When researching a place to buy a house, we came across the Duke Energy Harris Nuclear Plant. It’s easy to get nervous about a nuclear power plant. After all, we know how dangerous nuclear weapons are.
The most visible “contribution” that the plant offers is the white “smoke” bellowing from the cooling towers. It’s actually steam. At no point in the process does the water causing the steam come in contact with any nuclear matter. Not only is the steam safe, but nuclear energy is by actually the largest source of electricity that doesn’t emit any air pollution—and the only one that can produce large amounts of electricity around the clock. Nuclear energy has a major role in protecting America’s air quality.
When Congress passed the Clean Air Act in 1970, nuclear energy supplied just 1 percent of America’s electricity. Today, 100 reactors in 31 states provide nearly 20 percent of America’s electrical power, replacing fossil-fueled plants that would have been built otherwise.
The Harris Plant came on line in 1987, and has a capacity of 900 megawatts. To put that in perspective, that’s enough energy to power more than 550,000 homes. If that’s another hard number to comprehend, in 2013, all of Wake County had about 392,000 homes.
Some are old enough to remember the Three Mile Island incident in 1979, where the reactor was severely damaged but radiation was contained and there were no adverse health or environmental consequences. There have been two other instances (Chernobyl & Fukushima) where there was radiation damage due to inadequate containment. Chernobyl saw a death toll of about 56.
You can feel safe fishing and swimming in Lake Harris. Don’t plan on catching a glowing, six-eyed fish. It’s just not going to happen.
How Do Nuclear Plants Work?
In a nuclear-fueled power plant – much like a fossil-fueled power plant – water is turned into steam, which in turn drives turbine generators to produce electricity. The difference is the source of heat. At nuclear power plants, the heat to make the steam is created when uranium atoms split – called fission. There is no combustion in a nuclear reactor. Here’s how the process works.
Pressurized Water Reactors (also known as PWRs) keep water under pressure so that it heats, but does not boil. This heated water is circulated through tubes in steam generators, allowing the water in the steam generators to turn to steam, which then turns the turbine generator. Water from the reactor and the water that is turned into steam are in separate systems and do not mix.
