• Question: what happens if sothing ghoes wrong in a nuclear power plant

    Asked by Flynnton29 to Tadhg on 15 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Tadhg O'Donovan

      Tadhg O'Donovan answered on 15 Jun 2015:


      Hi Flynnton29, A Nuclear power plant is, in principle, much like a gas or coal burning power plant. Instead of burning fuel to generate steam to turn a turbine and generate electricity, a nuclear power plant generates heat from a nuclear reaction. The main risk is that the nuclear reaction gets “out of control” and heat cannot be taken out of the reaction enough – leading to a explosion or melt-down. Health and safety is of paramount importance to this industry and there are many “fail-safes” in place. So really is something goes wrong it is most likely that your lights will go out as the plant is shut down.

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