Energy Regulation. AP1000 Nuclear Reactor. NUCLEAR REACTOR TYPES.
How Nuclear Power Works" The nuclear power plant stands on the border between humanity's greatest hopes and its deepest fears for the future.
On one hand, atomic energy offers a clean energy alternative that frees us from the shackles of fossil fuel dependence. On the other, it summons images of disaster: quake-ruptured Japanese power plants belching radioactive steam, the dead zone surrounding Chernobyl's concrete sarcophagus. But what happens inside a nuclear power plant to bring such marvel and misery into being? Imagine following a volt of electricity back through the wall socket, all the way through miles of power lines to the nuclear reactor that generated it. You'd encounter the generator that produces the spark and the turbine that turns it.
Nuclear power plant. This article is about electricity generation from nuclear power.
For the general topic of nuclear power, see Nuclear power. A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical in all conventional thermal power stations the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to an electric generator which produces electricity. As of 23 April 2014[update], the IAEA report there are 435 nuclear power reactors in operation[1] operating in 31 countries.[2] Nuclear power plants are usually considered to be base load stations, since fuel is a small part of the cost of production.[3] History[edit]
Nuclear Energy Institute - Clean-Air Energy. NRC: Home Page.