amount of energy
at a reasonable cost than other plants.
—1 metric ton of uranium fuel = 3 million metric
tones of coal = 12 million barrels of oil.
• Less land area to produce same amount of energy.
• Waste isolation.
• Zero risk of large scale oil spills.

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 Disadvantages
• The problem of radioactive waste is still an unsolved
one. It is technically impossible to build a plant with
100% security.
• The energy source for nuclear energy is Uranium
which is a scarce resource, and its supply is
estimated to last only for the next 30 to 60 years
depending on the actual demand.
• Maintenance cost of the plant is high.
• Nuclear power plants as well as nuclear waste could
be preferred targets for terrorist attacks..

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 Effects of Radiations
• Exposed over short period can cause
nausea and vomiting / diarrhea
• Exposed over long period can
destroy body cells, causes cancer and
mutation as well as abnormalities.
• The radiation exposure to air can
block or jam the sensors and the
reaction if becomes uncontrollable
can cause reactor to explode which
can affect human lives.

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 Safety Measures
• Radioactive substances are
commonly kept in thick lead
containers surrounded by
thick concrete.
• The store room where
radioactive substances are
kept must be labeled with the
radioactive warning symbol.

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 Safety Measures (Cont.)
• Workers in a nuclear power
station must wear protective
clothing and dosimeters or
film badges.
• A dosimeter is a tool that can
measure different levels of
hazardous environments.
Common dosimeters are those
used for radiation (they
measure how much radiation
there is in an environment).

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 Safety Measures (Cont.)
• The relevant authorities must
enforce existing laws to ensure
that the disposal of radioactive
waste is done properly.
• The nuclear reactor must
safely be contained inside
cylindrical containment
buildings while cooling towers
must also be there for venting
water vapor from the non-
radioactive side of the plant.

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 Power Plants in Pakistan
Karachi Nuclear Power
Plant (KANUPP):
• The KANUPP has water
moderated and cooled,
natural uranium fueled,
horizontal pressure tube
reactor.
• The gross plant rating is 137
MW.
• The corresponding net
output is 125 MW.

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 Power Plants in Pakistan
(Cont.)
Chashma Nuclear Power
Plant (CHASNUPP):
• It uses PWR type using light
water and low enriched
uranium.
• CHASNUPP is an improved
version of Chinese Qinshan
Nuclear Power Plant that
became operational in 1991
and has produced 410 billion
KWh of electricity till now.
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 References
• Unknown author. (2013). What is nuclear energy.
Retrieved from,
http://ofnuclearenergy.com/definitions/radioactivity.h
tml
• Unknown author. (2013). Guide to UK Nuclear
Power. BBC News. Retrieved from
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/guides/45690
0/456932/html/nn2page1.stm
• Unknown author. (2003). How Nuclear Power
Works. Union of Concerned Scientists. Retrieved
from
http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear_power/nuclear_power
_technology/how-nuclear-power-works.html
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 References (Cont.)
• World Nuclear Association. (2013). Safety of Plants.
Retrieved from,
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Safety-and-
Security/Safety-of-Plants/
• Mack, S. (Unknown date of publication). Bad effects
of nuclear energy. Retrieved from,
http://www.ehow.com/list_5981838_bad-effects-
nuclear-energy.html

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