Nuclear plants use water as both working fluid and coolant. The reactor itself is cooled by cold water (rarely salt or gas), and functions as a heater, creating steam, which works turbines, which, in turn, generate electricity.
Water is used as coolant in most reactor plants to keep the reactor cool and prevent over heating. They do not necessarily need to be near a source of water; water just has to be available. However, a lot of nuclear reactors are build by a natural source of water so that the water can be used as an emergency source of coolant to keep the reactor covered with water in case of a rupture.
Yes, not only radioactivity but the fuel must be fissile. If we happened to live on a much older earth, both nuclear reactors and nuclear bombs would be impossible as the Uranium 235 isotope would have decayed to only trace levels. If we happened to live on a much younger earth, nuclear reactors would occur naturally and spontaneously and you might see radioactive geysers erupting from them near where you live.
No, nuclear power is a decent source of energy, depending upon the reactor design and siting. Locating reactors over fault lines or near ocean shore lines seems unwise.
no it is not it pollutes the earth and there may not be much of it in the near future
Choosing the correct location for a nuclear power plant is important since it is supposed to be near a water and near the raw materials.
Cooling. The water is available for the cooling system.
Availability of water for cooling.
Well, you don't let them near nuclear reactors, but, if it did happen, they would probably die of radiation. Anyway, not many animals are near nuclear reactors.
Water is used as coolant in most reactor plants to keep the reactor cool and prevent over heating. They do not necessarily need to be near a source of water; water just has to be available. However, a lot of nuclear reactors are build by a natural source of water so that the water can be used as an emergency source of coolant to keep the reactor covered with water in case of a rupture.
There are many plans to build new reactors in Canada and the United States especialy, and other countries, such as India and China, also have plans to build new reactors, while many developing countries plan to build their first reactors. Reactors must be constructed near large bodies of water, however, as this is essential to their operation.
NO, BC is officially a Nuclear Free zone and even mention of a plant near the border in Alberta was controversial. BC is primarily powered by hydro (turbines powered by water) and goal or diesel.
There are currently 62 commercially operated nuclear power plants and 100 nuclear reactors in the United States. They are located in 31 states with the most being in the state of Illinois.
There were no nuclear power plants during World War II. The Chicago Pile, or CP-1, had a nuclear reaction going for about half an hour, but no energy was derived from it. The first electrical power generated by nuclear plant was at the EBR-I experimental station near Arco, Idaho, on December 20, 1951, six years after the end of WWII.
Most nuclear power plants use thermal-neutron reactors. These reactors use what are called thermal or slow neutrons. Water us used in the reactor as a neutron moderator. This means that the water slows down the more energetic, or fast, neutrons. The slower neutrons are more able to cause atoms to undergo fission. In other words, water is used to help control the reaction. For the generation of electricity, the heat of the reaction boils water to produce steam to run the turbines. The turbines turn the generators. About 60-65% of the heat of a typical nuclear power plant is waste energy. Water is used to cool the plant, and then it is put through heat exchangers to discharge the heat into the air or into some nearby lake, river, or ocean. The availability of water is a very important issue in siting a nuclear power plant, and is the reason almost all of them are placed near large bodies of water.
The most famous Nuclear disaster in Europe was the 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Disaster in Ukraine. Nuclear radiation from an explosion in one of the four reactors leaked into the surrounding area and the near by city of Pripyat. Over 50,000 people had to be evacuated. 50 workers and firemen were killed and thousands of others died of cancers related with being exposed to the radiation from the disaster. Chernobyl and Pripyat are still heavily radioactive today and can still cause nuclear mutations if exposed for to long.
Yes, not only radioactivity but the fuel must be fissile. If we happened to live on a much older earth, both nuclear reactors and nuclear bombs would be impossible as the Uranium 235 isotope would have decayed to only trace levels. If we happened to live on a much younger earth, nuclear reactors would occur naturally and spontaneously and you might see radioactive geysers erupting from them near where you live.
No, nuclear power is a decent source of energy, depending upon the reactor design and siting. Locating reactors over fault lines or near ocean shore lines seems unwise.