What Does a Nuclear Energy Plant Look Like?
A typical nuclear energy plant, including the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant, has three main areas.
- The nuclear island is the area shown in blue. It includes the nuclear reactor inside a heavy-duty containment dome, an auxiliary building for the main control room, the emergency safety systems and the used fuel storage pool.
- The turbine island is the area shown in red. It includes the turbine generator building that houses the turbine and electricity generator.
- The rest of the facility is shown in purple. This area is called the balance of plant. It includes the switchyard and transformers – which connect the plant to the electricity grid - support and office buildings, and other equipment.
What are the three biggest myths in nuclear energy?
01
Radiation is man made
Radiation is energy in motion. There are many natural sources of radiation that we live with safely every day such as cosmic radiation from the sun.
02
Nuclear reactors can explode like bombs
It is not possible for a nuclear energy plant to explode like a bomb, these plants are designed to produce electricity safely and reliably.
03
It's not safe to be near a nuclear energy plant
If you stood at the site boundary for a whole year, you would receive less than a quarter of the radiation from a chest x-ray.