Nuclear power plants and how they run and what their effects are on the environment

THIS IS AN ARTICLE ON THE USES OF NUCLEAR ENERGY HOW IT FUNCTIONS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON THE ENVIRONMENT PLEASE THANK THE CORPORATION FPL FOR PROVIDING US WITH THIS EDUCATIONAL ARTICLE

Nuclear energy offers several benefits:

It provides 19 percent of the electricity for our Florida customers and is an important part of our energy mix in the competitive wholesale market in the northeastern and midwestern United States
It's clean – with virtually no emissions – which helps keep the air clean, preserve the Earth's climate, avoid ground-level ozone formation and prevent acid rain, and
It is efficient and cost-effective because of stable fuel prices, high plant performance and modernized plants.

NextEra Energy's nuclear power plants are also low-cost producers. Uranium fuel prices are stable. That's good news for you because our nuclear power plants can help keep electric bills lower than they might otherwise be if we depended solely on oil and natural gas.

The Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry organization, provides additional information on what experts around the world say about the safety and benefits of nuclear power.

Need for nuclear power

Nuclear energy provides the second largest source of electricity in the United States, providing safe, reliable and low-cost power for homes and businesses.

Some of the reasons that nuclear power remains an attractive source of electricity include:

Growing energy demands
Unpredictable fossil fuel costs, and
Continued need for clean energy.
These conditions, in combination with the outstanding performance of FPL's nuclear power plants, were key factors in our company's decisions to pursue license renewal and power uprates at our St. Lucie and Turkey Point plants.



Creating the option for new nuclear generation
Even with today’s available alternative energy supplies and conservation efforts, the need for new power generation in Florida is great. Among other actions, FPL has initiated a process to explore the addition of new nuclear generation to its system. The decision to move forward with a new nuclear power plant will be based on several factors, including the pace of federal and state licensing processes, the capital and operating costs of new nuclear generation and competing alternatives. FPL may not make a decision to build for several years, depending on how these issues unfold. However, it is important that FPL begin working now to create the option of building a nuclear power plant.

How nuclear power plants work
All power plants, including our St. Lucie, Turkey Point, Seabrook, Duane Arnold and Point Beach nuclear power plants, operate in much the same way. Water is heated and turned into steam by using fuel such as coal, natural gas or oil. In a nuclear power plant, however, the fuel is uranium.

Unlike other power plants, however, nuclear power plants do not burn fuel. Instead, the process works this way:

Step

Action

1

Tiny parts of the uranium, known as atoms, are made to split, or fission.

2

During fission, even smaller particles of the atom, called neutrons, are released.

3

The neutrons strike more uranium atoms, resulting in the release of heat needed to generate electricity.

There are primarily two kinds of nuclear reactors used to generate electricity in the United States: pressurized water reactors (such as our St. Lucie, Turkey Point, Seabrook and Point Beach plants) and boiling water reactors (such as Duane Arnold).

Pressurized water reactors have three distinct, separate loops of water. In the primary system, shown inside the containment structure in the schematic below, the uranium fuel heats water through fission. This hot water is pumped into a piece of equipment called a steam generator and circulated through thousands of tubes. Here, a separate supply of water flows over the hot tubes of reactor water and turns into steam in the secondary system. The steam turns fan-like blades of a turbine, spinning the shaft of an electric generator and producing electricity.

The non-radioactive steam is turned back into water in the condenser by a third system that provides cooling water. Cooling water is circulated through tubes and the steam flows over the tubes, condensing back into water to begin the cycle again. The source of the condenser cooling water at each plant is:

St. Lucie – the Atlantic Ocean through offshore pipes
Turkey Point – a closed canal system that acts like a giant radiator to cool the water
Seabrook Station – the Atlantic Ocean, drawn in through a 17,140-foot tunnel located more than a mile offshore
Duane Arnold – the Cedar River
Point Beach – Lake Michigan
In a boiling water reactor, such as the Duane Arnold Energy Center, heat from nuclear fission boils water in the upper portion of the reactor vessel to form steam, eliminating the need for steam generators. From there, the steam flows to the turbine and turns it to make electricity. The spent steam is condensed back into water for recirculation to the reactor vessel and the process is repeated.


Pressurized Water Reactor


Boiling water reactor



You can learn more about energy, including nuclear energy, at E4 Online, an educational and entertaining way to explore a virtual visitors’ center with four main online rooms and a dozen different interactive exhibits.

Environmental stewardship
Protecting our environment is important, and NextEra Energy's nuclear power plants provide a clean energy source. Since nuclear power plants do not burn fuel, there are virtually no air emissions, such as greenhouse gases that may contribute to global warming. We also provide for land and wildlife conservation.

At E4 Online, see a preview presentation of Nuclear Power: Safe for the Environment, a video at FPL’s Energy Encounter.

Public health and safety
Public health and safety is FPL's top priority in the operation of its nuclear power plants. As a result, we have programs in place that strictly control radiation, and FPL and state agencies conduct extensive monitoring at the plant site and in the surrounding community to ensure that public health and safety is protected.

Although FPL's nuclear power plants have a 35-year record of safe, reliable operation, we have a comprehensive emergency preparedness plan that is routinely tested with federal, state and local emergency management agencies.

Follow this link for more information about the strict radiation safety standards (PDF 407k) in place at NextEra Energy's nuclear power plants.

Safely managing used fuel
When the plant's uranium fuel no longer contains enough energy to produce electricity efficiently, the used fuel is removed from the reactor. The used fuel is then stored safely in stainless steel-lined concrete pools of water on the plant site. This is called "wet storage."

In 1998, the federal government was to have opened a permanent repository for disposal of used fuel from all commercial nuclear power sites. However, the licensing of the disposal site is behind schedule. As a result, NextEra Energy is supplementing the current wet storage of used fuel with an additional approach using dry storage containers. Additional storage is essential so that the plants can continue providing safe, reliable and low-cost electricity to our customers.

Dry storage is not a new practice. It has been in use for more than 20 years and is a proven technology that is safe, secure, environmentally sound and much more economical than building another "wet storage" pool.

About one half of the nation’s 64 nuclear power plants currently have some form of onsite dry storage (Click here for a map of dry storage locations.) In fact, four of NextEra Energy's nuclear power plants – Duane Arnold in Iowa, Point Beach in Wisconsin, St. Lucie in Florida, and Seabrook Station in New Hampshire – have been successfully using dry storage. NextEra Energy's nuclear fleet will use this industry knowledge and best practices throughout the dry storage process at its plants.

Follow these links for more information.

Visit FPL's E4 Online to explore the steps involved in used-fuel handling by trained nuclear professionals – from wet storage to dry storage, to transportation, and to plans for final disposal.
Follow these links for more information: E4 Online: used fuel handling. (On the home page, click on "Learning Lab.")

Carbon footprint and how it's calculated

Please visit the website http://www.fpl.com/environment/conservation/carbonCalc.shtml for a interesting article containing calculators on how to determine how much carbon is being released into the environment with our different daily activities.

How to pick a safe re-usable water bottle

There are two main types of re-usable water bottles plastic and metal. Metal water bottles usually come in the form of stainless steal so no doubt will be very durable and will last you a while but plastic water bottles usually come with more features like hand grips on the side and interchangeable mouth pieces and wider lids for easy cleaning. But whatever the case make sure you pick a bottle that fits well in your hand and that is BPA FREE, it is crucial that the bottle sais BPA free if it doesn't you are taking a chance that chemicals be released from the plastic to the water.

why use a re-usable water bottle

WHY USE A RE-USABLE WATER BOTTLE
Using a re-usable water bottle is not only cheap on your pocket but also splendid for your health and the environment. By using a re-usable water bottle you are preventing thousands of water bottles from entering land fills. And using a re-usable water bottle is beneficial for your health, most disposable water bottles are made from plastics containing bpa which can leak unhealthy chemicals into your water so you are also doing your body a favor while helping the environment.

Why is Recycling Important

Recycling- is the process of separating, collecting and remanufacturing or converting used or waste products into new materials.


Recycling helps extend the life and usefulness of something that has already served its initial purpose by producing something that is useable. Recycling has a lot of benefits and importance not only to us humans but especially to our planet.

-In conclusion recycling saves trees, energy, minimizes global warming and pollution and reduces waste in landfills.

How to change an ip address 2nd way for Windows Vista

Windows (second option)

Step1. Make sure Computer is connected directly to the modem
step2. Get to a command prompt. (START, run, cmd).
step3. Type "ipconfig /release" (without the quotes).
step4. Shut down computer.
step5. Turn off computer.
step6. Turn off all ethernet hubs/switches.
step7. Turn off cable/DSL modem.
step8. Leave off overnight.
step9. Turn everything back on.

how to change an ip address with windows vista

Windows

- Computer connected directly to the modem
Get to a command prompt. (START, run, cmd).

step1. Type "ipconfig /release" (without the quotes, on the command line by itself).
step2. Type "ipconfig /renew" (without the quotes, on the command line by itself).