What is nuclear energy? Shrink down to an atom and find out
What is nuclear energy? Shrink down to an atom and find out
Have you ever seen inside a power station?
Shrink to the size of an atom and come with us to journey to the core of a nuclear reactor with 360 video.
Created by a team of experts from our nuclear generation business, watch the nuclear fission process inside a Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) reactor – the kind of reactor that is used at Sizewell B in Suffolk.
As our Nuclear Safety Group Head, Colin Tucker said: “Anyone experiencing it will go away with a straight-forward understanding of how a nuclear reactor works and how we use them to generate electricity.
Nuclear has played a vital role in the UK producing affordable, secure and low-carbon electricity for over 50 years.
This video is the latest in a series of activities to bring nuclear to life. We hope you enjoy it.
To find out more please visit www.edfenergy.com/nuclear
Content
3.04 -> We use electricity to power every aspect
of our lives
8.22 -> Simple stuff like making a cup of tea or powering our tablets and phones.
12.74 -> We are on a journey to find out where are some of this electricity comes from.
16.28 -> We're inside a nuclear reactor
18.81 -> and if you look below you you'll
see we're travelling downwards towards
23.55 -> the reactor core this system has just
been refueled - it is powered by fuel rods
31.17 -> that contain uranium which is a natural
element that is mined from deep in the ground
35.07 -> We keep it here inside these
metal rods. Let's take a look inside
41.7 -> the system is about to be switched back on
to see how uranium makes energy
46.4 -> we'll need to get smaller though
49.36 -> Now we're shrinking to an atomic level here right
52.82 -> in front of you, there's rows and rows of
uranium pellets, in total there are over
58.32 -> two million fuel pellets in the whole
reactor and it's inside these
63.42 -> pellets - each only a centimeter tall - that
nuclear fission happens. Let's get even closer
70.9 -> at this scale we can see actual atoms
and neutrons
76.3 -> Neutrons are the particles that help us unlock all that energy from the nucleus
80.5 -> but they move fast so first we need to slow one down and to do that we simply use water
87.24 -> Let's follow this one and see where it leads us. Pay close attention
92.6 -> Firing this neutron into the nucleus of the atom causes the nucleus to split in two
98.06 -> This is fission we mentioned earlier and as the nucleus splits it releases its own neutrons
103.22 -> Some of these newly released
neutrons slowed, by the water hit other
108.83 -> atoms causing more fissions and so the
chain reaction begins. In our reactor
114.979 -> there are an incredible five million
million fissions per pellet per second
119.95 -> Look around you and you'll see them
happening everywhere
124.12 -> Each time our uranium nucleus splits it
releases its awesome energy. This energy
129.58 -> heats the fuel pellets and in turn the
water in the reactor to more than 300
134.53 -> degrees Celsius. The powerful chain
reaction has heated the water in the
138.82 -> reactor core and this heat at high
pressure water now travels through pipes
143.56 -> out of the reactor vessel at 35 miles
per hour. It all sounds very dramatic but
150.7 -> understanding the physics means we know
how to regulate the chain reaction in
156.01 -> the space beyond the pipe the heat from
that water turns more water into steam
160.96 -> This steam is what drives the turbines
All of that power just to make a turbine
166.39 -> spin, it's really quite a simple system
These steam driven turbines generate
171.28 -> more than a thousand megawatts of
electricity. That's roughly enough to
175.03 -> power all of the houses in Greater
Manchester. All of the steam leaving the
179.74 -> turbine is condensed back into water and
pumped back round to the steam
184.33 -> generators to be turned back into steam again.
So here we are back in the main
190.54 -> reactor where we started, you see the
simplicity of this system makes nuclear
195.73 -> power incredibly effective. As you've
seen with nuclear a little goes a very long way
200.95 -> Something to think about when
you next make a cup of tea or charge your tablet.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K5gy3RLcKc