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The Pros And Cons Of A Nuclear Power Station

1548 Words7 Pages

HNC ENGINEERING (Electronic Design)

Year 1 Induction Activity

A report for

Matthew White

By

Joseph Key

Tuesday 7th October 2014

Contents

1.0 Introduction 3
2.0 Operation of a Nuclear Power Station 3 2.1 Operation of a Magnox Reactor 3 2.2 Operation of an Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactor 3 2.3 Operation of a Pressurised Water Reactor 3
3.0 Benefits of nuclear energy 4
4.0 Limitations of nuclear energy 5

1.0 Introduction
Nuclear power generates roughly 19% of the UK's electricity demand, around 70 Tera Watts per Hour (TWh). There are 16 reactors in the UK spread over 9 sites and there are three types of reactor; Magnox, Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) and Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR). There is 1 Magnox reactor, 7 AGR reactors and 1 PWR reactor. This report will outline the workings of a nuclear power station, the benefits of nuclear energy, the limitations of nuclear energy and developments of nuclear energy.

2.0 Basic Operation of a Nuclear Power Station
Energy, in the form of heat, …show more content…

When compared to renewable sources of energy such as solar power or wind power, it can run for twenty four hours a day, seven days a week for years. Solar power and wind power require certain weather conditions in order to generate electricity which is a major limitation for them. The only times whereby a nuclear is shut down is for maintenance or re-fuelling.
The amount of raw materials needed to produce nuclear energy is much less than fossil fuels. Roughly 28 grams of Uranium produces the same amount of energy produced from roughly 100 metric tons of coal. This means that smaller quantities of fuel are needed allowing easier transportation of the raw materials. Fossil fuels such as oil and coal are depleting rapidly and only expecting to last for around the next 200 years. Radioactive sources on the other hand, are expected to last for hundreds and hundreds or

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