Basic
operating principles of nuclear power station using pressurised
water reactor
Nuclear power station
using pressurised water reactor
Nuclear power station with pressurised
water reactor is basically divided into the "nuclear
island" where steam is produced in the steam generator
by nuclear power generated from a reactor, a "conventional
island" where steam supplied from the nuclear island
is used to drive the turbine-generator to produce electricity,
and the Balance of Plant (BOP) which consists of the station
auxiliaries and ancillary plants, etc.
In the "nuclear island",
heat is produced by nuclear fission in the reactor and delivered
by pressurised water in the primary coolant circuit
to the steam generator
(a heat exchanger), which converts the feed water in the secondary
circuit to high-pressure steam at about 67 bar (or 6 700 kPa)
and deliver it to the "conventional island" via
steam pipe for driving the turbine and generator.
In the "conventional island",
the steam will pass through the multi-stage turbines and then
discharge into the condensers where the steam is condensed
to liquid water (condensate). This condensate discharge from
the condensers (feed water) is pumped back to the steam generator
in the nuclear island to be converted into steam again. Cooling
water for the condensers is taken from the sea via the seawater
pumps in the pump house. During the process, the steam will
spin the turbine generator at high speed (the rated speed
for the turbine generators used in GNPS
and LNPS is 3000 revolutions
per minute), which then generates electricity to complete
the energy conversion process.
