Did You Know?

All nuclear power in the United States is used to generate electricity.

Did You Know?

Steam coming out of the nuclear cooling towers is just hot water.
Nonrenewable
Uranium (nuclear)
Uranium (nuclear) Basics
Drawing of How Fission Splits the The sun is basically a giant ball of hydrogen
Uranium Atom gas undergoing fusion into helium gas and
giving off vast amounts of energy in the
process.

Nuclear Energy Is Energy from

Atoms

Nuclear energy is energy in the nucleus

(core) of an atom. Atoms are tiny particles
that make up every object in the universe. Source: NASA
There is enormous energy in the bonds
that hold atoms together.

Nuclear energy can be used to make electricity. But first the energy must be
released. It can be released from atoms in two ways: nuclear fusion and nuclear
fission.

In nuclear fission, atoms are split apart to form smaller atoms, releasing energy.
Nuclear power plants use this energy to produce electricity.

In nuclear fusion, energy is released when atoms are combined or fused together
to form a larger atom. This is how the sun produces energy. Fusion is the subject
of ongoing research, but it is not yet clear that it will ever be a commercially viable
technology for electricity generation.

Nuclear Fuel — Uranium

The fuel most widely used by nuclear plants for nuclear fission is uranium.
Uranium is nonrenewable, though it is a common metal found in rocks all over the
world. Nuclear plants use a certain kind of uranium, referred to as U-235. This
kind of uranium is used as fuel because its atoms are easily split apart. Though
uranium is quite common, about 100 times more common than silver, U-235 is
relatively rare.

Most U.S. uranium is mined in the Western United States. Once uranium is
mined, the U-235 must be extracted and processed before it can be used as a
fuel.

During nuclear fission, a small particle called a neutron hits the uranium atom and
splits it, releasing a great amount of energy as heat and radiation. More neutrons
are also released. These neutrons go on to bombard other uranium atoms, and
the process repeats itself over and over again. This is called a chain reaction.

Nuclear Power Plants

Nuclear Power Plants Generate About One-Fifth of U.S. Electricity

Nuclear power accounted for about 20% of the total net electricity generated in
the United States in 2008, about as much as the electricity used in California,
Texas, and New York, the three States with the most people. In 2008, there were
66 nuclear power plants (composed of 104 licensed nuclear reactors) throughout
the United States. Most of the reactors are east of the Mississippi. The last new
reactor to enter commercial service in the United States was the Tennessee Valley
Authority’s Watts Bar 1 in Tennessee in 1996.

In 2008, TVA resumed construction on Watts Bar 2, which was about 80%
complete when its construction was stopped in 1988. It is now expected to be
completed in 2012.

Nuclear Power Comes from Nuclear reactors look like large concrete
domes from the outside. Not all nuclear
Fission power plants have cooling towers.

Most power plants, including nuclear

plants, use heat to produce electricity.
They rely on steam from heated water to
spin large turbines, which generate
electricity. Instead of burning fossil fuels to
produce the steam, nuclear plants use
heat given off during fission.

In nuclear fission, atoms are split apart to form smaller atoms, releasing energy.
Fission takes place inside the reactor of a nuclear power plant. At the center of
the reactor is the core, which contains the uranium fuel.

The uranium fuel is formed into ceramic pellets. The pellets are about the size of
your fingertip, but each one produces roughly the same amount of energy as 150
gallons of oil. These energy-rich pellets are stacked end-to-end in 12-foot metal
fuel rods. A bundle of fuel rods, sometimes hundreds, is called a fuel assembly. A
reactor core contains many fuel assemblies.

The heat given off during fission in the reactor core is used to boil water into
steam, which turns the turbine blades. As they turn, they drive generators that
make electricity. Afterward, the steam is cooled back into water in a separate
structure at the power plant called a cooling tower. The water can be used again
and again.

Types of Nuclear Reactors

Diagram of a Pressurized Nuclear Reactor Diagram of a Boiling Water Nuclear Reactor
System

Source: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory

Source: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission
Commission

Nuclear reactors are large machines that

contain and control nuclear chain reactions, while releasing heat at a controlled
rate.

A nuclear power plant uses the heat supplied by the nuclear reactor to turn water
into steam, which drives turbine-generators that generate electricity.

There Are Two Types of U.S. Reactors

Just as there are different approaches to designing and building airplanes and
automobiles, engineers have developed different types of nuclear power plants.
Two types are used in the United States: boiling-water reactors and
pressurized-water reactors.

Boiling-Water Reactors
In a boiling-water reactor, the water heated by the reactor core turns directly into
steam in the reactor vessel and is then used to power the turbine-generator.

Pressurized-Water Reactors

In a pressurized-water reactor, the water heated by the reactor core is kept under
pressure so that it does not turn to steam at all — it remains liquid. This hot
radioactive water flows through a piece of equipment called a steam generator.

A steam generator is a giant cylinder with thousands of tubes in it that the hot
radioactive water can flow through and heat up. Outside these hot tubes in the
steam generator is nonradioactive water (or clean water), which eventually boils
and turns to steam .

The radioactive water flows back to the reactor core, where it is reheated and
then sent back to the steam generator. The clean water may come from one of
several sources including oceans, lakes, or rivers.

Getting (Producing) Uranium

The fuel most widely used by nuclear plants for nuclear fission is uranium. In
nuclear fission atoms are split apart to form smaller atoms, releasing energy.
Nuclear power plants use the heat from nuclear fission to produce electricity.

Uranium Is Found in Nature but Must Be Processed into Fuel

Uranium is nonrenewable, though it is a common metal found in rocks all over the
world. Uranium occurs in nature in combination with small amounts of other
elements.

Nuclear plants use a certain kind of uranium, U-235, as fuel because its atoms are
easily split apart. Though uranium is quite common, about 100 times more
common than silver, U-235 is relatively rare.
Economically recoverable uranium deposits have been discovered principally in
the western United States, Australia, Canada, Africa, and South America. Once
uranium is mined, the U-235 must be extracted and processed before it can be
used as a fuel. Mined uranium ore typically yields one to four pounds of uranium
concentrate (U3O8 or "yellowcake") per ton, or 0.05% to 0.20% U3O8. The Nuclear
Fuel Cycle describes uranium processing in more detail.

Most of Our Uranium Is Imported

Owners and operators of U.S. civilian nuclear power reactors purchased the
equivalent of 53 million pounds of uranium during 2008. Uranium delivered to U.S.
reactors in 2008 came from six continents:

14% of delivered uranium came from the United States

86% of delivered uranium was of foreign-origin:

42% was from Australia and Canada

33% originated in Kazakhstan, Russia and
Uzbekistan
11% came from Brazil, Czech Republic, Namibia,
Niger, South Africa, and the United Kingdom
Nuclear Power & the Environment

Nuclear Power Plants Produce No Dry Storage Cask

Carbon Dioxide

Unlike fossil fuel-fired power plants,

nuclear power plants produce no air
pollution or carbon dioxide. However, a
small amount of emissions result from
processing the uranium that is used in
nuclear reactors.

Nuclear Energy Produces

Radioactive Waste

Like all industrial processes, nuclear power

generation has by-product wastes: spent
(used) fuels, other radioactive waste, and
heat. Spent fuel and other radioactive
wastes are the principal environmental
concerns for nuclear power.

Most nuclear waste is low-level radioactive

waste. It consists of ordinary tools,
protective clothing, wiping cloths, and
disposable items that have been
contaminated with small amounts of
radioactive dust or particles. These Some canisters are designed to
materials are subject to special regulation be placed vertically in robust
that govern their disposal so they will not above-ground concrete or steel
come in contact with the outside structures.
environment.
Source: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Spent Fuel Must Be Stored Commission

The spent fuel assemblies, on the other

hand, are highly radioactive and must initially be stored in specially designed
pools resembling large swimming pools (water cools the fuel and acts as a
radiation shield) or in specially designed dry storage containers. An increasing
number of reactor operators now store their older spent fuel in dry storage
facilities using special outdoor concrete or steel containers with air cooling.