2. A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors.
3. As in a conventional thermal power station the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity. Nuclear power plants are base load stations, which are best suited to constant power output.
4. Nuclear Power Plant Disadvantages. Nuclear Power generates radiation, which can be harmful or even fatal to infected people.
5. Careless disposal of waste in the past has led to pollution of land, rivers and the ocean.
7. Nuclear Power Plants Advantages Advantage 1: Zero Emissions Nuclear energy does not involve burning fossil fuels. In fact, under normal operating circumstances it does not release any air pollutants at all. In this respect, it is as clean as solar, wind, geothermal and hydropower, emits no carbon emissions, and could be considered part of a larger solution to global warming.
8. Advantage 2: Energy Independence Nuclear fuels are derived from uranium and plutonium. Uranium is available is plentiful in the United States, and plutonium is created as a byproduct of the nuclear fission process (see below). Replacing oil and natural gas burning power plants with nuclear power plants would therefore be helping with achieving energy independence. Indeed, France gets more than three-quarters of its electricity from nuclear power exactly because of a nuclear-based national energy independence policy.
9. Advantage: Useful Byproducts It is often claimed that nuclear power is renewable, and although this is not true, some types of nuclear power plant make their own fuel as a byproduct. Breeder type reactors are built to maximize the creation of certain radioactive byproducts, with the best-known example being the design that maximizes plutonium output. Plutonium can be processed back into fuel for nuclear reactors. Other breeders make radioactive isotopes that are useful to medicine.
