How is energy produced in a nuclear plant?
ANuclear power plants rely on the process of nuclear fission. In this process, the nucleus of a heavy element, such as uranium, splits when bombarded by a free neutron in a nuclear reactor. The fission process for uranium atoms yields two smaller atoms, one to three free neutrons, plus an amount of energy. Because more free neutrons are released from a uranium fission event than are required to initiate the event, the reaction can become self-sustaining a chain reaction under controlled conditions, thus releasing a tremendous amount of energy. In the vast majority of the world’s nuclear power plants, heat energy generated by burning uranium fuel is collected in ordinary water and is carried away from the reactor’s core either as steam in boiling-water reactors or as superheated water in pressurized-water reactors. In a pressurized-water reactor, the superheated water in the primary cooling loop is used to transfer heat energy to a secondary loop for the creation of steam. In either a b
