Nuclear power Facts for Kids

Cattenom power plant outside Metz is the largest nuclear power plant in France, as of 2011.

Nuclear power is the controlled use of nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is energy in uranium that can be released by nuclear reactions in a machine called a nuclear reactor. This energy is made into electricity, which then can be used to power machines and heat homes. In 2007, 14% of the world's electricity came from nuclear power. Nuclear power plants also make radioactive waste that could be harmful if it is not stored properly. Nuclеar power plants produce less radioactive material than a coal fired power station.

Nuclear Power Plant Cattenom

History
Accidents
Economics
Debates
Recent developments
Images for kids
See also

History

Enrico Fermi made the first nuclear reactor in 1941. Many reactors were built in the U.S. during World War II during the Manhattan Project. In 1954 the first nuclear power plant started in Obninsk near Moscow. Most nuclear power plants in the U.S. were built during the 1960s and 1970s. Nuclear reactors also power some large military ships and submarines.

Accidents

During the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant emergency in Japan, three nuclear reactors were damaged by explosions.

Some serious nuclear accidents have occurred. A scale was made to measure how dangerous accidents are. It is called the International Nuclear Event Scale. The scale has 8 levels (0-7), and 7 is the worst.

Chernobyl disaster, happened in 1986; classified at level 7.
Fukushima nuclear disaster, happened in 2011, level 7.
Mayak accident; happened in 1957. The amount of radiation released and the general danger was higher than that of Chernobyl. The affected area was smaller though. For these reasons the accident is only classified as level 6.
Windscale fire in 1957 and Three Mile Island accident in 1979, at level 5.
Tokaimura nuclear accident at level 4

Nuclear-powered submarine mishaps include the Soviet submarine K-19 reactor accident (1961), the Soviet submarine K-27 reactor accident (1968), and the Soviet submarine K-431 reactor accident (1985).

Economics

The economics of nuclear power is challenging, and following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, costs are likely to go up for currently operating and new nuclear power plants, due to increased requirements for on-site spent fuel management and elevated design basis threats.

Debates

There is a debate about the use of nuclear power. Supporters, such as the World Nuclear Association and IAEA, argue that nuclear power is a sustainable energy source that reduces carbon emissions. Anti-nuclear opponents, such as Greenpeace International and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, believe that nuclear power poses threats to people and the environment.

Recent developments

Pressurized water vessel heads

In 2007, nuclear power plants made some 2600 TWh of electricity and provided 14 percent of the electricity used in the world, which represented a fall of 2 per cent compared with 2006. As of May 9, 2010, there were 438 (372 GW) nuclear reactors operating globally. A peak was reached in 2002 when there were 444 nuclear reactors operating.

The nuclear emergencies at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and other nuclear facilities raised questions about the future of nuclear power. Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the International Energy Agency halved its estimate of additional nuclear generating capacity to be built by 2035.

Images for kids

The Leibstadt Nuclear Power Plant in Switzerland
The first light bulbs ever lit by electricity generated by nuclear power at EBR-1 at Argonne National Laboratory-West, December 20, 1951.
The launching ceremony of the USS Nautilus January 1954. In 1958 it would become the first vessel to reach the North Pole.
The Calder Hall nuclear power station in the United Kingdom, the world's first commercial nuclear power station.
The town of Pripyat abandoned since 1986, with the Chernobyl plant and the Chernobyl New Safe Confinement arch in the distance
Olkiluoto 3 under construction in 2009. It was the first EPR, a modernized PWR design, to start construction.
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 use, the spent fuel is delivered to a reprocessing plant (2) or to a final repository (3). In nuclear reprocessing 95% of spent fuel can potentially be recycled to be returned to use in a power plant (4).
Activity of spent UOx fuel in comparison to the activity of natural uranium ore over time
Dry cask storage vessels storing spent nuclear fuel assemblies
Nuclear waste flasks generated by the United States during the Cold War are stored underground at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. The facility is seen as a potential demonstration for storing spent fuel from civilian reactors.
Most waste packaging, small-scale experimental fuel recycling chemistry and radiopharmaceutical refinement is conducted within remote-handled hot cells.
Nuclear fuel assemblies being inspected before entering a pressurized water reactor in the United States
The multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG), used in several space missions such as the Curiosity Mars rover
Following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, the world's worst nuclear accident since 1986, 50,000 households were displaced after radiation leaked into the air, soil and sea. Radiation checks led to bans of some shipments of vegetables and fish.
Reactor decay heat as a fraction of full power after the reactor shutdown, using two different correlations. To remove the decay heat, reactors need cooling after the shutdown of the fission reactions. A loss of the ability to remove decay heat caused the Fukushima accident.
The guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey (CG 61) receives fuel at sea (FAS) from the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73).
The Ikata Nuclear Power Plant, a pressurized water reactor that cools by utilizing a secondary coolant heat exchanger with a large body of water, an alternative cooling approach to large cooling towers
Life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of electricity supply technologies, median values calculated by IPCC
Anti-nuclear protest near nuclear waste disposal centre at Gorleben in northern Germany
Schematic of the ITER tokamak under construction in France
Electricity generation trends in the top five fission-energy producing countries (US EIA data)

Nuclear power facts for kids

Contents