History and features of nuclear energy
“Energy is the head of everything” - this is how one can paraphrase the famous proverb, taking into account the objective realities of the 21st century. With each new round of technological progress, humanity needs more and more of it. Today, the energy of the “peaceful atom” is actively used in the economy and production, and not only in the energy sector.
Electricity produced at so-called nuclear power plants (the operating principle of which is very simple in nature) is widely used in industry, space exploration, medicine and agriculture.
Nuclear energy is a branch of heavy industry that extracts heat and electricity from the kinetic energy of an atom.
When did the first nuclear power plants appear? Soviet scientists studied the operating principle of such power plants back in the 40s. By the way, at the same time they invented the first atomic bomb. Thus, the atom was both “peaceful” and deadly.
In 1948, I.V. Kurchatov proposed that the Soviet government begin to carry out direct work on the extraction of atomic energy. Two years later in the Soviet Union (in the city of Obninsk, Kaluga region), construction of the very first nuclear power plant on the planet begins.
The operating principle of all nuclear power plants is similar, and understanding it is not at all difficult. This will be discussed further.
Bilibino NPP. Soviet small nuclear power plant
Since we are going approximately in chronological order, and touched on the topic of the far north, the next nuclear power plant is Bilibino. It is still a little north of the Kola Nuclear Power Plant, but not in the Murmansk region, but on the other side of Russia - in Chukotka. And about six months younger than the Kola Nuclear Power Plant. Its first unit started operating in 1974.
Bilibino NPP
In total, this nuclear power plant consists of four rather unique power units. These are also channel uranium-graphite reactors, but specially designed for this nuclear power plant. These are EGP-6 reactors - Energy Heterogeneous Loop Reactor with 6 coolant circulation loops. Their electrical power was reduced to only 12 MW. But an important condition for working in the north is that they are designed to produce heat. After all, this nuclear power plant was designed and built to operate in the small and isolated Chaun-Bilibino energy system, in the conditions of the harsh Arctic, to supply energy to the mining and gold mining enterprises of Chukotka. In fact, this is the first small nuclear power plant in the USSR.
The central hall of the Bilibino NPP with 4 EGP-6 reactors
The Bilibino NPP itself will be decommissioned in the coming years; the first unit has already been shut down in 2022. Therefore, the total current installed electrical capacity of the nuclear power plant is 36 MW. And it has already been replaced by a modern small nuclear power plant.
Nuclear power plant: principle of operation (photo and description)
The operation of any nuclear power plant is based on a powerful reaction that occurs when the nucleus of an atom splits. This process most often involves atoms of uranium-235 or plutonium. The nuclei of atoms are divided by a neutron entering them from the outside. In this case, new neutrons appear, as well as fission fragments, which have enormous kinetic energy. It is precisely this energy that is the main and key product of the activity of any nuclear power plant.
This is how you can describe the operating principle of a nuclear power plant reactor. In the next photo you can see what it looks like from the inside.
There are three main types of nuclear reactors:
- high-power channel reactor (abbreviated as RBMK);
- pressurized water reactor (WWER);
- fast neutron reactor (BN).
Separately, it is worth describing the operating principle of the nuclear power plant as a whole. How it works will be discussed in the next article.
What does a nuclear reactor consist of?
To understand the operating principle of a nuclear reactor, and therefore the operating principle of a nuclear power plant, you need to understand the components of the reactor.
- Active zone. This is the area where the nuclear fuel (fuel generator) and moderator are placed. Fuel atoms (most often uranium is the fuel) undergo a chain fission reaction. The moderator is designed to control the fission process and allows for the required reaction in terms of speed and strength.
- Neutron reflector. A reflector surrounds the core. It consists of the same material as the moderator. In essence, this is a box, the main purpose of which is to prevent neutrons from leaving the core and entering the environment.
- Coolant. The coolant must absorb the heat released during the fission of fuel atoms and transfer it to other substances. The coolant largely determines how a nuclear power plant is designed. The most popular coolant today is water. Reactor control system. Sensors and mechanisms that power a nuclear power plant reactor.
Operating principle of a nuclear power plant (diagram)
A nuclear power plant operates under certain conditions and strictly specified modes. In addition to a nuclear reactor (one or more), the structure of a nuclear power plant also includes other systems, special structures and highly qualified personnel. What is the operating principle of a nuclear power plant? Briefly it can be described as follows.
The main element of any nuclear power plant is the nuclear reactor, in which all the main processes take place. We wrote about what happens in the reactor in the previous section. Nuclear fuel (usually uranium) in the form of small black pellets is fed into this huge boiler.
The energy released during the reactions occurring in a nuclear reactor is converted into heat and transferred to the coolant (usually water). It is worth noting that the coolant during this process also receives a certain dose of radiation.
Next, the heat from the coolant is transferred to ordinary water (through special devices - heat exchangers), which as a result boils. The water vapor that is generated rotates the turbine. A generator is connected to the latter, which generates electrical energy.
Thus, according to the principle of operation, a nuclear power plant is the same thermal power plant. The only difference is how the steam is generated.
Steam generator
Let's return to the process of converting nuclear energy into electricity. Steam generators are used to produce water steam at nuclear power plants. They receive heat from the reactor, it comes with the primary coolant, and steam is needed to turn the steam turbines.
Steam generators are used at two- and three-circuit nuclear power plants. In single-circuit ones, their role is played by the nuclear reactor itself. These are so-called boiling reactors, in which steam is generated directly in the core and then sent to a turbine. There is no steam generator in the design of such nuclear power plants. An example of a power plant with such reactors is the Japanese Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant.
The primary circuit water circulating through the reactor core washes the fuel elements, heating up to a temperature of 320–330 ° C. But since water in its normal state at a pressure of 1 atmosphere boils already at a temperature of 100 ° C, in order to increase the temperature boiling, the pressure in the primary coolant circuit also increases. In modern reactors of the VVER type (water-cooled power reactor - they are the basis of the world's nuclear energy), the pressure in the primary circuit reaches 160 atmospheres.
Then this very hot water from the reactor is pumped through a steam generator, where it gives off some of the heat, and returns to the reactor again. In the steam generator, this heat is transferred to the secondary circuit water. This is the contour of the so-called working fluid, i.e. the medium that does work, converting thermal energy into mechanical energy. This water, which is under much lower pressure (half the pressure of the primary circuit or less), so it boils. The resulting water vapor flows under high pressure onto the turbine blades.
Geography of nuclear energy
The top five countries in nuclear energy production are as follows:
- USA.
- France.
- Japan.
- Russia.
- South Korea.
At the same time, the United States of America, generating about 864 billion kWh per year, produces up to 20% of the planet’s total electricity.
In total, 31 states in the world operate nuclear power plants. Of all the continents on the planet, only two (Antarctica and Australia) are completely free from nuclear energy.
Today there are 388 nuclear reactors operating in the world. True, 45 of them have not generated electricity for a year and a half. Most of the nuclear reactors are located in Japan and the USA. Their full geography is presented on the following map. Countries with operating nuclear reactors are indicated in green, and their total number in a particular state is also indicated.
Siberian Nuclear Power Plant. Even two
Siberian Nuclear Power Plant
The next nuclear power plant on the territory of Russia, which is also no longer operating, is the Siberian Nuclear Power Plant, little known to the general public. Now almost all nuclear power plants in Russia are located in the European part, but there was a period in the 60s when the main nuclear electricity in the USSR was generated in Siberia. The Siberian Nuclear Power Plant was located at the site of the Siberian Chemical Combine (SCC) in the city of Seversk, Tomsk Region. It was a closed plant for the production of weapons-grade plutonium, it is still operating, but is now engaged in other tasks. Despite the secrecy, a film about the Siberian nuclear power plant was shown in 1958 at the Geneva Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy.
New York Times headline in 1958 about a film about the Siberian nuclear power plant showing in Geneva
At that time, it was one of the most powerful nuclear power plants in the world - the first power unit had a capacity of 100 MW. Subsequently, 4 reactors operated on it, and the total power increased to 600 MW.
Industrial reactors of the Siberian Chemical Plant were dual and even triple-purpose. Those. they produced plutonium, but they were designed in such a way that they made it possible to generate electricity and provide heat for heating Seversk and Tomsk. With the end of the plutonium production program, the last reactor of the station was also shut down in 2008.
One of the reactors at Siberian Chemical Combine. Photo: Country Rosatom
At another Siberian plant for the production of weapons-grade plutonium, the Mining and Chemical Combine, in Zheleznogorsk, a dual-purpose reactor ADE-2 also operated from 1964 to 2010. Although, it was not called a separate nuclear power plant as such. But in fact, it was the third nuclear power plant for heat and power supply in the USSR, and the only one was underground, because The mining and chemical plant itself was located in a mine working underground. I wrote a separate article about domestic industrial reactors in more detail.
By the way, dual-use nuclear power plants are not a purely Soviet invention. The first such “double” nuclear power plant started operating in Great Britain two years earlier than the Siberian nuclear power plant. This is the Calder Hall nuclear power plant - the first nuclear power plant in the UK and in the West in general, operating at the Sellafield nuclear plant, where weapons-grade plutonium was produced. Back in 1956, it was opened by the young Elizabeth II.
Elizabeth II at the opening of the UK's first nuclear power plant - Calder Hall (dual-use)
Development of nuclear energy in different countries
Overall, as of 2014, there has been a general decline in the development of nuclear energy. The leaders in the construction of new nuclear reactors are three countries: Russia, India and China. In addition, a number of states that do not have nuclear power plants are planning to build them in the near future. These include Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and a number of North African countries.
On the other hand, a number of states have taken a course towards gradually reducing the number of nuclear power plants. These include Germany, Belgium and Switzerland. And in some countries (Italy, Austria, Denmark, Uruguay) nuclear energy is prohibited by law.
Kola Nuclear Power Plant. First beyond the Arctic Circle
Kola Nuclear Power Plant.
Photo: Rosatom The very first and most powerful nuclear power plant built beyond the Arctic Circle. I talked about it in detail in a previous article and video. Let me note here that this is a nuclear power plant, which consists of four medium-power units with VVER-440 reactors. Such ones in Russia work only at the above-mentioned Novovoronezh NPP. This is also one of the oldest nuclear power plants - its first power unit has been operating since 1973, i.e. already 48 years old. It will be shut down in 2033, and this will be the first unit of a domestic nuclear power plant that will operate for 60 years. To replace the first stage of the nuclear power plant, by that time they plan to build two VVER-600S power units with spectral regulation - the first units of this type in our country. In general, the Kola Nuclear Power Plant is a rather unique station operating in a relatively isolated small energy system, hence the collection of several small power units. But there are also even more isolated nuclear power plants.
Main problems of nuclear power
There is one significant environmental problem associated with the development of nuclear energy. This is the so-called thermal pollution of the environment. Thus, according to many experts, nuclear power plants emit more heat than thermal power plants of the same power. Particularly dangerous is thermal water pollution, which disrupts the natural living conditions of biological organisms and leads to the death of many species of fish.
Another pressing issue associated with nuclear energy concerns nuclear safety in general. For the first time, humanity seriously thought about this problem after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. The operating principle of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was not much different from that of other nuclear power plants. However, this did not save her from a major and serious accident, which entailed very serious consequences for the entire Eastern Europe.
Moreover, the danger of nuclear energy is not limited to possible man-made accidents. Thus, big problems arise with the disposal of nuclear waste.
Kalinin NPP. Serial VVER-1000
Kalinin NPP
Let's move on to three nuclear power plants with serial gigawatt VVER units. The first of them is the Kalinin NPP with four VVER-1000 units. Located in the Tver region, near the city of Udomlya. This is the closest operating nuclear power plant to Moscow - 350 km in a straight line. Its first units started operating in 1984 and 1986, although they are not the most popular VVER-1000 series - the V-338 modification. The second stage of the station, with serial VVER-1000 of the most popular modification V-320, was built already in the 21st century - in 2004 and in 2011.
Kalinin Nuclear Power Plant and view of the city of Udomlya. Blocks 3 and 4 are closer to us. Next are blocks 1 and 2.
It was their construction that I followed when I was studying at the Faculty of Physics and Technology to become a nuclear physicist. At that time, Russia did not build many new power units. By the way, I had a chance to visit the Kalinin NPP in 2017. And since this was the first large nuclear power plant with four gigawatt units that I visited, I was struck by the scale of the station itself, starting from the entrance - yet it employs more than 3,000 people. This is a truly huge enterprise that produces about 3% of the country’s total electricity. The Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Plant, which is close to me, is much more compact, intimate and, I would even say, more comfortable.
Advantages of nuclear energy
Nevertheless, supporters of the development of nuclear energy also cite clear advantages of the operation of nuclear power plants. Thus, in particular, the World Nuclear Association recently published its report with very interesting data. According to it, the number of human casualties accompanying the production of one gigawatt of electricity at nuclear power plants is 43 times less than at traditional thermal power plants.
There are other, no less important, advantages. Namely:
- low cost of electricity production;
- environmental cleanliness of nuclear energy (with the exception of thermal water pollution);
- lack of strict geographical connection of nuclear power plants to large sources of fuel.
Where and how is a nuclear power plant controlled?
The NPP units are controlled from the control panel, which usually confuses the average person with an abundance of “lights, knobs and buttons”.
The control panel is located in the reactor compartment, but in the “clean zone” and there are always:
- Lead Reactor Control Engineer
- Lead Turbine Control Engineer
- Leading Unit Control Engineer
- block shift supervisor
Money from the wind
Rosatom is also working on wind power plants. Thus, the total installed capacity of all wind farms commissioned to date, a division of Rosatom, is 660 megawatts of electricity. In total, since the commissioning of the first wind farm, the Adygea Wind Farm, in March 2022, NovaWind wind farms have supplied one million megawatt-hours to the unified network of Russia. Key components for them are produced in Russia: a plant in Volgodonsk, Rostov region, produces generators, nacelles, hubs and wind tower bases. In its class, the Russian gondola for wind farms turned out to be the lightest and most compact in the world.
Wind power plants can be built in the most remote corners of the country, without developed infrastructure, which is their undeniable advantage. Wind turbines can operate for up to 20 years, requiring virtually no maintenance; all wind farm parameters can be controlled remotely.
Enterprises importing their products to the European Union, where a carbon tax is expected to be introduced, and branches of Western companies in Russia are showing great interest in clean electricity. Among them is the Nestlé Purina PetCare factory, which has been receiving electricity from the Adygea wind farm since 2022.
By 2027, Rosatom plans to commission wind power plants with a total capacity of 1.7 gigawatts. The state corporation will offer cooperation to foreign customers in the development of projects in the field of wind energy. According to NovaWind CEO Alexander Korchagin, Vietnam may be one of the first countries where it is possible to build a wind farm based on a Russian project.
Everything you need to know about nuclear power plants
Nuclear energy is an inexpensive and clean way to generate energy when properly stored and disposed of.
Today, nuclear energy plays a subtle but very important role in our lives. It is used in agriculture and industry: for the production of ammonia, hydrogen, for the desalination of salt water, it makes it possible to obtain new chemical elements, and it is also used to obtain new varieties of agricultural crops that produce more yield and are resistant to diseases. Nuclear energy has found its application in medicine; for example, scientists have recently created a positron emission tomography device, which can be used to detect cancer in its early stages. Nuclear energy is also used in nuclear icebreakers and submarines.
The most common way of using nuclear energy on our planet is to convert it into electricity at nuclear power plants (NPPs).
A nuclear power plant is a complex of technical structures designed to generate electrical energy by using the energy released during a controlled nuclear reaction.
How it works?
The basis of any nuclear power plant is the controlled process of fission of the atomic nucleus. In short, the essence of the work of any nuclear power plant is to convert energy from one type to another. First, nuclear energy transforms into thermal energy, then thermal energy into mechanical energy, and then mechanical energy into electrical energy. A nuclear power plant is always a whole complex of various structures. Each serves a specific purpose.
The heart of a nuclear power plant is the reactor. Inside it there is an active zone in which uranium-235 atoms are fissioned into neutrons. Each decaying nucleus causes neighboring nuclei to decay in the same way - this is called a chain reaction. During such a reaction, small particles are formed that have a huge amount of energy. The particles collide with each other and begin to release a lot of heat.
photo: Rosenergoatom
Today, most nuclear reactors operate with slow neutrons. This means that the mined uranium-235 is enriched to a level that allows it to maintain a controlled chain reaction, for example, alloyed with aluminum. This enriched uranium is then stored in long cylinders called fuel elements. They are installed in the reactor so that special rods can be inserted between them to control the chain reaction.
After this heat has been released, it must be removed from the reactor. This is done using several pipelines. The primary circuit water enters the reactor vessel and cools the fuel assemblies (while the water itself heats up to 320 degrees). Then, through a network of heat exchange tubes of the steam generator, it transfers heat to the water of the secondary circuit. It is important to note that it does not come into contact with it in order to exclude the possibility of radioactive substances getting outside the reactor hall. The secondary circuit water, turning into steam, rotates the turbines located in the engine room. They convert rotational energy (mechanical energy) into electrical current.
How safe is it?
When designing any nuclear power plant, special attention is paid to safety systems. Their costs can amount to up to 40% of the total cost of the enterprise. All nuclear power plants have several safety perimeters - physical barriers to the spread of ionizing radiation and radioactive substances. The outer casing of modern nuclear power plants is capable of withstanding earthquakes up to magnitude 9, tsunamis, and falling aircraft weighing up to 400 tons. Safety systems inside a nuclear power plant in the event of an accident will protect against rupture of the primary circuit pipe and will not allow radioactive substances to leave the computer room.
photo: Rosenergoatom
Perhaps one of the main safety problems in using nuclear power plants is the threat of nuclear weapons proliferation. It is possible to produce weapons-grade plutonium at a nuclear power plant. This means that if a U-235 enrichment plant produces nuclear fuel with 2-5% of the U-235 isotope required for the operation of a nuclear power plant, then at the same plant it is possible to increase the U-235 content to 70-90%, which is necessary to create an atomic bomb.
In order to ensure international security, in 1968 the UN General Assembly approved the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The treaty recognizes as “nuclear powers” only those countries that produced and tested nuclear weapons before January 1, 1967 - that is, the USSR, USA, Great Britain, France and China. Parties to the NPT that possess nuclear weapons undertake not to transfer them or other nuclear explosive devices to anyone, and not to assist, encourage or induce any non-nuclear-weapon State to produce or acquire them. Countries that do not possess nuclear weapons have the right only to develop research, production and peaceful use of nuclear energy. Today, all states except Israel, India, and Pakistan are parties to the treaty.
Nuclear power plants in Russia and the world
There is a very common fact that Russia was ahead of the whole world in the nuclear issue, launching the world's first civilian nuclear reactor in 1954. Yes, this is true, it was built in Obninsk, a Soviet science city in the south of Moscow. But this reactor was very small and could provide electricity to only a few neighboring collective farms and several thousand city residents. The first full-scale nuclear power plant opened in the US state of Pennsylvania in 1957. The reactor for this “atomic” was built on the basis of the reactor for a nuclear aircraft carrier. The first commercial nuclear power plant was built in Great Britain, which Queen Elizabeth inaugurated in 1956.
Today, the leaders in the use of nuclear energy are the USA, Japan, France, Russia and South Korea. The largest volume of electricity obtained from nuclear power plants is generated in the United States. Last year, nuclear power generation accounted for 19.3% of the country's total electricity consumption. The largest nuclear power plant is located in Japan, in Niigata Prefecture. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa includes 7 nuclear reactors with a total maximum power of 8212 MW.
As of 2022, there are only 10 operating nuclear power plants in Russia, with 35 power units in operation with a total capacity of 26,865 MW. The Russian nuclear industry (including nuclear power plants, engineering, manufacturing and scientific enterprises) employs more than 250,000 people. Nuclear energy provided 18.7% of the country’s energy needs in 2022. The most powerful nuclear power plant in Russia at the moment is the Balakovo nuclear power plant.
After the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, as well as the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and especially in Japan (after the accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant), some countries not only suspended the development of nuclear energy, but also introduced a moratorium on it. Italy closed all its nuclear power plants, Sweden, Germany and the UK suspended the development of nuclear energy for some time. Also, politicians from Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Spain and Switzerland have repeatedly publicly spoken out about the possible introduction of a moratorium on nuclear power plants.
Are nuclear power plants environmentally friendly?
Any nuclear power plant has a negative impact on the environment. Perhaps the most important disadvantage is radioactive waste.
Today there are several ways to dispose of radioactive waste. The most common is burying them in the ground. Fuel that has already been in the reactor is called irradiated. It contains little useful uranium as it burns up during a nuclear reaction. The irradiated fuel is placed in temporary storage, where it is cooled in special pools for several years. After such lengthy procedures, radioactive waste (RAW) is sent either for processing or to a “cemetery”. The central nuclear test site in Russia is Novaya Zemlya.
Another disadvantage is the large territories that are necessary for the construction of nuclear power plants, as well as structures for supplying, discharging and cooling heated water. For example, to build a nuclear power plant with a capacity of 1000 MW, a cooling pond with an area of about 800-900 hectares will be required.
It is also impossible to completely exclude the entry of radioactive elements into water, soil, and air during the extraction and transportation of nuclear fuel and during the operation of nuclear power plants.
At the same time, a nuclear power plant has a number of advantages over other types of power plants. For example, a conventional coal-fired thermal power plant emits much more radioactive elements, which are always contained in coal.
Valeria Kuznetsova
The first power plant in the world
The very first central power plant, the Pearl Street, was commissioned on September 4, 1882 in New York City.
The station was built with the support of the Edison Illuminating Company, which was headed by Thomas Edison.
Several Edison generators with a total capacity of over 500 kW were installed on it.
The station supplied electricity to an entire area of New York with an area of about 2.5 square kilometers.
The station burned to the ground in 1890; only one dynamo survived, which is now in the Greenfield Village Museum, Michigan.
On September 30, 1882, the first hydroelectric power plant, the Vulcan Street in Wisconsin, began operation. The author of the project was G.D. Rogers, head of the Appleton Paper & Pulp Company.
A generator with a power of approximately 12.5 kW was installed at the station. There was enough electricity to power Rogers' home and his two paper mills.
Gloucester Road Power Station. Brighton was one of the first cities in Britain to have an uninterrupted power supply.
In 1882, Robert Hammond founded the Hammond Electric Light Company, and on 27 February 1882 he opened the Gloucester Road Power Station.
The station consisted of a brush dynamo, which was used to drive sixteen arc lamps.
In 1885, Gloucester Power Station was purchased by the Brighton Electric Light Company. Later, a new station was built on this territory, consisting of three brush dynamos with 40 lamps.
Winter Palace Power Plant
In 1886, a power station was built in one of the courtyards of the New Hermitage.
The author of the project was Vasily Leontievich Pashkov, a technician at the palace administration.
The power plant was the largest in all of Europe, not only at the time of construction, but also over the next 15 years.
Previously, candles were used to illuminate the Winter Palace; in 1861, gas lamps began to be used. Since electric lamps had a greater advantage, developments began to introduce electric lighting.
Before the building was completely converted to electricity, lamps were used to illuminate the palace halls during the Christmas and New Year holidays in 1885.
On November 9, 1885, the project to build an “electricity factory” was approved by Emperor Alexander III. The project included the electrification of the Winter Palace, the Hermitage buildings, the courtyard and the surrounding area over three years until 1888.
There was a need to eliminate the possibility of vibration of the building from the operation of steam engines; the power plant was located in a separate pavilion made of glass and metal. It was placed in the second courtyard of the Hermitage, since then called “Electric”.
What the station looked like
The station building occupied an area of 630 m² and consisted of an engine room with 6 boilers, 4 steam engines and 2 locomotives and a room with 36 electric dynamos. The total power reached 445 hp.
Part of the front rooms were the first to be illuminated:
- Antechamber
- Petrovsky Hall
- Great Field Marshal's Hall
- Armorial Hall
- St. George's Hall
Three lighting modes were offered:
- full (holiday) turn on five times a year (4888 incandescent lamps and 10 Yablochkov candles);
- working – 230 incandescent lamps;
- duty (night) - 304 incandescent lamps. The station consumed about 30 thousand poods (520 tons) of coal per year.
Controlled reaction
If you do not control the nuclear chain reaction and it goes too quickly, you will get a real nuclear explosion. Therefore, the process must be carefully monitored and the uranium must not be allowed to decay too quickly. To do this, nuclear fuel in metal tubes is placed in a moderator - a substance that slows down neutrons and converts their kinetic energy into heat.
To control the reaction rate, rods of neutron-absorbing material are immersed in the moderator. When these rods are raised, they capture fewer neutrons and the reaction speeds up. If the rods are lowered, the reaction will slow down again.
The emergence of nuclear power plants in other countries
The world's first nuclear power plant and its successful operation made it possible to acquire invaluable practical experience in the operation of such installations. Thanks to its construction, engineering and technical solutions, which were developed in many directions, the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant was built, the power of which reached 300 megawatts.
At the same time, there was an unspoken competition between the USSR and other countries. Already in 1956, construction was completed and the first British nuclear plant intended for industrial needs was put into operation. The locality of Calder Hall was chosen as its location, and the estimated power at launch was 46 megawatts. After this, similar power plants began to be built in other countries.
Safety
The list of radiation accidents in the world, which began on December 12, 1952 (Chalk River Laboratory) to August 8, 2022 (Russian Navy Nenoksa training ground), includes 22 incidents. In addition, 7 cases of radioactive contamination of the area were recorded.
Issues of accident-free operation at nuclear energy enterprises, proper handling of waste, spent fuel, problems of conservation, liquidation of nuclear military and industrial facilities have now become very relevant.
Control of the activities of hazardous production facilities (which include nuclear power plants) is carried out by Rostechnadzor. He has at his disposal a number of documents regulating the state of security.
2018-2019 brought Rosatom among the leaders in environmental safety. This is not surprising, since nuclear energy has always been the most environmentally friendly sector of energy production. Work is underway to create safer reactors and locate nuclear power plants in earthquake-resistant zones. The state corporation is entrusted with the responsibility to organize the elimination of chemical weapons and build complexes for the disposal of emergency waste.
