Site Selection for Nuclear Power Plant:
Assessment of public safety results in greater concern for site selection for a Nuclear power plant. All the natural factors are taken into account like transport of radioactive material to the public during normal operating condition as well as highly unlikely event of an accident that would result in release of radioactive material to the environment.
The various factors that are taken into account while selecting the site for a nuclear power plant are:
1. Water availability
The site must be equipped with ample quantity of water as the plants require substantially greater quantity of cooling water, because of its higher turbine heat rate and feed water required for steam generation. Therefore, the site must be nearer to a river, reservoir, sea or ocean.
2. Distance from load centre
The power plant should be located near the load centre as this will reduce the cost of transmission line and also reduces transmission loss.
Note: The power plant is located near the load centre while meeting other requirements like reasonable land cost, adequate cooling water, away from population distribution, local zone restriction, accessibility for fuel shipment, etc.
3. Distance from populated area
The plant should be away from the population in order to avoid the radioactive hazard.
4. Transportation facilities
The site should be accessible by rail and road as heavy machinery are to be brought to the site during the installation and fuel during its operation.
5. Waste disposal
The waste of a nuclear power plant are very radioactive therefore sufficient space must be there to dispose the radioactive waste.
6. Cost of the land
Large area is required to built a nuclear power plant, therefore the land price should be reasonable.
7. Nature of land
The land should have good bearing capacity of about 1 MN/m2 and must not come under earthquake prone zone. The land is studied for its past history of tremors and earthquake in order to design the plant that can withstand the severest earthquake.
8. Future extension
A choice for future extension of the plant should be made in order to meet the energy demand in future.
9. Availability of workforce
During construction of the plant enough labour is required. The labour should be available at the proposed site at cheap rate.
10. Size of the plant
The capacity of the plant decides the size of the plant, large plants require large area. Therefore the capacity of the plant also plays a vital role in the selection of site.