ATOMIC PHYSICS - By

APPLICATIONS Piyush Patil

NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
• A nuclear power plant is a facility that converts atomic energy into usable power.

• Nuclear energy now provides about 11% of the world’s electricity from about 450
power reactors.

• Asia's first nuclear reactor is the Apsara Research Reactor situated in Mumbai.

• Tarapur Atomic Power Plant-1 (TAPS-1) is the first Nuclear power plant in India. It is
operational since October 1969 and is situated in Boisar, Maharastra.
NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
• Nuclear Power is the 5th largest source of generating electricity in India after coal,
gas, wind power and Hydroelectric.

• India has 22 nuclear power reactors operating in 7 states, with an installed capacity of
7380 MegaWatt electric (MWe).

• NPCIL is administered by the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India.

• NPCIL - Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited

 Nuclear Power Plants in India – Operational

Name Of Nuclear Power Station Location Operator Capacity

Kakrapar Atomic Power Station – 1993 Gujarat NPCIL 440

(Kalpakkam) Madras Atomic Power Station – 1984 Tamil Nadu NPCIL 440

Narora Atomic Power Station- 1991 Uttar Pradesh NPCIL 440

Kaiga Nuclear Power Plant -2000 Karnataka NPCIL 880

Rajasthan Atomic Power Station – 1973 Rajasthan NPCIL 1,180

Tarapur Atomic Power Station – 1969 Maharashtra NPCIL 1,400

Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant – 2013 Tamil Nadu NPCIL 2,000

NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
• The heat is generated in a reactor by the fission reaction.

• The coolant in the primary circuit gets heated by absorbing the heat and enters into
the heat exchanger.

• In a heat exchanger, the feed water is heated and converted into steam by the hot
coolant by means of heat transfer.

• The steam from the heat exchanger enters the turbine and the turbine is connected to
the generator which generates power.
NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
• The steam after doing the work enters into the condenser and converted into the water
which is pumped again to the heat exchanger by the feed pump.

• The hot coolant gets cooled in heat exchanger is recirculated into the reactor by a
coolant circulating pump.

• This cycle is repeated for continuous generation of power.

• The generated power is supplied to the distribution line for consumers.

NUCLEAR FUEL USED IN
POWER PLANT
• Natural uranium
• Enriched uranium
• Thorium
• Plutonium
• U233 , U235
• Uranium oxide (UO2)
• Uranium carbide.
 NUCLEAR REACTOR

• A nuclear reactor is a device in

which nuclear fission is controlled as
a self-stabilizing chain reaction.

• It is a nuclear furnace which burns

fuels like U235, U233 or Pu239 to
produce the heat.
 FUEL RODS
• The fuel rods are used to produce the heat,
neutrons and radio-isotopes.

• The fuels used in reactors are uranium,

plutonium and thorium.

• Among the three uranium and its content

are naturally available up to 70% to 90% in
the uranium ore and the other two are
formed in the nuclear reactor during the
fission process.
 MODERATOR
• Its main function is to absorb the part of the
kinetic energy of the neutrons.

• The neutrons collide directly with the

moderator and thus reduces the kinetic energy
of fast neutron to slow neutron.

• The light water, heavy water and graphite are

the most common moderators used in
reactors.

• The moderator is also used to increase the

probability of reaction.
 REFLECTOR
• Its main function is to reflect back the escaping
neutrons back into the core from the surface of
the core.

• A reflector is usually placed around the core.

• The neutrons produced in fission process can

be absorbed by the fuel itself, a moderator,
coolant, and some neutrons may escape from
the core without absorption.

• To reduce the loss of neutrons, the reflector is

placed around the core.
 COOLANT
• The main function of coolant is to
absorb a large amount of heat produced
in the reactor.

• The heat carried by the coolant is used

for power generation.

• If water is used as a coolant, it absorbs

the heat and gets converted into steam
for power generation.
 CONTROL RODS
 The control rods are used to :
• For maintaining the chain reaction in a
steady-state.
• To shut down the reactor automatically
under emergency condition.

 The control is necessary to prevent the

melting of fuel rods and destruction of
the reactor under emergency situation.

 Cadmium, boron or hafnium are

commonly used as a control rod.
HEAT EXCHANGER
• Heat exchangers are used to transfer
heat from one fluid to the other fluid
without mixing both fluids.

• In the figure besides blue color is fluid1

(cold) and red is fluid2 (Hot).

• Fluid2 will transfer it heat to fluid1 and

become colder then before.
TURBINE
• In a nuclear power plant, the turbine is a
mechanical device that converts thermal
energy into mechanical energy and then into
electrical energy.

• Steam from heat exchanger is impinched on

the turbines, rotating it (converts thermal
energy into mechanical energy).

• The turbines are coupled with generator which

will generate electricity (converts mechanical
energy into electrical energy.
CONDENSER
• A condenser is a heat exchanger that
cools down the hot steam from the
turbine and converts it back to water.

• It is used to increase the efficiency

of the power plant.
TYPES OF REACTORS
Pressurized Water Reactor
The PWR uses regular simple water as a
coolant. The cooling water is held at
very high pressure so that it does not
boil. It passes through a heat exchanger,
shifting heat to a secondary coolant
loop, which then rotates the turbine.
Boiling Water Reactor
The BWR is similar to the PWR in
several ways. Although they only have
one coolant loop. The hot nuclear fuel
boils water as it passes through the top
of the reactor, where the steam goes to
the turbine to rotate it.
ADVANTAGES
• The space requirement will be less.
• It consumes a very small quantity of fuel.
• Increased reliability of operation.
• These are not affected by adverse weather conditions.
• The output control is extremely flexible.
• The material expenditure on metal structures is less.
• Required less quantity of water.
• These are most economical in large quantity
DISADVANTAGES
• The initial cost will be high.

• These are not suitable for varying loads.

• If we don’t dispose of radioactive wastes carefully it may have a bad effect on the
workers health.
APPLICATION OF RADIATION
IN MEDICINE
APPLICATION OF RADIATION
IN MEDICINE
APPLICATION OF RADIATION
IN MEDICINE
Radiotherapy - Radiotherapy means the use of radiation, usually x-rays or gamma rays from
strong cobalt radioisotopes to treat cancer. Radiotherapy can be given from inside the
body, called internal radiotherapy. Or external radiotherapy, which is from outside the body.

You may have radiotherapy:

• to try to cure cancer

• reduce the chance of cancer coming back

• to help relieve symptoms

Tracers – Also known as Radio Pharmaceuticals
is a weak and small amount of radioisotope
injected into a system, that can be ‘traced’ by a
GM tube or other detector. The method is used in
medicine to detect brain tumors and internal
bleeding, in agriculture to study the uptake of
fertilizers by plants, and in industry to measure
fluid flow in pipes.
Sterilization - Gamma rays are used to sterilize medical instruments by killing bacteria. They are also
used to ‘irradiate’ certain foods, again killing bacteria to preserve the food for longer. They are safe to use
as no radioactive material goes into the food.
 ARCHAEOLOGY
• A radioisotope of carbon present in the air, carbon-14, is
taken in by living plants and trees along with non-
radioactive carbon-12. When a tree dies no fresh carbon is
taken in. So as the carbon-14 continues to decay, with a half-
life of 5700 years, the amount of carbon-14 compared with
the amount of carbon-12 becomes smaller.

• By measuring the residual radioactivity of carbon-containing

material such as wood, linen or charcoal, the age of
archaeological remains can be estimated within the range
1000 to 50,000 years.
 THICKNESS, DENSITY GAUGE
• If a radioisotope is placed on one side of a moving sheet of
material and a GM tube on the other, the count-rate decreases
if the thickness increases.

• This technique is used to control automatically the thickness of

paper, plastic and metal sheets during manufacture. Because of
their range, β-emitters are suitable sources for monitoring the
thickness of thin sheets but γ-emitters would be needed for
thicker materials.

• Flaws in a material can be detected in a similar way; the count-

rate will increase where a flaw is present.
 RADIATION EXPOSURE
We are continually exposed to radiation from a range of sources, both natural and artificial, as indicated.

• Cosmic rays (high-energy particles from outer space) are mostly absorbed by the atmosphere and
produce radioactivity in the air we breathe, but some reach the Earth’s surface.

• Numerous homes, particularly in Scotland, are built from granite rocks that emit radioactive radon
gas; this can collect in basements or well insulated rooms if the ventilation is poor.

• Radioactive potassium-40 is present in food and is absorbed by our bodies.

• Radiation is produced in the emissions from nuclear power stations and in fall-out from the testing of
nuclear bombs; the latter produce strontium isotopes with long half-lives which are absorbed by bone.
HARMFUL EFFECTS OF
RADIATION
By about 1920, people realized that radiation from radioactive materials was harmful
to living organisms.
A large number of women who were employed for painting dials of instruments with
luminescent paints containing radium died of bone cancer.
They did not know that they were introducing a harmful substance, radium, into their
body, while tipping the brush with their tongue. The maximum amount of radium
that our body can tolerate is only one-millionth of a gram.
Marie Curie, who (with her husband, Pierre Curie) discovered radium, also died of
the effects of radiation.
Harmful effects of radiation are -
1. Loss of hair
2. Cataract
3. Mouth ulcer
4. Damage to thyroid glands
5. Breast cancer
6. Ulcers in the stomach and intestines
7. Burns in the skin
8. Leukemia (blood cancer)
9. Bone cancer
10. Internal Bleeding
PREVENTIVE MEASURES