Nuclear Power Plant the Process of Generating Electricity -Zannatul Mouwa Naz

A nuclear power plant is a type of power plant that uses the process of nuclear fission to generate electricity. They do this using a nuclear reactor in conjunction with the Rankin cycle, where the heat generated from the reactor converts water into steam, which spins the turbine and a generator. Nuclear power supplies about 11% of the world’s electricity, with the United States and France being the largest producers.
Otherwise, Nuclear power plants provide heated water to produce steam. The steam is used to spin large turbines that generate electricity. Nuclear power plants use the heat produced during nuclear fission to heat water.In atomic fission, atoms individually form small molecules, expressing energy. Partition occurs inside the reactor of a nuclear power plant. At the center of the reactor is the core, which contains uranium fuel.

Uranium fuel is formed in a ceramic pellet. Each ceramic shell produces about the same amount of energy as 150 gallons of oil. These power-rich filters are equipped with 12-foot metal fuel rods from end to end. A bundle of fuel rods, including several hundred rods, is called a fuel assembly. A reactor core consists of many fuel assemblies.

The heat produced during nuclear separation between the reactor cores is used to boil water into steam, which turns the blades of a steam turbine. As turbine blades turn, they run generators that generate electricity. Nuclear plants return steam to water in a separate structure called a cooling bowl in a separate structure of the power plant or they use water from ponds, rivers or seawater. Cold water is again used to produce steam.

The United States generates more nuclear power than any other country:
In 2019, 31 countries had commercial nuclear power plants and 14 countries supplied at least 20% of their total annual power generation. The United States had the largest nuclear power generation capacity and produced more nuclear power than any other country. France had the second largest nuclear power generation capacity and the second largest nuclear power generation, including France – had about 70% of the total annual power generation from nuclear power.
A motor basically consists of two main components: a stator, which is stationary, and a rotor, which rotates inside the stator. When electricity is applied to the motor, pull the electromagnet and the rotor between the stator and pull each other in such a way as to rotate the rotor. The magnets in the stator pull the magnets in the rotor towards them and then, when the rotor magnets move in their opposite direction and push the rotor magnets away. The parts are arranged so that the pull and push are all in the same direction, so the rotor spins inside the store. The electrical energy applied to the motor generates mechanical energy in the rotor.
But the same machine can be used in reverse: if an external force causes the rotor to rotate, the interaction of magnets can produce electricity: the “motor” is now a “generator,” resulting in electrical energy being applied to the rotor of mechanical power. This is the most common way to generate a lot of electricity.

So, to make a rotor spin, that’s where the nuclear reactor comes in, albeit still indirectly. Note that nuclear reactors generate heat. The fuel rods are heated due to the nuclear reaction. That heat is used to boil the water and the steam from that boiling water is used to spin the rotor. As we have seen, when the rotor spins, electricity comes out of the stator.When water boils, the vapor it creates takes up much more physical space than the water it produces.

So, if we pump water through some type of heat source – such as a nuclear reactor, or a coal-fired boiler – that is hot enough to boil water, the exhaust steam will travel much faster than the water enters. That steam is through a machine called a turbine. Moves, which work something like a highly sophisticated windmill. The physical structure is very different from a windmill and a large turbine can be much stronger than any wind turbine, but the effect is somewhat similar: part of the machine spins due to steam, and that spinning part is connected to the generator to generate electricity.

The steam left by the turbine is collected in a device called a condenser – basically a metal box the size of a house, through which thousands of pipes run. Cool water flows through the pipes, and the steam from the turbine cools and returns to the water. The water is then pumped back through the heater and the cycle continues.

The fuel rods are somewhat suspended in a water bath contained in a huge metal container somewhat like a giant pressure cooker. A typical “reactor ship” can be 15 feet in diameter and 20 feet high and much larger than some. In some types of furnaces, water is allowed to boil and the heat generated in the fuel rods is carried by steam. These are called “boiling water reactors” (or “BWR”). Among others, the water is kept at a very high pressure – in the order of 2000 pounds per square inch. (However, this is 60 times the pressure on the tires of a normal car.) In that case, the water cannot expand and explode.

The water in that type of furnace carries heat when it is liquid and that heat is transferred to another water system where boiling takes place. This transfer occurs on a device that was aptly named a “steam generator”. These are called “pressurized water reactors” (or “PWR”). A small PWR can have two steam generators. A big one can be a four. Some people have three. Steam from all steam generators is usually combined into a single “core steam line” that carries the steam to the turbine, so the reactor and all steam generators together act as a steam source.Water from the condenser is pumped directly to the reactor vessel for BWR, or to the steam generator for PWR.

So,the nuclear reaction heats the fuel, heats the water to make fuel steam, the steam turns the turbine, the turbine turns the generator and the generator generates electricity.

Zannatul Mouwa Naz regularly writes on environment, climate change etc., she is currently studying in Environmental Science and Engineering at Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University Trishal, Mymensingh, Bangladesh