How Does A Nuclear Power Plant Produce Electricity Video
How nuclear power works.
How does a nuclear power plant produce electricity video. Coal natural gas oil and nuclear energy use their fuel to turn water into steam and use that steam to turn the turbine. So there you have it. Due to pressure inside the system the water does not boil. Did you know that 20 of america s electricity comes from nuclear power.
Nuclear plants are different because they do not burn anything to create steam. In nuclear fission atoms are split apart to form smaller atoms releasing energy. Nuclear power electricity generated by power plants that derive their heat from fission in a nuclear reactor. Except for the reactor a nuclear power plant is similar to a large coal fired power plant with pumps valves steam generators turbines electric generators condensers and associated equipment.
This hot pressurized water flows through thousands of looped pipes while a second stream of water flows around the outside of the pipes inside the steam generator. The nuclear chain reaction produces heat inside the reactor vessel and heats water to a very high temperature. In most power plants you need to spin a turbine to generate electricity. In nuclear power stations that steam is made by the heat generated from nuclear fission.
Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions that release nuclear energy to generate heat which most frequently is then used in steam turbines to produce electricity in a nuclear power plant nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are the heart of a nuclear power plant. The nuclear reaction heats the fuel the fuel heats the water to make steam the steam spins the turbine the turbine turns the generator and the generator makes electricity. Presently the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by nuclear fission of uranium.
That heat is used to make steam that spins a turbine to create electricity. They contain and control nuclear chain reactions that produce heat through a physical process called fission. Nuclear regulatory commission is an independent federal government agency responsible for regulating the commercial use of nuclear materials. Nuclear power plants heat water to produce steam.
That s an incredible stat given the fact that there are just 98 nuclear reactors operating in the united states. All power plants heat water to produce steam which turns a generator to create electricity. It s when an atom is split releasing enormous amounts of energy in the form of heat. Fission takes place inside the reactor of a nuclear power plant.
That s right 59 nuclear power plants located in 30 states are fueling the future with reliable electricity that we can use every day and all the time. The steam is used to spin large turbines that generate electricity.