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A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion.
- Generation IV Reactor
Generation IV (Gen IV) reactors are nuclear reactor design...
- Nuclear Marine Propulsion
When the nuclear-powered Arktika class 50 Let Pobedy was put...
- Pebble-Bed Reactor
Sketch of a pebble-bed reactor. The pebble-bed reactor (PBR)...
- List of Nuclear Reactors
List of nuclear power plants in Japan; List of Russian small...
- Nuclear Reactor Coolant
A nuclear reactor coolant is a coolant in a nuclear reactor...
- Nuclear Reactor Physics
Nuclear reactor physics is the field of physics that studies...
- Poison
In applications such as nuclear reactors, a neutron poison...
- List of commercial nuclear reactors
This is a list of all the commercial nuclear reactors in the...
- Nuclear power plant
A nuclear power plant (NPP) [1] or atomic power station...
- Generation IV Reactor
This is a list of all the commercial nuclear reactors in the world, sorted by country, with operational status. The list only includes civilian nuclear power reactors used to generate electricity for a power grid .
- History
- Basic Components
- World Operating Status
- Economics
- Safety and Security
- Regulation and Oversight
- Controversy
- Environmental Impact
- Future Development
- See Also
The first time that heat from a nuclear reactor was used to generate electricity was on December 21, 1951, at the Experimental Breeder Reactor I, powering four light bulbs. On June 27, 1954, the world's first nuclear power station to generate electricity for a power grid, the Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant, commenced operations in Obninsk, in the Sovi...
Systems
The conversion to electrical energy takes place indirectly, as in conventional thermal power stations. The fission in a nuclear reactor heats the reactor coolant. The coolant may be water or gas, or even liquid metal, depending on the type of reactor. The reactor coolant then goes to a steam generator and heats water to produce steam. The pressurized steam is then usually fed to a multi-stage steam turbine. After the steam turbine has expanded and partially condensed the steam, the remaining...
Nuclear power plants generate approximately 10% of global electricity, sourced from around 440 reactors worldwide. They are recognized as a significant provider of low-carbon electricity, accounting for about one-quarter of the world's supply in this category. As of 2020, nuclear power stood as the second-largest source of low-carbon energy, making...
The economics of nuclear power plants is a controversial subject, and multibillion-dollar investments ride on the choice of an energy source. Nuclear power stations typically have high capital costs, but low direct fuel costs, with the costs of fuel extraction, processing, use and spent fuel storage internalized costs. Therefore, comparison with ot...
Modern nuclear reactor designs have had numerous safety improvements since the first-generation nuclear reactors. A nuclear power plant cannot explode like a nuclear weapon because the fuel for uranium reactors is not enriched enough, and nuclear weapons require precision explosives to force fuel into a small enough volume to become supercritical. ...
Nuclear power works under an insurance framework that limits or structures accident liabilities in accordance with the Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy, the Brussels supplementary convention, and the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage.However states with a majority of the world's nuclear ...
The nuclear power debate about the deployment and use of nuclear fission reactors to generate electricity from nuclear fuelfor civilian purposes peaked during the 1970s and 1980s, when it "reached an intensity unprecedented in the history of technology controversies," in some countries. Proponents argue that nuclear power is a sustainable energy so...
Nuclear power plants do not produce greenhouse gases during operation. Older nuclear power plants, like ones using second-generation reactors, produce approximately the same amount of carbon dioxide during the whole life cycle of nuclear power plants for an average of about 11g/kWh, as much power generated by wind, which is about 1/3 of solar and 1...
Ongoing projects
As for March 2024, there are approximately 60 nuclear reactors for power plants being built worldwide, with a total capacity of 64GW, with an additional 110 in the planning stages. The majority of these reactors, either under construction or planned, are located in Asia. In recent years, the commissioning of new reactors has been roughly offset by the decommissioning of older ones. Over the last two decades, while 100 reactors began operations, 107 were retired.
Next generation nuclear power plant
An international coalition is advancing research and development on six Generation IV nuclear reactortechnologies. The Generation IV International Forum (GIF), initiated by the US Department of Energy in 2000 and formally established in 2001, is a collaborative platform for 13 countries where nuclear energy is significant or crucial for future energy needs. This collective, which includes founding members like Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, South Korea, South Africa, the UK, and th...
Fusion Power Plant
Another developing direction for nuclear power plants is nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion and plasma physics research has made significant strides, with over 50 countries contributing to the field and recently achieving the first-ever scientific energy gain in a fusion experiment. Various designs and methodologies are being explored, including magnet-based machines like stellarators and tokamaks, as well as laser, linear device, and advanced fuel approaches; the timeline for the successful depl...
A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion.
Jul 22, 2024 · nuclear reactor, any of a class of devices that can initiate and control a self-sustaining series of nuclear fissions. Nuclear reactors are used as research tools, as systems for producing radioactive isotope s, and most prominently as energy sources for nuclear power plants.
Jun 10, 2024 · Nuclear power reactors produce energy by initiating and controlling a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Currently, over 400 such reactors in 32 countries provide about 10 per cent of the world’s electricity.
A nuclear reactor is a machine that uses fission to generate heat. There are different designs which use different fuels. Most often, uranium-235 or plutonium-239 are the main components of these fuels. Most nuclear reactors are power reactors, used to make electricity.
