NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS

Nuclear power plants are thought to be the solution for bulk power generation. The present day atomic power plants work on the principle of nuclear fission of ²³⁵U. In the natural uranium, ²³⁵U constitutes only 0.72% and remaining parts is constituted by 99.27% of ²³⁸U and only about 0.05% of ²³⁴U. The concentration of ²³⁵U may be increased to 90% by gas diffusion process to obtain enriched ²³⁵U. When ²³⁵U is bombarded by neutrons a lot of heat energy along with additional neutrons are produced. These new neutrons further bombard ²³⁵U producing more heat and more neutrons. Thus a chain reaction sets up. However this reaction is allowed to take place in a controlled manner inside a closed chamber called nuclear reactor. To ensure sustainable chain reaction, moderator and control rods are used. Moderators such as heavy water (deuterium) or very pure carbon ¹²C are used to reduce the speed of neutrons. To control the number neutrons, control rods made of cadmium or boron steel are inserted inside the reactor. The control rods can absorb neutrons. If we want to decrease the number neutrons, the control rods are lowered down further and vice versa. The heat generated inside the reactor is taken out of the chamber with the help of a coolant such as liquid sodium or some gaseous fluids. The coolant gives up the heat to water in heat exchanger to convert it to steam as shown in figure. The steam then drives the turbo set and the exhaust steam from the turbine is cooled and fed back to the heat exchanger with the help of water feed pump. Calculation shows that to produce 1000 MW of electrical power in coal based thermal plant, about 6 × 10⁶ Kg of coal is to be burnt daily while for the same amount of power, only about 2.5 Kg of ²³⁵U is to be used per day in a nuclear power stations.

The initial investment required to install a nuclear power station is quite high but running cost is low. Although, nuclear plants produce electricity without causing air pollution, it remains a dormant source of radiation hazards due to leakage in the reactor. Also the used fuel rods are to be carefully handled and disposed off as they still remain radioactive. The reserve of ²³⁵U is also limited and can’t last longer if its consumption continues at the present rate. Naturally search for alternative fissionable material continues. For example, plutonium (²³⁹Pu) and (²³³U) are fissionable. Although they are not directly available. Absorbing neutrons, ²³⁸U gets converted to fissionable plutonium ²³⁹Pu in the atomic reactor described above. The used fuel rods can be further processed to extract ²³⁹Pu from it indirectly increasing the availability of fissionable fuel. Effort is also on to convert thorium into fissionable ²³³U. Incidentally.