Nuclear Power Plants: Principles, Types, Advantages & Disadvantages

1
Nuclear Power Plants
Dr.YaqoubMohammadAl‐Khasawneh

Introduction:
oAsof2018,theInternationalAtomicEnergyAgency
reportedtherewere450 nuclearpowerreactorsin
operationin30 countriesaroundtheworld.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.

History
•ElectricitywasgeneratedbyanuclearreactorforthefirsttimeeveronSeptember3,1948,attheX‐10
GraphiteReactorinOakRidge,Tennessee,USwhichwasthefirstnuclearpowerstationtopoweralight
bulb.
•Thesecond,ratherlargerexperimentoccurredonDecember20,1951,attheEBR‐Iexperimentalstation
nearArco,Idaho.
•OnJune27,1954,theworld'sfirstnuclearpowerstationtogenerateelectricityforapowergrid,the
Obninsk NuclearPowerPlant,startedoperationsinObninsk,intheSovietUnion.
•Theworld'sfirstfullscalepowerstation,CalderHallintheUnitedKingdom,openedonOctober17,1956.
•Theworld'sfirstfullscalepowerstationsolelydevotedtoelectricityproduction—CalderHallwasalso
meanttoproduceplutonium—theShippingportAtomicPowerStationinPennsylvania,UnitedStates—
wasconnectedtothegridonDecember18,1957.
•On1August2020,theUAElaunchedtheArabregion'sfirst‐evernuclearenergyplant.Unit1ofthe
Barakah plantintheAlDhafrah regionofAbuDhabicommencedgeneratingheatonthefirstdayofits
launch,whiletheremaining3Unitsarebeingbuilt.However,NuclearConsultingGrouphead,Paul
Dorfman,warnedtheGulfnation'sinvestmentintotheplantasarisk"furtherdestabilizingthevolatile
Gulfregion,damagingtheenvironmentandraisingthepossibilityofnuclearproliferation.

Workingprinciple:
oAnuclearpowerplantworksinasimilarwayasa
thermalpowerplant.Thedifferencebetweenthetwois
inthefueltheyusetoheatthewaterintheboiler(steam
generator).
oInsideanuclearpowerstation,energyisreleasedby
nuclearfissioninthecoreofthereactor.
o1kgofUraniumU235canproduceasmuchenergyas
theburningof4500tonesofhighgradevarietyofcoal
or2000tonsofoil.