Nuclear power carries both great risks and great benefits, because nuclear meltdowns are rare but potentially catastrophic. However, even though nuclear power is not 100% clean, the plants and reactors themselves do not produce air pollution like burning fossil fuels does. You will often hear both terms used, so it is worth understanding the difference between nuclear reactors and nuclear power plants.
Nuclear reactors are the machines that control and contain the process of fission, which involves the use of nuclear chain reactions to produce large amounts of heat used to turn water into hot steam under pressure. They are centered around a core made up of hundreds of fuel rods containing enriched uranium. Nuclear power plants are the facilities that house these reactors and other equipment. This includes steam turbines that connect to generators and produce electricity.
Power plants also process cooling and hazardous nuclear waste. Because the equipment becomes hot, plants use nearby water sources to dissipate the heat, which must also be cooled before it can be released. In fact, those massive towers you see at nuclear power plants aren’t reactors and don’t emit smoke; they are part of the cooling system and what you see is water vapor.
A new type of nuclear reactor is coming to the United States soon
Although nuclear reactors use the same general process of controlling the fission of uranium to produce heat and electricity, there are different types of reactors. All plants currently operating in the United States use normal water as a moderator (the material that helps control the reaction) and as a coolant, although new generation nuclear generators are coming to the United States. Currently, states have two types of nuclear reactors – boiling water and pressurized water – but other countries use materials like heavy water and liquid metal.
Boiling water reactors are simple: they heat water until it turns into steam. Pressurized water reactors use pressure on the water passing through the core to prevent the production of steam. It then uses it to turn the clean water into steam, which is used to power a generator. These types of reactors are the most common around the world because they are safer and easier to operate than boiling water reactors.
The United States’ first waterless generator is scheduled to open in 2027: Kairos Power’s Hermes reactor in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The new reactor will use molten fluoride salt as a coolant, which is more efficient in generating electricity and more cost-effective. The heat it produces can also be used for other purposes, such as producing hydrogen without emitting greenhouse gases. This increased utility and their potential to help decarbonize other industries make molten salt nuclear reactors and other innovations fascinating tools for combating human-caused climate change, even if they still carry the overall risks of nuclear power.
