Advantages and Disadvantages of Nuclear Power Plant

Advantages of nuclear power plant

1.     It can be easily adopted where water and coal resources are not available.

2.     The nuclear power plant requires very small quantity of fuel. Hence fuel transportation cost is less.

3.     Space requirement is less compared to other power plants of equal capacity.

4.     It is not affected by adverse weather conditions.

5.     Fuel storage facilities are not needed as in the case of the thermal power plant.

6.     Nuclear power plants will converse the fossils fuels (coal, petroleum) for other energy needs.

7.     Number of workmen required at nuclear plant is far less than thermal plant.

8.     It does not require large quantity of water.

Disadvantages

1.     Radioactive wastes, if not disposed of carefully, have adverse effect on the health of workmen and the population surrounding the plant.

2.     It is not suitable for varying load condition.

3.     It requires well-trained personnel.

4.     It requires high initial cost compared to hydro or thermal power plants.

A nuclear power plant is similar to a conventional steam power plant except how that energy is evolved. The heat is produced in the nuclear power plant by fission, whereas in steam and gas turbine plants, the heat is produced by combustion in the furnace. The nuclear reactor acts as a furnace where nuclear energy is evolved by splitting or fissioning of the nucleus of fissionable material like Uranium U-235. It is claimed that 1 kg U-235 can produce as much heat energy that can be produced by burning 4500 tones of high grade coal or 1700 tons of oil.