MODULE -2

Nuclear Power Plant

Syllabus:Introduction, Economics of nuclear plants, Merits and

demerits, selection of site, Nuclear reaction, Nuclear fission process,
Nuclear chain reaction, Nuclear energy, Nuclear fuels, Nuclear plant
and layout, Nuclear reactor and its control, Classification of reactors,
power reactors in use, Effects of nuclear plants, Disposal of nuclear
waste and effluent, shielding.

Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

S.G.Balekundri Institute of Technology,
1 Belagavi 2
Nuclear Reactor and Control

 Nuclear reactor is a part of Nuclear power plant where fuel is subjected to

nuclear fission process and energy is released.
 The main function of reactor is to control the emission and absorption of
neutrons.
1. Fuel Rods: A fuel rod is a tube filled with pallets of uranium, normally used
fuel in reactor are U-235, Pu-235,U-233
2. Reactor Core:
 It contains number of fuel rods made of fissile material .As the uranium gets
oxidized rapidly ,the fuel rods should be clad with aluminum, stainless steel or
zirconium .
 The size of core, just sufficient to maintain chain reaction is the ‘critical’ size .It
is desirable to use core as cubical or cylindrical in shape rather than spherical.
 Within this configuration, the core has series of parallel fuel elements in the
form of thin plates or small rods with the coolant flowing axially and additional
moderator or reflector material surrounding the assembly.
3. Moderator:
 The moderator of a nuclear reactor is a substance that slows down neutrons. In
traditional nuclear reactors, the moderator is the same thing as the coolant: its
water!
 Ordinary water and heavy water are the commonly used moderators.
 A good moderator slows down neutrons by elastic collisions and it does not
remove them by absorption.
 The moderator is present in the space between the fuel rods in a channel.
Graphite is also used as a moderator in some countries.
4.Control Rods:
 The control rods are used to control the chain reaction. They are very good
absorbers of neutrons.
 The commonly used control rods are made up of elements like boron or
cadmium.
 The control rods are inserted into the core and they pass through the space in
between the fuel tubes and through the moderator.
 By pushing them in or pulling out, the reaction rate can be controlled.
5.Coolant:
 The cooling system removes the heat generated in the reactor core.
 Ordinary water, heavy water and liquid sodium are the commonly used
coolants.
 A good coolant must possess large specific heat capacity and high boiling
point.
 The coolant passes through the tubes containing the fuel bundle and carries the
heat from the fuel rods to the steam generator through heat exchanger.
 The steam runs the turbines to produce electricity in power reactors.
6.Reflector:
 A reflector is a region of unfuelled material surrounding the core.
 Its function is to scatter neutrons that leak from the core, thereby returning
some of them back into the core.
 This conserve nuclear fuel ,as the low speed neutrons thus returned are useful
in continuing the chain reaction.
7.Shielding:
 The shielding is usually constructed from iron and helps in giving protection
from the deadly alpha and beta particle radiation and ꝩ rays as well as
neutrons given off by the process of fission within the reactor
8.Reactor vessel:
 A reactor core ,reflector and thermal shielding are all enclosed in the main
body of the reactor and is called reactor vessel or tank.
 Its is strong walled container and provides the entrance and exit for the
coolant.
 The reactor core is usually placed at the bottom of the vessel.
Effect of Nuclear Power Plant:
 A nuclear reactor produces α-rays, β-rays, γ-rays and neutrons
which can disturb the normal working of living organisms, and
thus calls for special safety measures.
 α- rays are heavy particles carrying positive charge and can
cause internal hazard if ingested.
 β-rays have greater penetrating power, as compared to α-rays,
due to their smaller size. Overexposure to β-rays can cause skin
burns and repeated overexposure may result in malignant
growth.
 γ-rays are electromagnetic radiations of very short wavelength,
have high energy and are very penetrating. They are capable of
causing considerable-damage, especially to organic materials.
 Overexposure to γ-rays causes the blood diseases, undesirable
genetic effects, anaemia etc.
 Larger exposure may cause death within hours, of exposure.
The biological effects of nuclear radiations depend upon:
(i) Amount of dose absorbed
(ii) Time duration of exposure
(iii) Sensitivity and recovery of recipient organism, and
(iv) Distribution of active material within body.
 A long time exposure to even a small dose may not cause any immediate
effect but leads to delayed effects such as shortening of life, leukemia,
genetic effects etc .
 Nuclear power stations are surrounded by a sanitary protective zone to
minimize the risk of irradiation of the population within such a zone.
 It is prohibited to build residential buildings, children houses and auxiliary
buildings not related to the concerned power plant.
 The level of radiation of this territory is checked periodically. In nuclear
power plants, there are three main sources of radioactive contaminating of
air.
 The first source is the fission of nuclei of solid or gaseous nuclear fuels.
 Gaseous fission fragments which are more likely to enter the air include
inert gases, such as Xenon, Crypton etc., and radioactive iodine.
 The second source is due to the effect of neutron fluxes on the heat carrier
in the primary cooling system and on the ambient air.
 Among the components of air, an inert gas, argon-40 is the most prone to
activation.
 It may form a radioactive isotope argon-41 with the half-life period of 1-82
hours.
 Induced activity can appear in the dust present in the air.
 The third source is damage of shells of fuel elements or the presence of
activated inert gases and aerosols in heat carrier leakages.
Disposal of Nuclear Waste and Effluent:
 Solid radioactive wastes arise from used filters, sludge from the cooling ponds,
pieces of discarded fuel element cans, splitters etc.
 These, along with discarded items of plant such as control rods have to be
stored on site in shielded concrete vaults.
 There are many ways for disposing of the solid fission products.
 The storing in shielded storage vaults consists in fixing the solid waste in
borosilicate glass and then storage of this glass in leak tight capsules.
 These capsules or vaults can then be stored in deep salt mines or in deep wells
drilled in the stable ocean floor.
 Deep salt mines are suggested because the presence of the salt pockets indicates
that there has been no ground water in the vicinity for thousands of years.
 Sometimes, suitable containers are filled with radioactive waste and sunk to the
bottom of seas and oceans.
 However, this method does not completely prevent the radioactivity from
leading into the water.
 Another way of disposal is the separation and transmutation of the long-lived
isotopes to short-lived or stable products following neutron absorption in a
breeder or fusion reactor.
 The possibility of firing these longs- lived products into the sun or into a long-term
stable orbit is also being considered.
 Radioactive liquid effluents arise from the laundry, personal decontamination, etc.
together with activity accumulating from the corrosion of the irradiated fuel elements
in the storage ponds, before discharging to sea, where enormous dilution takes place,
the effluent is passed through ion exchange resins which absorb a large proportion of
activity.
 The final levels of any particular isotope in the sea will be well below the maximum
drinking water level.
 It is safe enough to store radioactive waste underground in liquid form in suitable
tanks or in reduction to clinker.
 Clinkering serves a two- fold purpose of improving the protection and reducing the
volume of waste.
 A promising method is known as “solidifying” the liquid radioactive waste through
heat up and evaporation.
 The current technology enables 1,000 litres of highly radioactive liquid waste to be
processed into less than 0.01 m3 of solid waste.
 The solid waste is put into sealed metal containers suitable for storage in deep salt
mines.
 Gaseous effluents are filtered before discharging into atmosphere.
 Moreover, the filtered gas is discharged at high levels so that it is dispersed
properly.
 The probability of fire in the reactor fuel channel is extremely low.
 However, if fire breaks out, large volumes of gaseous fission products may be
released.
 So it is necessary to have a clean-up plant through which these products can be
passed for removal of radioactive iodine which is the major hazard.
 It is essential to monitor the loss of CO2 from the reactor to ensure that this loss
does not exceed about 1 ton per day.
 It is also necessary to check the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere near the
reactor. Proper precautions against toxic and radiological hazards are necessary.
Shielding:
 Adequate shielding is necessary to guard personnel and delicate instruments.
 The various materials used for shielding are lead, concrete, steel and cadmium.
 Lead is a common shielding material and is invariably employed due to its low
cost.
 Concrete is another shielding material having efficiency lesser than that of
lead.
 Steel is not an efficient shielding material but has good structural properties
and is sometimes employed as an attenuating shield.
 Cadmium is capable of absorbing slow neutrons by a nuclear reaction.
 The effectiveness of a shielding material depends mostly on the density of
material (lead-11,300 kg/m3; concrete-2,400 kg/m3; steel-7,800 kg/m3;
cadmium- 8,650 kg/m3).
 No single material is effective in shielding radiations of different kinds.
 A material containing hydrogen, e.g., water or polythene is used to slow
down fast neutrons, boron or steel is employed for absorption of thermal
neutrons.
 A heavy material like lead is required to act as a thermal shield and to absorb
gamma rays.
 In nuclear power reactors a thermal shield of thickness of several cms of
steel surrounded by about 3 m thick concrete is used.
 Water, in concrete, slows down fast neutrons while iron, barium or steel
turnings are mixed in concrete to attenuate gamma rays and absorb thermal
neutrons.
1. Boiling Water Reactor (BWR):
 This is the simplest type of water reactor.
 It has a steel pressure vessel surrounded by a concrete shield.
 Fuel used is enriched uranium oxide.
 Ordinary water is used both as moderator and coolant.
 The steam is generated in the reactor itself.
 Feed water enters the reactor vessel at the bottom and takes the heat
produced due to fission of fuel and gets converted into steam.
 This steam leaves the reactor at the top and after passing through turbine and
condenser returns to the reactor.
 Uranium fuel elements are arranged in a particular lattice form inside the
pressure vessel containing water.
 A BWR assembly comprises 90-100 fuel rods and there are up to 750
assemblies in a core holding up to 140 tonnes of uranium.
 The secondary control system involves restricting water flow through the
core so that more steam in top part reduces moderation.
 Most of the radioactivity in the water is very short lived (mostly N-16, with a
7 second half life), so the turbine hall can be entered soon after the reactor is
shut down.
2. Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR):
 It is a thermal reactor, using enriched uranium oxide, clad in zinc alloy as
fuel.
 A PWR has fuel assemblies of 200-300 rods each, arranged vertically in the
core, and a large reactor would have about 150-250 fuel assemblies with
80-100 tonnes of uranium.
 The pressure vessel is of steel.
 Water under pressure is used both as coolant and moderator.
 The pressure vessel and the heat exchanger are the hot water from the
reactor flows to a heat exchanger (or steam generator) where its heat is
transferred to the feed water to generate steam.
 The secondary cooling operates at a low pressure.
 The primary coolant then flows from the heat exchanger to the primary
circulating pump which pumps it back to the reactor.
 The steam is condensed in the condenser and the condensate returns to heat
exchanger forming a closed circuit.
 The primary circuit of a pressurized water reactor (PWR) contains a ‘pressurizer’.
 This is simply a pressure vessel with an electric heating coil at the bottom and a water
spray at the top.
 The top of the vessel is filled with steam at primary circuit pressure.
 When the primary circuit pressure decreases, the heating coil gets energized and boils the
water to form steam resulting in increase in steam content in the vessel.
 This results in the increase in pressure of the primary circuit..
 The steam generated is of rather poor quality, temperature around 250°C and pressure 42
kg/cm2.
3. Gas Cooled Reactor:
 This type of reactor employs a gas (CO2 or helium) in place of water as
the coolant and graphite as the moderator.
 A heat exchanger is necessarily required.
 Gas is circulated through the reactor core and the heat exchanger by
means of a blower or a gas compressor.
 Even though gas is inferior to water from the point of view of heat
transfer properties but it offers numerous advantages which are not
available with water.
 A large quantity of gas is required, due to poor heat transfer qualities, for
circulation resulting in increased power consumption for auxiliaries.
 Thus, advantage of high thermal efficiency is to a large extent lost and
overall plant efficiency is low.
 Graphite, as moderator is less effective than water and would require a
large volume core in such reactors, the heat removal by gas cooling will
be better.
 The gas is circulated at a pressure of 14-28 kg/cm2.
 The tubes in the heat exchanger through which water is circulated
should have fins on their surface so as to improve the rate of heat
transfer.
4. Heavy Water Cooled and Moderated (CANDU TYPE) Reactor:
 This reactor was first developed by Canada and is, therefore, known as
CANDU type reactor.
 The word CANDU stands for Canadian Deuterium Uranium.
 These reactors make use of heavy water, composed of the heavy hydrogen
isotope, 1H2, as moderator to have maximum neutron economy and as
coolant also.
 Such reactors are meant for those countries which do not have uranium
enrichment facilities.
 Enrichment of uranium is costly affair and such reactors use natural uranium
as fuel. The primary and secondary circuits are similar to pressurized water
reactor (PWR)—the coolant heavy water is circulated in the primary circuit
and the steam is produced in the secondary circuit transferring the heat in the
heat exchanger.
 Heavy hydrogen exists in nature in the ratio 1 : 6700 as compared to ordinary
hydrogen and therefore, heavy water is very difficult and expensive to
separate from ordinary water.
 However, it is simpler to accomplish in comparison to enrichment of
uranium. Hence in some designs, heavy water is used as moderator and light
water is used in the secondary circuit.
 Control rods are not required in such reactors as the reactor control is
achieved by varying the moderator level in the reactor.
 For rapid shut down purposes the moderator can be dumped through a very
large area into a tank provided below the reactor.
 The most important advantage of such a reactor is that the heavy water has a
very low absorption cross section and it can be used as a moderator in natural
uranium thermal reactors and, therefore, the fuel need not be enriched.
 Other advantages are simpler reactor control because of absence of control
rods, high multiplication factor, low fuel consumption and much more
effectiveness in slowing down neutrons because of moderator being at low
temperature.
 It is worth-mentioning here that a major part of the equipment for this reactor
can be manufactured in the shop and period required for site construction is
also comparatively smaller.
 Its main drawbacks are the heavy cost of heavy water, problems of leakage
and very high standard design etc.