How it works:
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How it works:
*Fun fact: the largest nuclear power plant in the United States, located in Palo Verde, Arizona, contains three Pressurized Water Reactors, each with a power output of nearly 1,300 megawatts. |
Safety
The current nuclear reactor systems require water to be pumped throughout the system to cool down the reactor and prevent it from overheating. The pumping process requires electricity so the problem arises if there is a potential power outage. In nuclear factories, preventative measures have been taken to counteract a power outage by building backup diesel generators that are able to provide electricity so that the water is able to be pumped into the nuclear reactor, keeping it from heating to an excessive temperature.
In addition, another safety feature used in all nuclear reactor cores are control rods. The fuel in a nuclear reactor core is organized into tall columns of Uranium pellets, and in order to limit the energy in the form of heat that these rods produce, the fission reactions between the Uranium atoms need to be regulated. The purpose of the control rods are to capture excess neutrons flying throughout the core of the nuclear reactor to limit the number of fission reactions occurring each second. These control rods are composed of non-fissile material that is able to intercept these neutrons. They way that control rods work is that they are able to be lifted slightly out of the reactor, or inserted farther between the fuel rods to regulate the amount of fission occurring within the reactor core, and therefore the level of heat within the core.
In addition, another safety feature used in all nuclear reactor cores are control rods. The fuel in a nuclear reactor core is organized into tall columns of Uranium pellets, and in order to limit the energy in the form of heat that these rods produce, the fission reactions between the Uranium atoms need to be regulated. The purpose of the control rods are to capture excess neutrons flying throughout the core of the nuclear reactor to limit the number of fission reactions occurring each second. These control rods are composed of non-fissile material that is able to intercept these neutrons. They way that control rods work is that they are able to be lifted slightly out of the reactor, or inserted farther between the fuel rods to regulate the amount of fission occurring within the reactor core, and therefore the level of heat within the core.
Water Contamination
The Boiling Water Reactor and Pressurized Water Reactor both have water that cycles through the reactor core. This raises the question of whether or not these nuclear reactors are producing polluted water. Although there is a cycle of water that repeatedly travels in and out of both of the reactor designs, the cold water that cycles through the condenser does not come in direct contact with the contaminated water that has been irradiated through the process of travelling in and out of the nuclear core. The cooling water cycles in and out of the nuclear power plant, and part of it is released in the form of steam which is what the gaseous clouds emitted from the cooling towers are: water vapor that is not contaminated by radioactive particulates. Therefore, the only water that truly becomes contaminated is the water that travels through the reactor core, but it remains separate from all other water sources that flow throughout the power plant.
**Boiling Water Reactor image from source
**Pressurized Water Reactor image from source