By: Joe Jackson Nuclear Power Plant

What does a Nuclear Power Plant do? A nuclear power plant produces electricity from nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is produced through the heat-generating “fission” process, in which neutrons split uranium atoms to create energy.

Nuclear Power Plants There are over 100 operating nuclear power plants and 16 non-operating in the United states There are also 436 total in operation and 53 under construction There are 5 operating nuclear power plants in P.A How nuclear power plants are in the United States?

What nuclear power plants weakness are? There vulnerable to air strikes, truck bombs and boat bombs basically if no bombs or grenades are tossed in the power plant your safe if any are hundreds of thousands or maybe millions could die

Parts of a Nuclear Reactor- Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) A nuclear reactor has a few main parts to it such as. In the "core“, where everything takes place are the fuel rods and assemblies, the control rods, the moderator, and the coolant. Outside the core are the turbines, the heat exchanger, and part of the cooling system. How fuel rods and assemblies when they go under a nuclear reaction , The control rods absorb free neutrons that can start at any time and strike a U-235 which is a radioactive isotope releasing more neutrons and starting a chain reaction, The moderator is something that slows down the fast neutrons down.

What is the fuel for nuclear power plants? A fossil-fuel power plant is a power plant that burns fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas or petroleum (oil) to produce electricity. Fossil-fuel power plants are designed on a large scale for continuous operation. In many countries, such plants provide most of the electrical energy used.

Nuclear power plant waste disposal. The low level nuclear waste usually includes material used to handle the highly radioactive parts of nuclear reactors and waste from medical procedures involving radioactive treatments or x-rays.

Nuclear power plant waste disposal part 2. Low level waste is comparatively easy to dispose. The level of radioactivity and the half life of the radioactive isotopes in low level waste is relatively small.

Nuclear power plant waste disposal part 3. High level radioactive waste is generally material from the core of the nuclear reactor or nuclear weapon. This waste includes uranium, plutonium, and other highly radioactive elements made during fission. Most of the radioactive isotopes in high level waste emit large amounts of radiation and have extremely long half-lives (some longer than 100,000 years) creating long time periods before the waste will settle to safe levels of radioactivity.

Nuclear power plant pictures

Largest, smallest, oldest, newest nuclear plants and years Largest U.S. nuclear plant: Palo Verde (Arizona): 3 reactors at 1,311 / 1,314 / 1,247 megawatts (MW) each for a total of 3,872 MW Smallest U.S. nuclear plant: Ft. Calhoun (Neb.): 1 reactor at 478 MW Newest nuclear plants: (June 1996 Watts Bar 1 in Tennessee), (August 1993Comanche Peak 2), (August 1990Comanche Peak 1), (August 1990 Seabrook 1 in New Hampshire), (January 1990 Limerick 2 in Pennsylvania) Oldest operating nuclear plant Oyster Creek in New Jersey, operating license issued April 1969

Number of states with operating reactors In six states for 2008, nuclear makes up the largest percentage of their electricity generated: State Percent Vermont  79.7% Connecticut 51.2% South Carolina  50.9% New Jersey   50.4% New Hampshire  41.0% New York   31.0%

Why has Illinois has become "Nuclear America":? Illinois has more nuclear power plants than any other state in the nation. Commonwealth Edison owns 13 nuclear reactors, 10 of which are in operation; one was down 20 years prematurely because of excess radioactive contamination. Illinois Power Company owns one reactor. One-hundred-eight reactors operate nationwide.

Nuclear Power is Uneconomical: Since its beginning, nuclear power has cost this country over $492,000,000,000 -- nearly twice the cost of the Viet Nam War and the Apollo Moon Missions combined. Since 1950, nuclear power has received over $97,000,000,000 in direct and indirect subsidies from the federal government, such as deferred taxes, artificially low limits on liability in case of nuclear accidents, and fuel fabrication write-offs. No other industry has enjoyed such privilege.

Nuclear Power is a Health, Safety, and Environmental Threat: In testimony before Congress on April 17, 1985, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission testified that the crude probability of a severe nuclear accident in this country over the next 20 years involving large releases of radioactive materials was roughly 45% (nearly 50-50)! According to a 1982 study done by Sandia National Laboratories, a severe (but not necessarily "worst-case") nuclear power accident in Illinois would result in deaths in the tens-of-thousands, casualties and latent cancers in the hundreds-of-thousands, and property loss in the tens-to hundreds-of-billions of dollars.

Work Cited www.nuclearpowerplants.net/ www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf41.html www.westinghousenuclear.com/.../nuclear_power_plants/