The debate about the existence or non-existence of nuclear power never seems to end. Already in 1980, a vote was held in Sweden on the issue. As a result, Parliament decided that all reactors should be decommissioned by 2010.
This has not happened – today there are six active reactors – in Forsmark, Oskarshamn and Ringhals. These are of two different types, namely pressurised water reactors and boiling water reactors. Both work on the same basic principle – water is heated to drive a turbine and generator to produce electricity.
Simple explanation of how a nuclear power plant works
But back to the question of the day: “how does a nuclear power plant work?”. Of course, there is a complicated physics behind it if you go into the details. But for the layman it is also possible to describe it briefly, in broad outline or step by step if you like:
- Enriched uranium is irradiated with neutrons.
- Atoms in uranium split in two due to irradiation.
- Fission creates new neutrons, which in turn fission other uranium atoms – a chain reaction.
- To prevent the chain reaction from exploding out of control, it is controlled by so-called control rods that can be lowered into the reactor core. These consist of substances that capture large amounts of neutrons. This keeps the nuclear reaction under control.
- The fission of uranium atoms releases large amounts of heat. It is used to heat water to produce steam.
- The hot steam in turn drives a turbine with a generator.
- It is this, the nuclear power plant’s generator, that ultimately produces the electricity you want. The generator converts the spinning blades of the turbine into electricity by rotating magnets inside the coils. The 3,000 rpm rotation generates a frequency of 50 Hz, which is the frequency used in European power grids.
