Give a contract to a French Company, since in France up to 80% of
electricity is generated through nuclear power plants. ..........BND

In sci.physics gloopencrotum <gloopencrotum@hotmail.com> wrote:

hi,

how does one build a nuclear power plant please?

thanks.

Depends on where you are, but in the US, first get an Evironmental
Impact Report done, file the application to build a power plant
with the local regulator, file the application to build a reactor
with the Feds and probably also the locals.

Once all that is approved, simply hire a good contractor.

Nothing to it.

On Jul 28, 4:41 pm, gloopencrotum <gloopencro...@hotmail.com> wrote:

hi,

how does one build a nuclear power plant please?

thanks.

There are different types of nuclear reactors. Most are used for power
generation, but some can also produce plutonium for weapons and fuel.
Two components are common to all reactors, control rods and a coolant.
Control rods determine the rate of fission by regulating the number of
neutrons. These rods consist of neutron-absorbing elements such as
boron. The coolant removes the heat generated by fission reactions.
Water is the most common coolant, but pressurized water, helium gas,
and liquid sodium have been used.

Slow-neutron reactors operate on the principle that uranium-235
undergoes fission more readily with thermal or slow neutrons.
Therefore, these reactors require a moderator to slow neutrons from
high speeds upon emerging from fission reactions. The most common
moderators are graphite (carbon), light water (H2O), and heavy water
(D2O). Since slow reactors are highly efficient in producing fission
in uranium-235, slow-neutron reactors operate with natural or slightly
enriched uranium. The reactors at Hanford, which produced plutonium
for U.S. nuclear weapons, and the one at Chernobyl were water-cooled,
graphite-moderated, slow-neutron reactors. Today, most U.S. reactors
used for generating electric power employ light water as both
moderator and coolant. Light-water reactors are classified as either
pressurized-water reactors (PWR) or boiling-water reactors (BWR),
depending on whether the coolant water is kept under pressure or not.
The long time periods, typically 12 to 18 months, between refueling of
light-water reactors make it difficult to use them as a source of
plutonium.

There is a problem with light-water reactors: while slowing some
neutrons, light water also absorbs many others. This means that light-
water reactors require slightly enriched (up to 20% U-235) uranium
fuel to sustain the fission reaction. Heavy-water reactors do not
suffer from this problem and can thus use natural uranium as fuel.
However, the task of isolating the small amount of D2O present in
natural water requires considerable amounts of electricity. The
Canadian nuclear program emphasizes heavy-water reactors. Heavy water
is classified as a "sensitive material" because a nation possessing it
can produce plutonium directly from natural uranium, thus eliminating
the need for enrichment.

Fast-breeder reactors are distinguished from other reactors by the
fact that they produce more fuel than they consume. For each fission,
more than one neutron is absorbed by U-238 to produce Pu-239.
Breeding, therefore, requires lots of neutrons. At least one neutron
is required to sustain the chain reaction and more than one is
required to breed Pu-239. Since a fission event produces between two
and three neutrons, the reactor requires use of all available
neutrons. More neutrons are produced when fission is produced by fast-
neutron fission in Pu-239. Thus breeder reactors use plutonium or
highly enriched uranium as fuel with no moderator present to slow the
neutrons. The design of fast-breeder reactors poses greater safety
problems than those of other reactor types. The challenge is to
develop a safe fast-breeder reactor that is economically competitive
with thermal (slow-neutron) reactors, even when the lower fuel costs
are accounted for. Currently the price of natural uranium and
enrichment is not high enough to justify the additional costs
associated with the use of breeder reactors. Thus, breeder reactors
are more complex than other types of reactors and raise concerns about
the proliferation of plutonium.