Pressurized water reactors power plant

It has been proposed that some of the natural uranium needed to fuel a pressurized-water nuclear power plant be obtained by extracting uranium from seawater used to cool the plant. If the seawater temperature rise is lO C and the reactor and fuel-cycle conditions are as given in Frg. 3.31, how many kilograms of uranium per year could be recovered at 80 percent yield from cooling water What fraction is this of the armual fuel requirement of the reactor ... 

Mihama-3 is an 826 MW Mitsubishi-built pressurized water reactor (PWR) plant situated in Mihama, Japan, 320 km west of Tokyo. The carbon steel pipe carried the high-temperature steam at high pressure and the pipe was not inspected since the inception of the plant in 1976. In April 2003, Nihon Arm, a maintenance subconttac-tor informed Kansai Electric Power Company, the plant owner, that there could be a problem. Then the power company scheduled an ultrasonic inspection for August 2004. Four days before the scheduled inspection, superheated steam blew the 60-cm wide hole in the pipe. The steam that escaped was not in contact with the nuclear reactor and hence no nuclear contamination has been reported. 

In most of the nuclear power plants in operation today, the heat generating unit is a pressurized water reactor 246 plants totalling about 227 GW electrical power were in operation by the end of 1994, a further 39 plants with about 39 GWe were... 

Fig. 1. Pressurized water reactor (PWR) coolant system having U-tube steam generators typical of the 3—4 loops in nuclear power plants. PWR plants having once-through steam generators contain two reactor coolant pump-steam generator loops. CVCS = chemical and volume-control system.

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI 1981) conducted a survey of transuranic radionuclides in the terrestrial environs of nuclear power plants in the United States in 1978-1979. The plants included two pressurized water reactors (PWRs) and two BWRs that were of modem design and had been in operation at least 3 years. The 241 Am air concentrations around all of the power plants were extremely low and indistinguishable from fallout background... 

The nuclear plants now operating in the U.S. are light water reactors, which use water as both a moderator and coolant. These are sometimes called Generation II reactors. In these Generation II Pressurized Water Reactors, the water circulates through the core where it is heated by the nuclear chain reaction. The hot water is turned into steam at a steam generator and the steam is used by a turbine generator to produce electric power. 

All over the world, 432 nuclear power reactors are under operation and more than 36 GW of electricity could be produced as of December 31, 2001. There are several types of reactors such as boiling water reactor (BWR), pressurized water reactor (PWR), Canada deuterium uranium (CANDU), and others. In these reactors, light water is normally used not only as a coolant, but also as a moderator. On the contrary, in CANDU reactors, heavy water is taken. It is widely known that the quality control of coolant water, the so-called water chemistry, is inevitably important for keeping the integrity of the plant. 

Fig. 35. Sectional view of the 600 MWe pressurized water reactor (PWR) expected to be operational by 1995. Considered the PWR of the future, the plant is designed for a minimum useful life span of 60 years and features numerous economic and safety features, including passive systems for ultimate protection. (Joint project of Westinghou.se, the Electric Power Research Institute, and the (J.S. Department of Energy)...

France owns a major nuclear power plant program for electricity production (more than 70% of total production). Both reactors for civil and defence programs are pressurized water reactors, with similar fissile materials. 

Nuclear power plants in the United States use light water moderated nuclear reactors (LWR) that produce the steam to generate electricity. The fuel elements for boiling water reactors and pressurized water reactors (PWR) are nearly the same. The fuel is uranium dioxide enriched with 3 % and this produces a nearly uniform spent fuel, which would be the feed for domestic fuel reprocessing. 

To relate these resource estimates to nuclear electric generation, it may be noted that a 1000-MWe pressurized-water reactor operating at 80 percent capacity factor without recycle, on uranium enriched to 3.3 w/o (weight percent) U in an enrichment plant stripping natural uranium to 0.3 w/o U, consumes around 200 MT of uranium per year. Thus the U.S. resource estimate of 1758 thousand MT available at less than 50/lb UgOg would keep a 300,000-MWe nuclear power industry in fuel for... 

A concept of an evolutionary reactor is pursued with the joint French / German European Pressurized Water Reactor , EPR, a 1525 MW(e) plant with evolutionary steam generating system and innovative double-walled containment [20]. A three years basic design phase as a prerequisite for the beginning of the licensing procedure was finished in 1997. The characteristic feature is a core catcher to restrict a possible core melt to the power plant itself. The joint effort by Germany ind France, however, finds in both countries a situation where no further base load is required. The EPR, confirmed as a future standard in France, is projected to substitute decommissioned nuclear plants. 

An example is the SCC of stainless steel at 200 °C in a caustic solution or in aerated chloride solution where no traces of dissolution are visible on the crack face. The three conditions, namely, tensile stress, susceptible sample material, and a corrosive environment are the conditions necessary for stress corrosion to take place (73, 90). For instance, SCC of metals has been by far the most prevalent cause of failure of steam generator components in pressurized water reactors (PWRs) to an extent of 69% of all cases, piping in boiling water reactors (59.7%) and PWRs (23.7%). More than 60% of inspected steam turbines in nuclear power plants have disks with stress corrosion cracks (91). 

The total cost of electricity sold in the United States in 1998 was 3.24 million gigawatt hours at a cost to consumers of 218.4 billion. The electricity generation plants use fossil fuel, nuclear, hydroelectric, cogeneration, geothermal, solar, and wind energies. The major players are fossil and nuclear steam supply systems. The two types of nuclear reactors are boiling water and pressurized water reactors. Some relevant data on the costs of corrosion estimated in 1998 are as follows nuclear facilities 1,546 billion fossil fuel sector 1,214 billion transmission and distribution 607 million hydraulic and other power 66 million. The total cost of corrosion in the electrical utilities industry in 1998 is estimated at 6,889 billion/year. 

Two-circuit reactor plant (RP) with a vessel-type pressurized water reactor is used for floating power unit of nuclear head and power station. Basic RP components reactor, steam generators and primary coolant pumps are incorporated by pressure nozzles in a compact steam-generating block. KLT-40C RP characteristics are given in Table 1. 

PWRs and BWRs were earlier being developed for naval and civilian purposes in the industrially developed countries. Whereas in Russia naval pressurized water reactors have been known since longer time to be utilized in icebreakers and container ships. Earlier this year, presentations of Russian representatives were explaining these technologies for stationary (inland) as well as floating power plants of PWR type to the BATAN and general audiences in Indonesia. 

German risk study nuclear power plants (phases A and B) (1979) [24] and (1990) [25] Nuclear power station Biblis B (pressurized water reactor)... 

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