NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

                         A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors. As in a conventional thermal power station the heat is used to generate steam
which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity. Nuclear power
plants are base load stations, which are best suited to constant power output.
                        Electricity was generated for the first time ever by a nuclear reactor on December 20, 1951 at the EBR-I experimental station near Arco, Idaho in the United States. On June 27, 1954, the world's first nuclear power plant to generate electricity for a power grid started operations at Obninsk,

                        There are 104 commercial nuclear power plants producing 20 percent of all electricity and over 70 percent of the emission-free electricity generated in the United States. They are located at

64 sites in 31 states. More than 400 nuclear power plants worldwide produce 16 percent of the world’s electricity—while reducing CO2 emissions by more than 2 billion metric tons per year. Nuclear energy supplies electricity each year to serve 60 million homes.

                        Nuclear energy has one of the lowest environmental impacts of any electricity source. For

example, a wind farm would need 235 square miles to produce the same amount of electricity

as a 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant. Nuclear energy is by far the nation’s largest source of electricity that does not emit any controlled air pollutants, providing 73 percent of the electricity from all carbon-free sources, including hydroelectric, wind and solar. Nuclear power plants provide low-cost, predictable power at stable prices and are essential in maintaining the reliability of the U.S. electric power system.

                        There are nearly 100 different nuclear medicine imaging procedures available today. An

estimated 10 to 12 million nuclear medicine imaging and therapeutic procedures are performed each year in the United States.

A Nuclear Power Plant