Power Plant Engineering

10.17 SITE SELECTION
The various factors to be considered while selecting the site for nuclear plant are as follows :
1. Availability of water. At the power plant site an ample quantity of water should be available
for condenser cooling and made up water required for steam generation. Therefore the site
should be nearer to a river, reservoir or sea.
2. Distance from load center. The plant should be located near the load center. This will mini-
mise the power losses in transmission lines.
3. Distance from populated area. The power plant should be located far away from populated
area to avoid the radioactive hazard.
4. Accessibility to site. The power plant should have rail and road transportation facilities.
5. Waste disposal. The wastes of a nuclear power plant are radioactive and there should be
sufficient space near the plant site for the disposal of wastes.
Safeguard against earthquakes. The site is classified into its respective seismic zone 1, 2, 3, 4,
or 6. The zone 5 being the most seismic and unsuitable for nuclear power plants. About 300 km of radius
area around the proposed site is studied for its past history of tremors, and earthquakes to assess the
severest earthquake that could occur for which the foundation building and equipment supports are
designed accordingly. This ensures that the plant will retain integrity of structure, piping and equipments
should an earthquake occur. The site selected should also take into account the external natural events
such as floods, including those by up-stream dam failures and tropical cyclones.
The most important consideration in selecting a site for a nuclear power plant is to ensure that the
site-plant combination does not pose radio logical or any hazards to either the public, plant personnel on
the environment during normal operation of plant or in the unlikely event of an accident.
The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has stipulated a code of practice on safety in
Nuclear Power Plant site and several safety guide lines for implementation.

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POWER PLANT ENGINEERING