Nuclear power plant

From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change

A nuclear power plant is a place where people make electricity using heat from nuclear reactions. A nuclear power plant has a place where the nuclear reaction happens called a reactor. The plant also has machines which remove heat from the reactor and make electricity. Electricity made by nuclear power plants is called nuclear power.

Nuclear power plants use uranium as fuel. When the reactor is on, uranium atoms inside the reactor split into two atoms. When uranium atoms split, they give off a large amount of heat. This splitting of atoms is called fission. Only atoms of uranium and plutonium can fission. Today, fission only happens in nuclear reactors. In nuclear reactors, fission only happens when the reactors parts are arranged properly. Nuclear power plants turn their reactors off to replace old fuel with new fuel.

Uranium atoms are slightly radioactive. The atoms produced when uranium breaks apart are strongly radioactive. These atoms are called fission products. Strontium-90 and cesium-137 are fission products. Old fuel from nuclear power plants is called high level nuclear waste.

Nuclear power plants can be dangerous to live near. If a nuclear power plant has an accident, it can give off radiatioactive smoke. Some famous accidents at nuclear power plants were the Chernobyl accident at Chernobyl in Ukraine, the Three Mile Island accident at Three Mile Island in the United States, and the Windscale fire in Britain.