Nuclear Reactor

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In the present society nuclear power is always a hot topic of conversation. Almost everybody have an opinion about it, still only a few know how it actually works. Therefor I will describe how a reactor in a nuclear power plant works. There are quite a few different types of reactors and I’ll explain one of them; the boiling water reactor. There might be some slight changes from one plant to another, and the model I’m about to describe is the one at Forsmarks nuclear power plant.

The basic line is that water is being heated up to steam, which powers a generator that generates electricity.

This is quite a common way of generating electricity and is also used by others means of producing the needs of our hi-tech civilisation. What differs the nuclear reactor from the others, is the way the water’s being heated up.

The Chemical clean water enters the reactor above a fuel element with hundreds of fuel cells which altogether contains over a hundred ton of uranium. In these fuel cells, neutrons are splitting cores of atoms, which causes a great heat. The water boils and becomes steam. The steam therewith runs out of the reactor trough steamseparators and moistureisolators before it forwards to the turbines which powers a electric generator. The used steam then runs ahead in a pipe system, there cold ocean water cools it down to water again. This water runs back into the reactor and the process is repeated.

When you split the cores of the atoms, new neutrons is freed and they move forward between the fuel cells splitting new atoms and freeing more neutrons, and so the reaction goes till you wish to stop it.
The heat in the fuel element is controlled by steerpipes which shoves in between the fuel cells, absorbing the neutrons and terminating the reaction.

The dangerous part is the waste of the uranium that’s being used. Which is radioactive and therefor also a threat to human health. This radioactive is ...