Nuclear power may propel us into the future as our main energy source. Nuclear power creates carbon free electricity for entire cities. The technology today is still advancing and has not yet reached a peak. All kinds of safety precautions and sources to fuel reactors are still being discovered. I will take a deeper look inside the nuclear reactor and explain the main parts of it. Not every nuclear reactor is the same. Some are big some are small. The two main reactor types include the Boiling water reactors and the pressurized water reactors. The main difference between the two would be that in the boiling water reactor the water is heated right to steam, and in the pressurized water reactor the water is heated at 300 degrees Celsius and pressurized before getting evaporated into steam. Even with these differences every reactor has five basic parts: Nuclear fission, the moderators, the control, the coolant, and the shielding.
Nuclear fission creates tremendous amounts of energy from a tiny neutron colliding with a uranium atom. In the following video Jem Stansfield goes inside a brand new nuclear reactor to give us a better look at how this process works.
The water in the nuclear reactor has multiple jobs, such as acting as the moderator and the coolant. A moderator acts to slow down the incredible speeds the neutrons are moving at*(1). As the neutron passes through the water the water absorbs some of the energy created. The water also acts as a coolant. The coolant keeps the reactor at a sustainable temperature to prevent a meltdown. A meltdown occurred at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine. That area will stay uninhabitable for at least another 100 years from the toxic radiation*(2). With This catastrophic event the safety technology for reactors had to be reinvented to prevent mistakes like this from happening again.
Another important part of a nuclear reactor includes the controls. The controls play an important in slowing the neutrons down for the safety of the reactor just like the moderator. The difference between the two would be that metal sheets or rods are inserted into the core to act as controls*(1). These need to be able to absorb the intense energy with out being too damaged or altered. The controls closely relate to shocks on a bicycle. As the bike hits bumps the shocks absorb the energy to reduce the impact.
The last piece to the puzzle that is a nuclear reactor consists of the shielding. The shielding is what protects the area and people around the nuclear reactor from the intense, fatal radiation given off from the process of creating nuclear energy. Giant concrete walls with thick sheets of metal layered throughout the walls, is what the shielding needs to do its job*(1). The size of the power plants can be compared to a full grown blue whale.
To bring it all together, creating nuclear energy to power our homes has five main building blocks that include, nuclear fission, moderators, coolant, controls, and the shielding. So the next time you drive by one of those giant structures we call nuclear power plants, you will have a better understanding of what exactly is going on on the inside.
*(1) Wendt,
G. (1957). The prospects of nuclear power
and technology. Princeton, NJ: D Van Nostrand Company, Inc.
*(2) Novokschenov,
V. (2002). The Chernobyl problem. Civil
Engineering, 72(5), 74-83. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail
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