160 likes | 384 Views
The Pilgrim Power Plant. By Khloe, Oliver, Galina, Robert and Rachel. What is the Pilgrim Power Plant?. The Pilgrim Power Plant is a nuclear power plant located at 600 Rocky Hill Road in Plymouth, Mass. It’s 53.8 miles from NNHS. It was built in 1972, costing $231 million.
E N D
The Pilgrim Power Plant By Khloe, Oliver, Galina, Robert and Rachel
What is the Pilgrim Power Plant? • The Pilgrim Power Plant is a nuclear power plant located at 600 Rocky Hill Road in Plymouth, Mass. It’s 53.8 miles from NNHS. • It was built in 1972, costing $231 million.
Details on the Plant • The plant uses all the latest technologies to help it work • They store the spent fuel rods in an onsite storage pool
Details on the Plant Cont. • The plant provides Massachusetts with 680 megawatts of nuclear energy; enough power for 5550,000 homes. • It would take 1/30th on 12 acres of nuclear power plants to supply all the electricity needs for Newton and therefore the pilgrim plant supplies Newton with all of their nuclear energy.
How Does it Work? • Control Rods (b) control the temperature of the reactor (c) to prevent the plant from over-heating by moving up and down (in and out) of the substance. When they are in the reactor, the temperature is cooled.When the rods go up, the neutrons of the reactor hit the radioactive material and heat up.
How Does it Work? Cont. • Steam is created by hot water (d) and being transported by (e). The steam spins the turbine (h), and the turbine creates energy. The energy is then stored in the generator (g).
Nuclear Fission/Radioactive Chemical Used in the Plant • Occurs in a nuclear reactor • When one atom splits into two atoms. In a nuclear power plant, a free neutron runs into a uranium-235 (U-235) nucleus, which absorbs the neutron, becoming unstable and splitting immediately. The two atoms that are created after the split are lighter, losing two or three new neutrons. This process occurs in picoseconds (1*10^-12 seconds). This splitting of an atom releases a very large amount of heat and gamma radiation.
Nuclear Fission/Radioactive Chemical Used in the PlantCont. • The nuclear chemistry used in a nuclear power plant is nuclear fission. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQa4LONy9XM • The radioactive chemical used is Uranium-235 (U-235). • 235U + 1 neutron --> 2 neutrons + 92Kr + 142Ba + ENERGY • 235U + 1 neutron --> 2 neutrons + 92Sr + 140Xe + ENERGY
Safety • If a person were to live near the plant, their health would be unaffected by it. • The plant has only ever had one incident-On April 11, 1986, recurring equipment problems forced emergency shutdown of the plant.
Safety Cont. • In terms of radioactive waste escaping from the plant, tritium (T) , a radioactive isotope of Hydrogen-3, has been discovered in the ground water at Pilgrim. It came from leaks from buried piping as well as rainfall water that must carried radiation off the roof of the plant into the ground water, causing fluctuations.
Could a Three Mile Island Scenario Happen at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant? • No! A three mile island scenario could not happen at the plant because it is more secure. This means it has very good employment organization, steel reinforced concrete structures currently in place are designed to prevent the escape of radioactive material, and Redundant Systems that are ready to be activated to replace primary systems if needed.
Opinion: Should More Plants be Built? • More plants should not be built, since nuclear power plants are dangerous. They create a lot of energy but they can be very dangerous if the radioactive material is released: if the radioactive material comes in contact with a human, it can penetrate deep into the skin and cause health risks.
Opinion: Should More Plants be Built? Cont. • Instead of power plants, to meet growing energy demands, communities should use renewable resources such as sunlight, wind, and rain. These renewable sources are safe and better for the environment than nuclear power plants. • For the plant to continue though, they should get their license renewed to make sure they are safe enough for the people of the area as well as the environment.
Glossary • Spent Fuel Rod: A nuclear fuel that has been irradiated in a nuclear reactor (a power plant) to the point where it is no longer useful in sustaining a nuclear reaction. • Nuclear Fission: The act of one atom splitting into two. • Nuclear Power:A type of energy that is produced with a controlled nuclear reaction (what the power plant is generating). • Steam Turbine: A mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and converts it into rotary motion, creating energy • Core Meltdown: An accidental overheating of the part of the nuclear reactor where fission takes place, causing fuel elements and other parts of the reactor to melt, potentially leading to catastrophic consequences in which dangerous levels of radioactive materials are released into the environment • NRC: Nuclear Regulatory Commission • Plutonium (Pu): A radioactive chemical element • Tritium (T): A radioactive isotope of hydrogen 3 (H-3)
Bibliography • "A Community Energy Facility Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station." Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station Web Site on Educational Resource on Our Facility & Nuclear Power. Web. 9 Nov. 2010. <http://www.pilgrimpower.com/about-the-pilgrim-facility.html>. • Brain, Marshall, and Lamb Robert. "HowStuffWorks "How Nuclear Power Works"" HowStuffWorks - Learn How Everything Works! Web. 9 Nov. 2010. <http://www.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-power.htm>. • "Core Meltdown." European Environment Information and Observation Network - Eionet. Web. 12 Nov. 2010. <http://www.eionet.europa.eu/gemet/concept?cp=1799>. • "Define:Spent Fuel Rod - Google Search." Google. Web. 12 Nov. 2010. <http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=active&client=firefox-a&hs=8Ky&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&defl=en&q=define:Spent fuel rod&sa=X&ei=nXvdTOzhDISglAfe76HTDQ&ved=0CBkQkAE>. • "Define:Spent Fuel Rod - Google Search." Google. Web. 12 Nov. 2010. <http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=active&client=firefox-a&hs=8Ky&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&defl=en&q=define:Spent fuel rod&sa=X&ei=nXvdTOzhDISglAfe76HTDQ&ved=0CBkQkAE>. • "Ensuring Security at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station." Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station Web site on Educational Resource on Our Facility & Nuclear Power. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2010. <http://www.pilgrimpower.com/security.html>.
Bibliography Cont. • "Google Image Result for Http://www.energyandhome.co.uk/Nuclear2.jpg." Google. Web. 9 Nov. 2010. <http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.energyandhome.co.uk/Nuclear2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.energyandhome.co.uk/page18.htm&usg=__I_v382TEqPKVTj9fCFAQhvvtooc=&h=300&w=438&sz=31&hl=en&start=69&zoom=1&tbnid=eFfeAkCRZDqD_M:&tbnh=138&tbnw=191&prev=/images?q=nuclear+power+plant+diagram&um=1&hl=en&safe=active&client=safari&sa=N&rls=en&biw=1024&bih=873&tbs=isch:10,2277&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=479&ei=v4XZTI78KoWclgfPsez5CA&oei=tIXZTK2CPMX7lwfo-JTACQ&esq=4&page=4&ndsp=25&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:69&tx=139&ty=42&biw=1024&bih=873>. • "Nuclear and radiation accidents - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_and_radiation_accidents> • "Nuclear Power Plant License Renewal Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station." Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station Web Siteon Educational Resource on Our Facility & Nuclear Power. Web. 9 Nov. 2010. <http://www.pilgrimpower.com/plant-relicensing.html>. • http://library.thinkquest.org/17940/texts/fission/fission.html • "Steam Turbine | Ask.com Encyclopedia." Ask.com - What's Your Question? Web. 12 Nov. 2010. <http://www.ask.com/wiki/Steam_turbine>. • The CLUI Land Use Database. Web. 9 Nov. 2010. <http://ludb.clui.org/ex/i/MA31631>. • "Tritium - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritium>. • Wikepedia.org. Web. 9 Nov. 2010. <http://en.Wikepedia.org/wild/Pilgrim_Nuclear_Generating_Station>. • "YouTube - Nuclear Fission Animated." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 12 Nov. 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQa4LONy9XM>.