What is Nuclear power plant?
{{no sources|date=May 2024}} [[File:Philippsburg2.jpg|thumb|A nuclear power station with two reactors (Philippsburg, near Karlsruhe in Germany)]] [[File:PressurizedWaterReactor.gif|thumb|right|Nuclear power plant with a pressurized water [[nuclear reactor|reactor]]]] A '''nuclear power plant''' is a type of [[power station]] that generates [[electricity]] using [[heat]] from [[nuclear reaction]]s. These reactions take place within a [[Nuclear reactor|reactor]]. The plant also has machines which remove heat from the reactor to operate a steam [[turbine]] and [[generator]] to make electricity. Electricity made by nuclear power plants is called [[nuclear power]]. Nuclear power plants are usually near water to remove the heat the reactor makes. Some nuclear power plants use [[cooling tower]]s to do this. Nuclear power plants use [[uranium]] as fuel. When the reactor is on, uranium [[atom]]s inside the reactor split into two smaller atoms. When uranium atoms split, they give off a large amount of heat. This splitting of atoms is called [[Nuclear fission|fission]]. The most popular atoms to fission are uranium and [[plutonium]]. Those atoms are slightly [[radioactive]]. The atoms produced when fuel atoms break apart are strongly radioactive. Today, fission only happens in nuclear reactors. In nuclear reactors, fission only happens when the reactors parts are arranged properly. Nuclear power plants turn their reactors off when replacing old [[nuclear fuel]] with new fuel. There are about four hundred nuclear power plants in the world, with many in the United States, [[France]], and [[Japan]]. Some famous accidents at nuclear power plants were the 2011 [[Fukushima nuclear disaster]] in Japan, 1986 [[Chernobyl disaster]] in [[Ukraine]], and the 1979 [[Three Mile Island accident]] in the [[United States]]. An [[anti-nuclear movement in Australia]] opposes the making of any nuclear power plants in the country. {{Nuclear power}} {{Nuclear technology}} {{Commons category|Nuclear power plants}} [[Category:Nuclear p