The document discusses nuclear energy, including its history, operation of nuclear power plants, status in India, and advantages and disadvantages. It notes that the first major nuclear power plant opened in England in 1956. Nuclear power plants use controlled nuclear fission to generate electricity, with India currently operating 20 nuclear reactors. While nuclear energy has advantages of being clean and producing large amounts of energy from small fuel sources, it also has disadvantages such as nuclear waste disposal challenges and risks of accidents and radiation exposure.

1. II. Nuclear Energy:
February 21, 1956: The first major nuclear power plant opened in England.
Nuclear Power Station
Nuclear power is a Non-renewable resource.
Nuclear energy globally using 17% for generating electricity.

2. Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant

3. Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant

4. II. Nuclear Energy:
Nuclear power is a Non-renewable resource.
• Nuclear energy globally using 17% for generating electricity.
Nuclear energy can be made by using machines called nuclear reactors,
Main parts of nuclear power plants, provide electricity for many cities.
• Man-made nuclear reactions also occur in the explosion of atomic and
hydrogen bombs.
• All nuclear material is undergoing decay. It is this decay process that produces
the energy.
• The decay process (usually referred to as a half-life) can be anywhere from a
couple of minutes to millions of years depending on the particular radio-
nuclide.
• High destructive energy (evidenced from nuclear weapons).
• Nuclear energy can be generated from two types,
Nuclear Fission & Nuclear Fussion.

5. Nuclear power in India
• Nuclear power: 4th-largest source of electricity in India after thermal,
hydroelectric and renewable sources of electricity.
 As of 2012, India has 20 nuclear reactors in operation in 6 nuclear power
plants, generating 4,780 MW while
 7 other reactors are under construction and are expected to generate an
additional 5,300 MW.
• In October 2010, India drew up "an ambitious plan to reach a nuclear power
capacity of 63,000 MW in 2032",
• There have been mass protests against the French-backed
• 9900 MW Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project in Maharashtra and
• 2000 MW Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant Tamil Nadu.(Russian-backed)
• The state government of West Bengal state has also refused permission to a
proposed 6000 MW facility near the town of Haripur that intended to host six
Russian reactors.

6. Nuclear fuel reserves
Nuclear fuel reserves
• India's domestic uranium reserves are small and the country is dependent on
uranium imports to fuel its nuclear power industry.
• Since early 1990s, Russia has been a major supplier of nuclear fuel to India.
• India has signed bilateral deals on civilian nuclear energy technology cooperation
with several other countries, including
France, United States, United Kingdom,
Canada.and South Korea.
• India has uranium supply agreements with
Russia , Mongolia, Kazakhistan, Argentina and Namibia
Large deposits of natural uranium:
• promises to be one of the top 20 of the world's reserves,
• Found in the Tummalapalle belt in the southern part of the Kadapa basin in Andhra
Pradesh in March 2011.
• The Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD) of India,
which explores uranium in the country, has so far discovered
44,000 tonnes of natural uranium in just 15 kilometres of the 160 kilometres long belt.

7. Nuclear power plants
Nuclear power plants
• Currently, twenty nuclear power reactors produce 4,780.00 MW
(2.9% of total installed base).
Power station Operator State Type Units Total capacity (MW)
• Kaiga NPCIL Karnataka PHWR 220 x 4 880
• Kakrapar NPCIL Gujarat PHWR 220 x 2 440
• Kalpakkam NPCIL Tamil Nadu PHWR 220 x 2 440
• Narora NPCIL Uttar Pradesh PHWR 220 x 2 440
• Rawatbhata NPCIL Rajasthan PHWR 300 x 1, 220 x 4 1180
• Tarapur NPCIL Maharashtra BWR (PHWR) 160 x 2, 540 x 2 1400
• Total : 4780 MW

8. Nuclear power plants: projects under construction
The projects under construction are
Power station Operator State Type Units Total capacity(MW)
• Kudankulam NPCIL Tamil Nadu VVER-1000 1000 x 2 2000
• Kalpakkam Bhavini Tamil Nadu PFBR 500 x 1 500
• Kakrapar NPCIL Gujarat PHWR 700 x 2 1400
• Rawatbhata NPCIL Rajasthan PHWR 700 x 2 1400
–
– Total 5300MW.

9. Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant

10. Water-cooled nuclear power plant,
Water-cooled nuclear power plant, with a pressurized water reactor, pumps water
under high pressure into its core where nuclear fission takes place.
It produces huge quantities of heat that is used to convert the water to steam,
which spins a turbine that generates electricity.

11. Coal Vs Nuclear

12. Water-cooled nuclear power plant
Some nuclear plants withdraw the water they use from a nearby source such as a
river and return the heated water to that source.
Other nuclear plants transfer the waste heat from the intensely hot water to the
atmosphere by using one or more gigantic cooling towers, as shown in the inset
photo of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
(USA).
here, a serious accident in 1979 almost caused a meltdown of the plant’s reactor.

13. Anti-nuclear protests
Anti-nuclear protests
• Especially since the March 2011 Japanese Fukushima nuclear disaster
• "populations around proposed Indian NPP sites have launched
protests that are now finding resonance around the country,
Raising questions about atomic energy as a clean and safe alternative to
fossil fuels".
There have thus been mass protests against the French-backed
9900 MW Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project in Maharashtra and the 2000 MW
Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu.
• The state government of West Bengal state has also refused permission to a
proposed 6000 MW facility near the town of Haripur that intended to host six
Russian reactors.

14. Nuclear Fission:
Nuclear Fission:
• Large mass nuclear isotope (Uranium, U235) is bombardment by
neutrons (n) release of large energy due to the following chain
reaction.
• Heavier atom is broken into lighter atoms with the liberation of huge
amount of energy
•
• Nuclear Fission-Chain reaction initiated by one neutron that bombards
a U235 nucleus, releasing a huge quantity of energy, two smaller nuclei
(Kr & Ba) + 3 neutrons.

15. Nuclear Fission
n
U235
Energy
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
Kr
Ba
Kr
Ba
Kr
Ba
Kr
Ba
• Nuclear Fission

16. Nuclear Power Plant
Fission reaction is utilized.
Radioactive uranium is commonly used

17. Nuclear Fusion:
Nuclear Fusion:
In nuclear fusion, the nuclei of atoms are joined together, or fused. This
happens only under very hot conditions.
The Sun, like all other stars, creates heat .
Two lighter isotopes elements (Hydrogen & Deuterium) are forced together at
extremely high temperature (1 billion oC) to fuse in new isotope  release
very high energy (higher than the fusion temperature) (One occurring in Sun)
• Note: Disposal of nuclear waste is the big problem.
• Nuclear fusion reaction between two hydrogen-2 nuclei at 1 billion oC.
One neutron and one fusion nucleus of Helium-3 is formed along with huge
amount of energy (see the picture below)
+
+
Hydrogen-2
(Deuterium)
Hydrogen-2
+ + Energy
Helium-3 nucleus
n
1 billion oC

18. Nuclear Energy:

19. Advantages of Nuclear Energy:
Nuclear energy:
preferred for its clean and cost effectiveness.
Does not produce smoke or carbon dioxide, No greenhouse effect
Produces huge amounts of energy from small amounts of fuel
Produces small amounts of waste- low environmental impact
Nuclear power is reliable.
Very low accident risk,
Nuclear power plants need less fuel than ones which burn fossil fuels
The Earth has limited supplies of coal and oil.
Nuclear power plants produce electricity after coal and oil become scarce.
.
One ton of uranium produces more energy than is produced by several million
tons of coal or several million barrels of oil.
Well-operated nuclear power plants do not release contaminants into the envt.

20. Disadvantages of Nuclear Energy
Disadvantages of Nuclear Energy
• The nations of the world now have more than enough nuclear bombs to kill
every person on Earth.
• The two most powerful nations -- Russia and the United States -- have about
50,000 nuclear weapons between them.
 What if there were to be a nuclear war?
 What if terrorists got their hands on nuclear weapons? Or
 what if nuclear weapons were launched by accident?
• Nuclear explosions produce radiation.
• The nuclear radiation harms the cells of the body which can make people sick
or even kill them.
• Illness can strike people years after their exposure to nuclear radiation.
• One possible type of reactor disaster is known as a meltdown.
• In such an accident, the fission reaction goes out of control, leading to a
nuclear explosion and the emission of great amounts of radiation.

21. Disadvantages of Nuclear Energy
• In 1979, the cooling system failed at the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor near
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
– Radiation leaked, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee. Fortunately, there were no
deaths.
• In 1986, a much worse disaster struck Russia's Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
• Hundreds of thousands of people were exposed to the radiation.
• Several dozen died within a few days and thousands more may die of cancers
induced by the radiation
• Nuclear reactors also have waste disposal problems.
• Reactors produce nuclear waste products which emit dangerous radiation.
• Nuclear reactors only last for about forty to fifty years.
• limited by a low net energy yield,
• high costs, fear of accidents,
• long-lived radioactive wastes,
• The potential for spreading nuclear weapons technology.

22. Sequence of steps and technologies - Nuclear fuel cycle.
Using nuclear power to produce electricity involves a sequence of steps and technologies
that together are called the nuclear fuel cycle.
As long as a reactor is operating safely, the power plant itself has a fairly low environmental impact and a
very low risk of an accident.
But considering the entire nuclear fuel cycle, the financial costs are high and the environmental impact
and other risks increase. Radioactive wastes must be stored
safely for thousands of years, several points in the cycle are vulnerable to terrorist attack, and the
technology used in
the cycle can also be used to produce uranium in a form that can be used in nuclear weapons