What is nuclear energy simply explained?

What is nuclear energy simply explained?

Atomic energy is obtained by splitting the nucleus of certain atoms. The facility for this is called a nuclear power plant or nuclear power plant. The abbreviation is AKW or KKW. Such power plants have been used on a large scale for electricity production since the 1950s.

What is the difference between a nuclear power plant and a nuclear power plant?

A nuclear power plant (KKW), also atomic power plant (AKW), is a thermal power plant for the production of electrical energy from nuclear energy by controlled nuclear fission (fission). Larger nuclear power plants consist of several blocks that generate electricity independently of one another. Each block contains a nuclear reactor.

Where is nuclear energy used in technology?

Applications of nuclear engineering. Nuclear energy is mainly used to generate electrical energy. Nuclear power plants are responsible for generating electricity. Nuclear fission reactions are generated in the nuclear reactors of the nuclear power plants.

What is split in a nuclear power plant?

Two processes take place simultaneously in the reactor: On the one hand, the fission of plutonium-239 supplies energy, and on the other hand, plutonium-239 is bred as a new fissile material from non-fissile uranium-238 through bombardment with fast neutrons ”.

What’s in the fuel rods?

Fuel rods in nuclear power plants are tubes filled with the fuel intended for nuclear fission (usually uranium dioxide pressed in tablet form or mixed oxide containing both uranium dioxide and plutonium dioxide).

What is produced in a nuclear power plant?

In the nuclear power plant, electricity is generated by fission. By splitting the uranium, water is heated and water vapor is obtained. The steam in turn drives a turbine that is coupled to a generator; this generator generates the electricity in the nuclear power plant.

How is a fuel rod made?

The resulting powder is pressed into tablets (pellets) 2 to 3 cm in length and 1 cm in diameter. These are sintered to ceramic material at around 1700 ° C, mechanically reworked (ground) and filled into 4 to 5 m long ducts made of zircaloy. The ends of the ducts are welded shut.

What happens in a nuclear power plant, easily explained?

Ordinary steam turbines generate the electricity in a nuclear power plant, while the heat for the steam generation is generated by nuclear fission. Every nuclear power plant has a nuclear and a conventional part. In the nuclear part, fission is used to generate heat and heat water to generate water vapor.

What does the cooling tower in the nuclear power plant do?

How the cooling towers worked Nuclear power plants are – just like coal and gas power plants – so-called thermal power plants. The heat generated converts water into hot steam. The steam, in turn, is directed to turbines that drive a generator that converts kinetic energy into electricity.

Why do you need a cooling tower?

However, if the water supply is insufficient or if there is a risk of inadmissible warming of the water due to the reintroduction of the cooling water, a cooling tower must be erected. When this vapor condenses on cooler layers of air, the typical white cooling tower swaths are created.

What do cooling towers do?

A cooling tower (also known as a recooling plant) is a system that uses a heat exchanger to remove excess or technically no longer usable heat from power plant or industrial processes.

Why are there two water cycles in a nuclear power plant?

Why are there three separate water cycles in a nuclear power plant? Because every water cycle has to fulfill a different function: The water in the 1st. This now radioactively contaminated water brings the water of the 2nd, which is located in a steam generator.

What is the role of water in a nuclear power plant?

In addition to moderation, water has a second function in light water reactors: it also serves as a coolant and transports energy in the form of heat from the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) to the turbines.

How is the heat generated in a nuclear power plant?

A nuclear power plant essentially consists of two parts: In the nuclear part, heat is generated by fission. In the conventional part, the heat is converted into electricity. Cooling towers are therefore not unique to nuclear power plants – they are also used in coal and gas power plants.

How does a fuel rod work?

The fuel rod cladding separates the nuclear fuel from the coolant of the reactor and prevents fuel and fission products from getting into the coolant. It is thus one of the nested barriers to hold back the radioactive substances.

How long can fuel rods radiate?

About one percent of the spent fuel consists of these highly radioactive isotopes. They emit radiation for a very long time and have half-lives between tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of years.

How are fuel rods cooled?

To do this, the fuel rods first have to “decay” – which happens in so-called decay basins. The fuel rods are then further cooled in the fading basin – with water.

What parts does a fuel assembly contain, what are they used for?

Fuel assemblies for pressurized water reactors consist of a bundle of individual fuel rods, between which guide tubes are also provided for the control rods introduced from above. Such a fuel assembly can e.g. B. consist of 236 fuel rods and 20 control rod guide tubes in a 16 × 16 arrangement.

What are the fuel assemblies?

The fuel assemblies are essential components of a nuclear reactor and, together with the other internals, form the reactor core. They contain the nuclear fuel. The rods contain the nuclear fuel, mostly uranium oxide in the form of cylindrical pellets.

Where do fuel rods come from?

The WDR has researched where the fuel elements come from, with which the Tihange nuclear power plant is kept alive. The fuel elements required have actually been coming from Germany for a few months.