Presentation on:

“ADVANCED NUCLEAR POWER”

Document By
SANTOSH BHARADWAJ REDDY
Email: help@matlabcodes.com
Engineeringpapers.blogspot.com
More Papers and Presentations available on above site
ABSTRACT

Nuclear power is the controlled use of nuclear reactions to release energy for work including
propulsion, heat, and the generation of electricity. Human use of nuclear power to do significant useful
work is currently limited to nuclear fission and radioactive decay.

Nuclear energy is produced when a fissile material, such as uranium-235 (235U), is concentrated
such that nuclear fission takes place in a controlled chain reaction and creates heat — which is used to
boil water, produce steam, and drive a steam turbine. The turbine can be used for mechanical work
and also to generate electricity. Nuclear power is used to power most military submarines and aircraft
carriers and provides 7% of the world’s energy 15.7% of the world’s electricity.

International research is ongoing into various safety improvements, the use of nuclear fusion
and additional uses such as the generation of hydrogen (in support of hydrogen economy schemes), for
desalinating sea water, and for use in district heating systems.

Critics, including most major environmental groups, believe nuclear power is an uneconomic,
unsound and potentially dangerous energy source, especially compared to renewable energy, and
dispute whether the costs and risks can be reduced through new technology.

Our paper deals with history, the various reactor types, life cycle, economy, future
developments, various atomic energy groups, and finally the conclusion.
INTRODUCTION
Nuclear energy uses an abundant, widely
distributed fuel, and mitigates the greenhouse effect
if used to replace fossil-fuel-derived electricity. The
use of nuclear power is controversial because of the
problem of storing radioactive waste for indefinite
periods, the potential for possibly severe radioactive
contamination by accident or sabotage, and the
possibility that its use in some countries could lead
to the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Proponents believe that these risks are small and
can be further reduced by the technology in the new
reactors. They further claim that the safety record is
already good when compared to other fossil-fuel
plants that it releases much less radioactive waste
than coal power, and that nuclear power is a
sustainable energy source.
HISTORY
The first successful experiment with nuclear fission
was conducted in 1938 in Berlin by the German
physicists Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner and Fritz
Strassmann .During the Second World War, a
number of nations embarked on crash programs to
develop nuclear energy, focusing first on the
development of nuclear reactors. The first self-
sustaining nuclear chain reaction was obtained at
the University of Chicago by Enrico Fermi on
December2, 1942
. On June 27, 1954, the world's first
.
nuclear power plant to generate electricity for a
power grid started operations at Obninsk, USSR.
The reactor was graphite moderated; water cooled
and had a capacity of 5 megawatts (MW).
The world's first commercial nuclear
power station, Calder Hall in Sellafield, England
was opened in 1956, a gas-cooled Magnox reactor
with an initial capacity of 50 MW (later 200 MW).
REACTOR TYPES
CURRENT TECHNOLOGY
There are 2 types of nuclear-reactors in current
use.
• The nuclear fission reactor produces heat
through a controlled nuclear chain reaction
in a critical mass of fissile material.
All current nuclear power plants are critical fission
reactors, which are the focus of this article. There
are several subtypes of critical fission reactors,
which can be classified as
• Generation I,
• Generation II
 • Generation III. repository (3) for geological disposition. In
reprocessing 95% of spent fuel can be recycled to
All reactors will be compared to the
Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR), as that is the
standard modern reactor design.
The following are the nuclear fission reactors.
• Pressurized Water Reactor. (PWR)
• Boiled water reactor.(BWR)
• Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor. (PHWR)
• RBMKs.
• Gas cooled Reactor. (GCR)
• Advanced Gas cooled Reactor. (AGCR).
SPENT FUEL STORAGE POOL
• Super Critical Water-cooled Reactor.
be returned to usage in a power plant (4). A nuclear
(SCWR)
reactor is only a small part of the life-cycle for
• Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor.
nuclear power.
(LMFBR)The radioisotope thermoelectric
generator produces heat through passive. WE ARE GOING TO DISCUSS
LIFE CYCLE IN BRIEF ABOUT TWO TYPES
OF REACTORS

• Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor

• Advanced Gas cooled Reactor. (AGCR).

• Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor

(PHWR or CANDU).

The Nuclear Fuel Cycle begins when uranium is
mined, enriched, and manufactured into nuclear
fuel, (1) which is delivered to a nuclear power plant.
After usage in the power plant, the spent fuel is
delivered to a reprocessing plant (2) or to a final
A pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) is a
nuclear power reactor that uses unenriched natural
uranium as its fuel and heavy water as a moderator
(deuterium oxide D2O). The heavy water is kept
under pressure in order to raise its boiling point,
allowing it to be heated to higher temperatures and
thereby carry more heat out of the reactor core.
While heavy water is expensive, the reactor can
operate without expensive fuel enrichment
facilities thus balancing the costs.
OPERATION:
In the CANDU-based design, heavy water is
contained in a large tank called a calandria. Several
hundred horizontal or vertical pressure tubes form
channels for the fuel penetrate the calandria, which
contain the nuclear fuel and are a part of the
primary heat transport loop. The heat transport
fluid flowing through the pressure tubes (usually
heavy water, but also light water or oil in the past)
and the heavy water in the calandria are separate
and do not mix. As in the pressurised light water
reactor, the primary coolant generates steam in a
secondary circuit to drive the turbines. The
pressure tubes containing the fuel rods can be
individually opened, and the . fuel rods changed
without taking the reactor out of service.
PURPOSE OF USING HEAVY WATER
The "trick" to making a working reactor is to slow
some of the neutrons to the point where their
probability of causing nuclear fission in 235U
increases to a level that permits a sustained chain
reaction in the uranium as a whole. Water makes
an excellent moderator; the hydrogen atoms in the
water molecules are very close in mass to a single
neutron, and thus have a potential for high energy
transfer, similar conceptually to the collision of
two billiard balls. However, in addition to being a
good moderator, water is also fairly effective at
absorbing neutrons. Using water as a moderator
will absorb enough neutrons that there will be too
few left over to react with the small amount of 235U
in the fuel, again precluding criticality in natural
uranium. The use of heavy water moderator is the
key to the PHWR system, enabling the use of
natural uranium as fuel.
• ADVANCED GAS-COOLED
REACTOR (AGR)
An Advanced Gas Cooled Reactor (AGR) is a
type of nuclear reactor. These are the second
generation of British gas-cooled reactors, using
graphite as the neutron moderator and carbon
dioxide as coolant. The AGR was developed
from the Magnox reactor, operating at a higher
gas temperature for improved efficiency, and
using enriched uranium fuel so requiring less
frequent refueling. All AGR power stations are
configured with two reactors, each reactor with
a power output of between 555 MW and 625
MW.
The fuel is uranium dioxide pellets, enriched to
2.5-3.5%, in stainless steel tubes. The original
design concept of the AGR was to use a
beryllium based cladding. When this proved
unsuitable, the enrichment level of the fuel was
raised to allow for the higher neutron capture
losses of stainless steel cladding. This
significantly increased the cost of the power
produced by an AGR.
The carbon dioxide coolant circulates through
the core, reaching 640°C and a pressure of
around 40 bar, and then passes through boiler
(steam generator) assemblies outside the core
but still within the steel lined, reinforced
concrete pressure vessel. Control rods penetrate
the graphite moderator and a secondary
shutdown system involves injecting nitrogen
into the coolant or releasing boron ball
shutdown devices.
The AGR has a good thermal efficiency
(electricity generated/heat generated ratio) of
about 41%, which is better than modern
pressurized water reactors which have a typical
thermal efficiency of 34%. This is largely due to
the higher coolant outlet temperature of about
640°C practical with gas cooling, compared to
about 325°C for PWRs. However the reactor
core has to be larger for the same power output,
and the fuel burn up ratio at discharge is lower
so the fuel is used less efficiently, countering
the thermal efficiency advantage.
ECONOMY
CAPITAL COSTS
Generally, a nuclear power plant is significantly
more expensive to build than an equivalent coal-
fuelled or gas-fuelled plant. Coal is significantly
more expensive than nuclear fuel, and natural
gas significantly more expensive than coal —
thus, capital costs aside, natural gas-generated
power is the most expensive. The recent
liberalization of the electricity market in many
countries has made the economics of nuclear
power generation less attractive.
  Of the new NPPs presently under
construction, 18 of the 27 are located in
Asia, while construction has virtually
halted in Western European and North
American countries.
 Future energy development faces great
challenges due to an increasing world
population, demands for higher
standards of living, demands for less
OPERATING COSTS
pollution and a much-discussed end to

In general, coal and nuclear plants have the fossil fuels.

same types of operating costs (operations and  Without energy, the world's entire

maintenance plus fuel costs). However, nuclear industrialized infrastructure would

and coal differ in the relative size of those costs. collapse; agriculture, transportation,

Nuclear has lower fuel costs but higher waste collection, information

operating and maintenance costs. Coal's technology, communications and much

operating cost advantages have only rarely been of the prerequisites that a developed

sufficient to encourage the construction of new nation takes for granted.

coal based power generation. Operation and

maintenance costs are particularly important
because they represent a large portion of costs
for nuclear power.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

 Twenty-two of the last 31 nuclear power

plants (NPPs) connected to the world’s
energy grid have been built in Asia,
driven by the pressures of economic
growth, natural resource scarcity and
increasing populations.
 LIST OF ATOMIC ENERGY
GROUPS
• Atomic Energy Commission (India)
• American Nuclear Society (United States)
• Department of Energy (United States)
• The Nuclear Energy Institute (United States)
• Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (Canada)
• Areva (France)
• EDF (France)
• MinAtom (Russia)
• EnergoAtom (Ukraine)
• Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission
(Pakistan)
• KazAtomProm (Kazakhstan)
• Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority
• United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
(UKAEA)
• EURATOM (Europe)
• International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
CONCLUSION
The more we look to the future, the more we
can expect countries to be considering the
potential benefits that expanding nuclear
power has to offer for the global
environment and for economic growth. The
decision to adopt nuclear power cannot be
made on a ´one-size-fits-all´ basis, new
nuclear plants are most attractive where
energy demand is growing and alternative
resources are scarce, and where energy
security and reduced air pollution and
greenhouse gases are a priority.
BIBLOGRAPHY
• Radioactive Waste Management. Uranium
& Nuclear Power Information Centre
(2002). Retrieved on 2006-11-09.
• Nuclear Electricity. World Nuclear
Association (2003). Retrieved on 2006-11-09
• Q&A: Iran Nuclear Stand-Off. BBC News
(2006). Retrieved on 2006-11-09
• Nuclear Power in Russia. World Nuclear
Association (2006). Retrieved on 2006-11-09
• Advanced Nuclear Power Reactors.
Infomation and Issue Briefs. World Nuclear
Assosciation (2006). Retrieved on 2006-11-09
• Document By
• SANTOSH BHARADWAJ REDDY
• Email: help@matlabcodes.com
• Engineeringpapers.blogspot.c
om
• More Papers and
Presentations available on
above site