Nuclear electricity power plant

Robertson DE, Thomas CW, Perkins RW, et al. 1981. Transuranium and other long-lived radionuclides in the terrestrial environs of nuclear power plants. Electric Power Research Institute, Environmental Physics and Chemistry Program, Energy Analysis and Environment Division, Palo Alto, CA. EA-2045. NTIS/DE82003074. 

Groundwater, E.H. et al (Science Applications) "Approaches to the Verification and Validation of Expert Systems for Nuclear Power Plants" Electric Power Research Institute, EPRI NP 5236, July 1987... 

INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION, Nuclear Power Plants/Electrical Equipment of the Safety System — Qualification, Rep. lEC 60780,2nd edn, lEC, Geneva (1998). 

Diesel Generator Reliability at Nuclear Power Plants Electric Power Research Institute EPRI NP-2433... 

About half of the world s nuclear power plants are from Westinghouse Electric Corporation or its Hcensees. One Westinghouse PWR design is the... 

The Westinghouse Pressuricyed Water Reactor Nuclear Power Plant, Westinghouse Electric Corp., Water Reactor Divisions, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1984. 

Nucleai energy is a principal contributor to the production of the world s electricity. As shown in Table 1, many countries are strongly dependent on nuclear energy. For some countries, more than half of the electricity is generated by nuclear means (1,3). There were 424 nuclear power plants operating worldwide as of 1995. Over 100 of these plants contributed over 20% of the electricity in the United States (see also Power generation). 

Safety provisions have proven highly effective. The nuclear power industry in the Western world, ie, outside of the former Soviet Union, has made a significant contribution of electricity generation, while surpassing the safety record of any other principal industry. In addition, the environmental record has been outstanding. Nuclear power plants produce no combustion products such as sulfuric and nitrous oxides or carbon dioxide (qv), which are... 

If possible comparisons are focused on energy systems, nuclear power safety is also estimated to be superior to all electricity generation methods except for natural gas (30). Figure 3 is a plot of that comparison in terms of estimated total deaths to workers and the pubHc and includes deaths associated with secondary processes in the entire fuel cycle. The poorer safety record of the alternatives to nuclear power can be attributed to fataUties in transportation, where comparatively enormous amounts of fossil fuel transport are involved. Continuous or daily refueling of fossil fuel plants is required as compared to refueling a nuclear plant from a few tmckloads only once over a period of one to two years. This disadvantage appHes to solar and wind as well because of the necessary assumption that their backup power in periods of no or Httie wind or sun is from fossil-fuel generation. Now death or serious injury has resulted from radiation exposure from commercial nuclear power plants in the United States (31). 

In 1956, the world s first commercial nuclear power plant started operation in England. By the 1960s, many nuclear power plants were built worldwide. At the end of the twentieth century, nuclear generating plants are used widely by U.S. electric utiHties. Since 1984, these plants have provided the second largest share of total U.S. electricity generation, 21% of annual GW-h generated, behind coal-fired power plants (see Nuclearreactors). 

CSM is extensively used in constmction and electrical appHcations. This includes roofing membranes, automotive ignition boots and wire, toU compounds, and in some automotive hoses requiring good heat and oil resistance, eg, air conditioning and power steering. It is also used in nuclear power plants because of its exceUent resistance to radiation degradation. 

The demand for uranium ia the commercial sector is primarily determined by the consumption and inventory requirements of nuclear power reactors. In March 1997, there were 433 nuclear power plants operating worldwide with a combined capacity of about 345 GWe (net gigawatts electric)... 

Electric Power Generation. Coal is the primary fuel for thermal electric power generation. Since 1940 the quantity of bituminous coal consumed by electric utilities has grown substantially in each successive decade, and this growth is expected to continue for many years. Coal consumed by electric utilities increased from about 536 x 10 t in 1981 to 689 x 10 t in 1989 (2). The reasons for increased coal demand include availability, relative stability of decreasing coal prices, and lack of problems with spent fuel disposal as experienced in nuclear power plants (see Nuclearreactors). 

Fig. 28-3. Trojan nuclear power plant. Source Portland General Electric Company.

Many activities are presented but the benefits of cadi are not the same. For example, there is no viable alternative to air travel, but there are alternatives to producing electricity with nuclear power plants. A better comparison would be between alternative methods for producing the same quantity. This was not done because the authors of WASH-1400 wanted to relate the risk of national nuclear power usage to risks with which the public is more familiar. 

Societal risks to life and health from nuclear power plant operation should be comparable to or less than the risks of generating electricity by viable competing technologies and should not be a significant addition to other societal risks. ... 

The use of component logic models to build system fault logic has been discussed by several authors for chemical and electrical systems (Powers and Thompkins, 1974 Fussell, 197.S and Powers and Lapp, 1976). In addition, generic sabotage fault trees have been used for some time in the analysis of security concerns for nuclear power plants (NUREG /CR-0809, NUREG/CR. 121,... 

L If a nuclear power plant loses its connection to the offsite load, it must shutdown because it cannot be cutback sufficiently that its electrical output matches its "hotel" load. Outline a PSA study to determine the risk reduction that might be achieved by switching in a dummy load to avoid shutdown and keep the plant online. 

Kinkade, R. G., Anderson, J. (1984). Human Factors Guide for Nuclear Power Plant Control Room Development, Electric Power Research Institute NP-3659. 

Determination of Reliability Characteristic Factors in the Nuclear Power Plant Biblis B, Gesellschaft fur Reaktorsicherheit mbH Nuclear Failure rates with upper and lower bounds and maintenance data for 17,000 components from 37 safety systems Data for pumps, valves, and electrical positioning devices, electric motors and drives from an operating power plant 66. 

Electrical, instrumentatfon, and mechanical gO. components in nuclear power plants... 

Operating Experience and Aging-Seismic Assessment of Electric Motors Nuclear Over 500 events representing occurrences of electric motor failure in nuclear power plants Failures of electric motors 98. 

The aforementioned reviews and assessments were assimilated to characterize the effect of dielectric, rotational, and mechanical hazards on motor performance and operational readiness. Functional indicators were identified that can be monitored to assess motor component deterioration caused by aging or other accidental stressors. The study also includes a preliminary discussion of current standards and guides, maintenance programs, and research activities pertaining to nuclear power plant safety-related electric motors. Included are motor manufacturer recommendations, responses from repair facilities to a questionnaire, in-service inspection data, expert knowledge, USNRC-IE audit reports, and standards and guides published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). 

The World Bank grants financing for fossil fuel electricity generation, yet finances only facilities that have advanced emission control equipment. And although the World Bank has never financed a nuclear power plant, a zero carbon emitter, it is vciy active in evaluating hydropower projects, helping to establish the World Commission on Large Dams. 

The energy from nuclear fission is released mainly as kinetic energy of the new, smaller nuclei and neutrons that are produced. This kinetic energy is essentially heat, which is used to boil water to generate steam that turns turbines to drive electrical generators. In a nuclear power plant, the electrical generation area is essentially the same as in a plant that burns fossil fuels to boil the water. 

A nuclear power plant generates electricity in a manner similar to a fossil fuel plant. The fundamental difference is the source of heat to create the steam that turns the turbine-generator. A fossil plant relies on the combustion of natural resources (coal, oil) to create steam. A nuclear reactor creates steam with the heat produced from a controlled chain reaction of nuclear fission (the splitting of atoms). 

Plutonium-239 is a fissile element, and vvill split into fragments when struck by a neutron in the nuclear reactor. This makes Pu-239 similar to U-235, able to produce heat and sustain a controlled nuclear reaction inside the nuclear reactor. Nuclear power plants derive over one-third of their power output from the fission of Pu-239. Most of the uranium inside nuclear fuel is U-238. Only a small fraction is the fissile U-235. Over the life cycle of the nuclear fuel, the U-238 changes into Pu-239, which continues to provide nuclear energy to generate electricity. 

When the power is a large number, as in the case of an electric power plant, it is convenient to express the power in megawatts (MW) where one megawatt equals one million watts. An electric power of 1,000,000,000 watts would be expressed as 1,000 MW. A large coal-burning or nuclear power plant produces about 1,000 MW of electric power. The sum total of the electric power produced by all electric power plants is expressed m units of gigawatts (GW). One gigawatt equals one billion watts. An electric power of 1,000,000,000,000 watts would be expressed as 1,000 GW. 

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