UNDERGROUND STRUCTURES

NUCLEAR REACTORS

ANUPAMA CH 1GQ19AT002
PRAMOD S M 1GQ19AT015
MEGHANA PRISCILLA 1GQ19AT010
INTRODUCTION
• A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor.
• Heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a generator that
produces electricity.
• Energy is released by nuclear fission in the core of the reactor.
TYPES

In a pressurized-water reactor, the reactor core heats water and In a boiling-water reactor, the reactor core heats water, which turns
keeps it under pressure to prevent the water from turning into steam. directly into steam in the reactor vessel. The steam is used to power
This hot radioactive water flows through tubes in a steam generator. a turbine generator.
WORKING
DESIGN CRITERIA
Design criteria are governed by: –
• Shielding : Most of the ionizing radiation that fuel elements emit is shielded by their containers. The reinforced concrete building structure
provides further shielding, keeping radiation levels within the limits laid down by the radiation protection regulations and protecting staff and
the environment.
• Heat removal : The interim storage facility design is designed to remove the heat that the fuel elements give off as they decay, by way of
natural convection. The air inlets and outlets required must be arranged and dimensioned to remove heat reliably.
• Building settlement : Building settlement due to the container loads involved must not compromise the structure or the operation of the
cranes etc. Settlement is estimated technically at the planning phase, allowing for subsequent partial occupation levels, and is monitored in
operation via recurrent settlement testing.
• Structural integrity : As with conventional structures, this requirement can be met via the rules of building design on the design of the roof
and sealing the building externally, if groundwater conditions allow.
• Floor structure and decontaminatable coatings : The slab and ground in the storage area must have sufficient compression strength and wear
resistance to take the containers put into storage. This is achieved by using a mechanically smoothed concrete surface with hardening agents
mixed in. In the reception and maintenance area, the floor is given a decontaminatable coating as a precaution. In the loading and unloading
zone in the reception area a shock-absorbent layer of so-called damper concrete can be included in the floor slab to protect containers and
floor slab if a container is dropped from a height of 3 m, which cannot be ruled out.
• Durability : Interim storage facilities are designed to be permanent in accordance with conventional standards. If they are built properly of
tried and tested reinforced concrete designs, they should last for their full working lives.
STRUCTURES IN NUCLEAR REACTORS
Large-scale power plants, whether conventional or nuclear, have many system components and structures which must be clearly marked and classified.
• Reactor building : The reactor building also includes the containment, which must prevent leaks under all prospective problems accidents
• Auxiliary system building :This building houses various storage, stock and wastewater containers, workshops, barrel stores and filter, ventilation
and treatment plants.
• Switchgear building : This building, which is relevant to control and guidance systems, houses all the switchgear and modules which supply the
various systems involved with electric power.
• Emergency backup diesel building (emergency generator building) : This building houses the emergency diesel generators that supply electricity to
the power plant and hence the residual heat removal systems.
• Emergency feed building : This building houses the emergency feed and residual cooling pumps and their associated systems and the switchgear
room. This building also houses the emergency feed system, which in an emergency supplies the boilers with feed water to ablate the residual heat
that the reactor generates.
• Vent stack : This chimney releases at a great height the vent air that comes from ventilating buildings and systems. This vent air is monitored for
radioactive substances.
• Water supply building : This includes the building works for extracting the cooling water, such as the cooling water extractor building or cooling
water pumping station, and the building works for returning the cooling water, such as the outlet structure.
FOUNDATIONS
RAFT FOUNDATIONS :
As a general rule, as with conventional power plants, nuclear power plant structures are laid on raft foundations, but the demands on
the subsoil are extremely high, especially under the reactor building, with its high permanent loads combined with the exceptional
actions of aircraft impact or earthquakes.
This high level of soil compression often also calls for additional theoretical studies looking for weak points, such as cavities, in the
soil; these have a major influence when designing the slab on ground. Such non-constant soil conditions must also be taken into
account when considering the soil–structure interaction when designing to resist earthquakes.

PILE FOUNDATIONS :
The monolithic raft footings used in building nuclear power plants largely use large bored piles up to 1.50 m or so in diameter, with
piles approx. 4–6 m apart. One particular feature arises if bituminous sealing is used. In that case, the slab on ground is often divided
into two separate slabs: the lower pile head slab and the upper building seal slab, between which the sealant is then applied.
Bored piles are often used in foundation work in existing structures, as they are largely vibration-free.
CONSTRUCTION METHODS
• Organization of a temporary work camp consisting of trailers, an ambulance tent, a workshop, a warehouse, a storage for equipment and
materials.
• The first stage of earthwork, which should protect the construction site from flooding and other natural disasters.
• Preparation of access roads that will be involved in the construction and operation of thermal power plant (access roads for the delivery of
equipment, fuel and personnel).
• The implementation of the main earthwork, consisting of the extraction of excess soil at the construction sites, as well as filling these sites
with the selected material.
• Laying the foundations for structures that need it, such as chimneys, power generating units, a transformer, etc.
• Construction of major facilities, including fuel storage, bunkers, water intake system, wastewater treatment system, conveyor belts, etc.
• Construction of auxiliary facilities, units and systems of thermal power plant, including security systems, video surveillance, remote
monitoring, fire extinguishing system.
• Installation and testing of equipment in the control room.
• Testing various components, including water intake systems and other equipment (boilers, conveyors).
• Checking fuel and water consumption; adjustment and calibration of the main equipment and technological processes of a thermal power
plant.
• Clearing the place for the ash dump of the TPP, where the first slag shipments will go; organization of environmental measures in the ash
dump area
CONSTRUCTION METHODS
CONSTRUCTION METHODS
 VENTILATION
The functions of the nuclear power plant's
ventilation systems derived from these radiation
exposure criteria shall ensure that:
— the amounts of radioactive substances entering
the environment in the plant discharge air do not
exceed the acceptable limits on environmental
radiation exposure — the concentrations of
radioactive substances in the plant atmosphere do
not exceed the acceptable limits
Emergency or Safeguards Ventilation Systems with their main functions are :
• Containment Emergency Cooling Systems - To remove heat from the containment in the event of any incident which could result in the temperature
reaching temperatures of 250 to 300 F.
• Filtration Systems - To divert exhaust paths, normally routed directly to the environment, through special filters in order to reduce the amount of any
radioactive materials within levels allowed by regulation
• Pressure Differential Systems - To maintain pressure differentials outside the containment higher to reduce the likelihood of leakage from the
containment to the reactor or auxiliary building, and subsequently from those buildings to the turbine building.
• Cooling Systems - To cool emergency equipment when it is operating, ex. diesel generators, electrical motors and supply breakers.
ELECTRICAL LINES

General illumination in nuclear plants is provided by high bay

LED or metal halide lamps, wall-pack LEDs and tube-style • The power plant produces three different phases of AC power simultaneously, and the three
phases are offset 120 degrees from each other. There are four wires coming out of every power
lighting systems. To boost reliability, these lights may come
plant: the three phases plus a neutral or ground common to all three. 
with emergency backup features that keep the units • The three-phase power leaves the generator and enters a transmission substation at the power
operational for 90 minutes during power outages, evacuations plant. This substation uses large transformers to convert the generator's voltage (which is at the
and emergencies. thousands of volts level) up to extremely high voltages for long-distance transmission on the
transmission grid
WATER SUPPLY AND DRAINAGE

Nuclear power plants use water in a variety of ways:

• Transferring heat (water circulates through the core of the reactor and picks up heat given off
through the fission process)
• Cooling steam back into water (condenser cooling water, used to cool unused steam, comes
from either cooling towers or a process called once-through cooling)
• Cooling used fuel (used nuclear fuel is stored in a steel-lined pool filled with borated water,
which acts as a natural barrier for radiation from the used fuel). The pool is typically around 40
feet deep and constructed of concrete, and the water completely covers the used fuel, in most
cases there is more than 25 feet of water above the used fuel.
• Other usages include water reserved and stored to serve as a backup source of water for the
reactor core in the event of an emergency (to cool the reactor core