Pioneering nuclear power for peaceful purposes

EE 54 May 1986 PIONEERING NUCLEAR POWER FOR PEACEFUL PURPOSES by James Varley, Editor Nuclear Engineering International When it comes to civil nuclear technology, Britain can claim membership of a very exclusive club in- deed. It is one of only four or five countries that have successfully brought to fruition a completely home grown technology for generating electricity from the atom. It can also lay claim to being the first country to build and put into com- mercial operation a nuclear powered central generating station. This was Calder Hall, which has been supplying elec- tricity since 17 October 1956. In the British design of reactor, which is used in all the country"s commer- cial nuclear power sta- tions circulating gas (carbon dioxide) is used to carry heat from the nuclear core to the boilers. As in a conven- tional coal or oil fired power station, the boilers produce the steam to drive turbines, which in turn drive alternators and produce electricity. In 1983, some 17 per ...