A nuclear meltdown is a severe nuclear reactor accident that results in core damage from overheating. The term nuclear meltdown is not officially defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency or by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It has been defined to mean the accidental melting of the core of a nuclear reactor, however, and is in common usage a reference to the core's either complete or partial collapse.
A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a generator that produces electricity. As of 2022, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported there were 439 nuclear power reactors in operation in 32 countries around the world.
The RBMK is a class of graphite-moderated nuclear power reactor designed and built by the Soviet Union. The name refers to its design where, instead of a large steel pressure vessel surrounding the entire core, the core is surrounded by a cylindrical annular steel tank inside a concrete vault and each fuel assembly is enclosed in an individual 8 cm (inner) diameter pipe. The channels also contain the coolant, and are surrounded by graphite.
The Jaslovské Bohunice Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) is a complex of nuclear reactors situated 2.5 km from the village of Jaslovské Bohunice in the Trnava District in western Slovakia.
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP), officially the Vladimir Lenin Nuclear Power Plant, is a closed nuclear power plant located near the abandoned city of Pripyat in northern Ukraine, 16.5 kilometers (10 mi) northwest of the city of Chernobyl, 16 kilometers (10 mi) from the Belarus–Ukraine border, and about 100 kilometers (62 mi) north of Kyiv. The plant was cooled by an engineered pond, fed by the Pripyat River about 5 kilometers (3 mi) northwest from its juncture with the Dnieper.
The Paks Nuclear Power Plant, located 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from the small town of Paks, central Hungary, is the first and only operating nuclear power station in Hungary. In 2019, its four reactors produced more than 50% of Hungary's electricity production.
The Biblis Nuclear Power Plant is in the South Hessian municipality of Biblis and consists of two units: unit A with a gross output of 1200 megawatts and unit B with a gross output of 1300 megawatts. Both units are pressurized water reactors. The operator of this power plant is the German RWE Power AG, an electrical utility based in Essen. Unit A began operation on July 16, 1974 and entered commercial service on August 25, 1974; unit B reached criticality on March 25, 1976. Both units now are shut down definitely for political reasons (Atomausstieg).
Lubmin is a coastal resort in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Lubmin is situated near Greifswald and on the Bay of Greifswald.
The water-water energetic reactor (WWER), or VVER is a series of pressurized water reactor designs originally developed in the Soviet Union, and now Russia, by OKB Gidropress. The idea of such a reactor was proposed at the Kurchatov Institute by Savely Moiseevich Feinberg. VVER were originally developed before the 1970s, and have been continually updated. As a result, the name VVER is associated with a wide variety of reactor designs spanning from generation I reactors to modern generation III+ reactor designs. Power output ranges from 70 to 1300 MWe, with designs of up to 1700 MWe in development. The first prototype VVER-210 was built at the Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant.
Russia is one of the world's largest producers of nuclear energy. In 2020 total electricity generated in nuclear power plants in Russia was 215.746 TWh, 20.28% of all power generation. The installed gross capacity of Russian nuclear reactors is 29.4 GW in December 2020.
A graphite-moderated reactor is a nuclear reactor that uses carbon as a neutron moderator, which allows natural uranium to be used as nuclear fuel.
Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant located in the town of Sosnovy Bor in Russia's Leningrad Oblast, on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland, some 70 kilometres (43 mi) to the west of the city centre of Saint Petersburg.
Nuclear power in Germany accounted for 13.3% of German electricity supply in 2021, generated by six power plants, of which three were switched off at the end of 2021, the other three due to cease operation at the end of 2022 according to the complete nuclear phase-out plan of 2011.
The Mochovce Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant located between the towns of Nitra and Levice, on the site of the former village of Mochovce, Slovakia. Two up-rated 470 MW reactors are presently in operation, with two further reactors of the same type under construction. Generating almost 7,000 GWh of electricity a year, the power plant currently serves approximately 20% of Slovakia's electricity needs.
The Czech Republic operates two nuclear power plants: Temelín and Dukovany. In 2010 there were government and corporate moves to expand Czech nuclear power generation capacity. Any expansion is likely to build on plans first developed in the 1980s.
The Tōkai Nuclear Power Plant was Japan's first commercial nuclear power plant. The first unit was built in the early 1960s to the British Magnox design, and generated power from 1966 until it was decommissioned in 1998. A second unit, built at the site in the 1970s, was the first in Japan to produce over 1000 MW of electricity. The site is located in Tokai in the Naka District in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan and is operated by the Japan Atomic Power Company. The total site area amounts to 0.76 km2 with 0.33 km2, or 43% of it, being green area that the company is working to preserve.
Stendal Nuclear Power Station is a nuclear power station which was never completed. It was located in East Germany, near the city of Arneburg, Stendal in Bezirk Magdeburg, today's Saxony-Anhalt.
Rheinsberg Nuclear Power Station was the second nuclear reactor in East Germany after the Rossendorf Research Reactor, and the first nuclear power reactor in East Germany. It was built close to the city of Rheinsberg on the Stechlinsee. The power station was one of the first generation of demonstration power reactors.
Slovakia has four operational nuclear reactors, commissioned between 1984 and 1999 and with a combined net power capacity of 1,815 MWe. In 2018, nuclear power produces approximately 55% of the country’s electricity. Three older reactors have been shut down.
The VVER-TOI or WWER-TOI is a generation III+ nuclear power reactor based on VVER technology developed by Rosatom. The VVER-TOI design is intended to improve the competitiveness of Russian VVER technology in international markets. It would use VVER-1300/510 water pressurized reactors constructed to meet modern nuclear and radiation safety requirements.
