How does a nuclear power station work?

Question

How does a nuclear power station work and what processes happen to it?

Answer 1

The nuclear reaction is fission, or splitting of an atom of uranium. A great deal of energy is given off in the form of heat. This goes through a heat exchanger and is used to heat a boiler to make steam to run a generator to generate electricity. Shielding is required to keep radiation from leaking. The neutrons used to split the uranium are slowed by a moderator. Control rods that can absorb the neutrons keep control of the reaction so it does not become a bomb. Cooling towers help to cool the superheated water before it i released into the environment. The water around the nuclear reaction is never mixed with the steam used and is never released. Spent nuclear fuel rods need to be kept  because of radiation for thousands of years.

Answer 2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_pow...

Answer 3

Most power stations work in pretty much the same way, whatever fuel is used. They heat up water into steam, and use the pressure of the steam to drive turbines which produce electricity.

The only difference with a nuclear reactor is that nuclear reactions are used to heat up the steam, as opposed to burning coal or gas. This results in much reduced emissions, although the remains of the fuel itself is radioactive and needs to be disposed of properly.

Answer 4

It works in the same way as a conventional power station except that the steam to drive the turbines & generator is produced by the heat from a nuclear reaction instead of a Gas or Coal boiler

Answer 5

Nuclear power is any nuclear technology designed to extract usable energy from atomic nuclei via controlled nuclear reactions. The most common method today is through nuclear fission, though other methods include nuclear fusion and radioactive decay

in nuclear power plant, the heat is provided by nuclear fission inside the nuclear reactor. When a relatively large fissile atomic nucleus is struck by a neutron it forms two or more smaller nuclei as fission products, releasing energy and neutrons in a process called nuclear fission. The neutrons then trigger further fission, and so on. When this nuclear chain reaction is controlled, the energy released can be used to heat water, produce steam and drive a steam turbine that generates electricity.

  for indepth study go to this link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_pow...

Answer 6

same principle as a conventional one  except for the reactor sphere were fission plutonium are used to generate electricity