United Kingdom nuclear power generation

As mentioned earlier, the advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR) represents the second generation of reactors in the United Kingdom nuclear power program, which is planned to provide a total generating capacity of 8600 MWe in seven twin-reactor stations. Typical features of the planned reactors of the AGR type include the following ... 

Fluorine was first produced commercially ca 50 years after its discovery. In the intervening period, fluorine chemistry was restricted to the development of various types of electrolytic cells on a laboratory scale. In World War 11, the demand for uranium hexafluoride [7783-81-5] UF, in the United States and United Kingdom, and chlorine trifluoride [7790-91 -2J, CIF, in Germany, led to the development of commercial fluorine-generating cells. The main use of fluorine in the 1990s is in the production of UF for the nuclear power industry (see Nuclearreactors). However, its use in the preparation of some specialty products and in the surface treatment of polymers is growing. 

During the atomic energy developments in the World War II years and for a period thereafter, ihe United States, ihe United Kingdom, and Canada cooperated closely and many of the nuclear scientists of these countries appreciated the merits of heavy water as a moderator. Each of these countries pursued some development of HWRs for commercial power generation, but at different paces and dedication. Only Canada took to the HWR for commercial power generation. See Figs. 25 and 26. 

The United States derived about 20 percent of its electricity from nuclear energy in 2002 (EIA, Electric Power Monthly, 2003). The 103 power reactors operating today have a total capacity of nearly 100 gigawatts electric (GWe) and constitute about 13 percent of the installed U.S. electric generation capacity. The current U.S. plants use water as the coolant and neutron moderator (hence called light-water reactors, or LWRs) and rely on the steam Rankine cycle as the thermal-to-electrical power conversion cycle. Other countries use other technologies—notably C02-cooled reactors in the United Kingdom and heavy-water-cooled reactors (HWRs) in Canada and India. 

Nuclear Power Industry. The nuclear-based power industry that has emerged in the United States, United Kingdom, France, and more than twenty other countries around the globe encompasses more than 440 nuclear power plants and produces nearly one-fifth of the world s electrical output. Moreover, despite a slowdown in the construction of new plants, the slighdy more than 100 U.S. nuclear power stations still generate more electricity than any fuel source and have assisted with the electrical needs of a steadily growing population. 

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