Nuclear Power• Types of Nuclear Reactors

(PWR and BWR)• Fukushima Diiachi Disaster• U.S. use of Nuclear Power

Mackenzie SingerMargaret SmithColeman StewartBrooke SykesJai VaswaniMatthew Hill

Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR)

Original purpose was to serve as a nuclear submarine power plant

Designed by Westinghouse Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory

Can be seen in aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, and ice breakers

PWR Stucture

Boiling Water Reactor (BWR)

Developed in the 1950s in a joint effort by General Electric and the Idaho National Laboratory, as an alternative to the pressurized water reactor

Several models of these reactors have added, or removed, various mechanisms

Keeps the water used in a closed circuit Steam from reactor directly powers

turbine, then is cooled and reused

BWR Structure

Saftey BWR

-BWR is designed to suppress pressure by means of venting-surrounding containment building protects each reactor so that in case a safety system does not work properly-Other safety systems are Reactor Protection System, Emergency Core-Cooling System, and Standby Liquid Control System

Fukushima Diiachi Disaster

Although there were many problems that couldn’t be avoided, a big reason Fukushima experienced such a large meltdown was due to lack of safety regulations and continued maintenance. Despite numerous warnings that the plant could not withstand a tsunami with waves larger than 5.7 meters, the plant manager insisted that such a large tsunami was not a real threat. (The tsunami wave that it the plant was between 14 and 15 meters)

Local Range Power Detector

Main Steam Isolation Valve

Pressure

Water Level

Explanation of How Nuclear Fission Happened at Fukushima

Nuclear Power in the U.S. The first nuclear power plant in the US was opened in

1957 in Shippingport, Pennsylvania 104 reactors in 65 nuclear plants in the US, 69 PWRs and

35 PWRs, across 31 states Considerable power generation, but not the biggest

source of power in the US (19.8% of US energy in 2008) The future of nuclear power in the US is questionable, as

the disaster in Japan, brought safety concerns to light The countries with the most nuclear reactors are: USA,

with 104 reactors; France, with 58 reactors; Japan, with 50 reactors; Russia, with 33 reactors; the Republic of Korea, with 21 reactors; and India, with 20 reactors