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  2. Nuclear power - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power

    Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by nuclear fission of uranium and plutonium in nuclear power plants. Nuclear decay processes are used in ...

  3. Nuclear power plant - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_plant

    The world's first and only nuclear power plant that put Gen IV reactors into commercial use is Shidao Bay Nuclear Power Plant. The reactor is a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor , started its building process on September 21 2014, [75] started to generate power December 20, 2021, [76] and was put into commercial operation in December 12, 2023.

  4. Thorium-based nuclear power - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium-based_nuclear_power

    A sample of thorium. Thorium-based nuclear power generation is fueled primarily by the nuclear fission of the isotope uranium-233 produced from the fertile element thorium.A thorium fuel cycle can offer several potential advantages over a uranium fuel cycle —including the much greater abundance of thorium found on Earth, superior physical and nuclear fuel properties, and reduced nuclear ...

  5. Nuclear power in the United States - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_the...

    Nuclear power compared to other sources of electricity in the US, 1949–2011. In the United States, nuclear power is provided by 92 commercial reactors with a net capacity of 94.7 gigawatts (GW), with 61 pressurized water reactors and 31 boiling water reactors. [1] In 2019, they produced a total of 809.41 terawatt-hours of electricity, [2 ...

  6. Small modular reactor - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_modular_reactor

    Small modular reactors ( SMR s) are a class of small nuclear fission reactors, designed to be built in a factory, shipped to operational sites for installation and then used to power buildings or other commercial operations. The first commercial SMR was invented by a team of nuclear scientists at Oregon State University (OSU) in 2007. [1]

  7. Boiling water reactor - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_water_reactor

    A boiling water reactor ( BWR) is a type of light water nuclear reactor used for the generation of electrical power. It is the second most common type of electricity-generating nuclear reactor after the pressurized water reactor (PWR), which is also a type of light water nuclear reactor. The main difference between a BWR and PWR is that in a ...

  8. Nuclear fuel - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fuel

    Nuclear fuel. Nuclear fuel process. A graph comparing nucleon number against binding energy. Close-up of a replica of the core of the research reactor at the Institut Laue-Langevin. Nuclear fuel is material used in nuclear power stations to produce heat to power turbines. Heat is created when nuclear fuel undergoes nuclear fission.

  9. Pressurized water reactor - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressurized_water_reactor

    An animation of a PWR power station with cooling towers. A pressurized water reactor ( PWR) is a type of light-water nuclear reactor. PWRs constitute the large majority of the world's nuclear power plants (with notable exceptions being the UK, Japan and Canada). In a PWR, the primary coolant ( water) is pumped under high pressure to the reactor ...