Nuclear Power Plant

 

The heart of the nuclear power plant is the reactor which contains the nuclear fuel. The fuel usually consists of hundreds of uranium pellets placed in long thin cartridges of stainless steel. The whole fuel cell consists of hundreds of these cartridges. The fuel is situated in a reactor vessel filled with a fluid. The fuel heats the fluid and the superhot fluid goes to a heat exchanger, i.e. steam generator, where the hot fluid converts water to steam. The fluid is highly radioactive, but it should never come into contact with the water that is converted into steam. Then this steam operates steam turbines in exactly the same way as in a coal- or oil-fired power-plant.

A nuclear reactor has several advantages over power-plants that use coal or natural gas. The latter produce considerable air pollution, releasing combusted gases into the atmosphere, whereas a nuclear power plant gives off almost no air pollutants. As to nuclear fuel, it is far cleaner than any other fuel for operating a heat engine. Furthermore, our reserves of coal, oil and gas are decreasing so nuclear fuel is to replace them. It means that coal and oil can be used for some other purposes. The amount of nuclear fuel which the nuclear power-plant consumes is negligible, while the world’s uranium and thorium resources will last for hundreds of years.

The construction of the first world’s nuclear power-plant in Obninsk near Moscow, was a great historical event and the beginning of atomic energetics. Since then our country has achieved great progress in this field. It should be noted that while the unit capacity of the Obninsk nuclear power-plant was five thousand kW, that of the first unit of the Leningradskaya nuclear power-plant was one million kW.

Our country produces two main types of reactors namely vessel-type reactors and channel-type reactors.

It is necessary to mention here that channel-type reactors have been operating since 1954 at the world’s first nuclear power-plant and in the far North-East of our country, where they produce both electricity and heat.

The nuclear power-stations are mostly designed for the generation of electricity. If a station generates only electric energy, it is equipped with condensing turbines and the station is known as a condensing one. At present, nuclear power-stations mainly operate as condensing plants. The nuclear power-station designed to produce not only electrical energy but also heat are called nuclear heat-and-power plants.

 

VI. Письменно ответьте на вопросы по содержанию текста:

What are the advantages of nuclear power plants over power plants?

What two types of reactors are mentioned in the text?

 

Вариант IV

 

I. Перепишите предложения. Переведите на русский язык, обращая

внимание на перевод герундия. Подчеркните герундий в предложениях.

 

Using atomic fuel for the production of electricity is one of the most perspective sources.

A fax machine is used for sending and receiving copies of original documents via phone line.

Lomonosov’s having studied atmospheric electricity contributed to the development of science.

After finishing calculations a supercomputer puts out necessary results.

 

II. Перепишите предложения, подчеркните причастия. Переведите

предложения на русский язык. Укажите № предложения, в котором

употреблен независимый причастный оборот.

 

The construction of power-stations operating on atomic fuel and generating electric current is quite necessary.

Having discussed the structure of a PC, we can explain its operation.

Atomic energy replacing the present sources of energy, the latter will find various new applications.

The equipment (элементная база) used in this control unit is the same as in the arithmetic unit.

While splitting atoms, scientists have learned to release much energy.

The students watched the operator using a new PC (Personal Computer).

 

 

III. Перепишите предложения и переведите их на русский язык, обращая

внимание на глаголы в сослагательном наклонении.

 

It is desirable that the engine should combine high efficiency and lightness.

K. Onnes found that it was necessary that a mercury wire be cooled to - 265˚C for electrical resistivity to disappear.

It is possible that a compound should become a superconductor even if the chemical elements constituting it are not.

If computers had not been invented, many important problems might never have been solved.

 

IV. Перепишите предложения. Переведите на русский язык, обращая

внимание на условные придаточные предложения.

 

These electrical devices can work for a long time, provided they are made of high-quality material.

Should a permanent magnet be moved in and out of a coil of wire, both the magnet and the coil would be used as a simple electric generator.

Unless the internal combustion engine had been invented, the automobile industry would not have begun to develop so rapidly all over the world.

 

V. Прочитайте текст, перепишите его и переведите на русский язык.