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Nuclear power plants
produce electricity much the same way as fossil-fuel generating plants.
The basic process is the creation of steam to spin a turbine and drive an
electric generator. The generating equipment is similar at all thermal
power plants; the major difference is nuclear power's method of creating
steam.
At nuclear plants, a
nuclear reactor takes the place of a combustion boiler. The heat that
produces the steam comes from the energy released during fissioning
(splitting the atoms) of uranium fuel, rather than from burning a fossil
fuel such as coal. A controlled nuclear chain reaction takes place in the
reactor as neutrons from one splitting atom strike other atoms, causing
them to split and release heat energy. This reaction can be started,
controlled and stopped by movable control rods that absorb the released
neutrons.
The chain reaction
begins as the control rods are withdrawn from the reactor core; neutrons
are freed and fissioning begins to create heat. A control rod, inserted
into the reactor core, acts as a blotter to absorb free neutrons and slow
the fission process. The chain reaction stops and production of
electricity halts when workers insert all rods. |
