Design and Function
Vermont Yankee is a BWR-4 Boiling water reactor with a Mark I containment structure. It provided 71.8% of all electricity generated in Vermont in 2008 and meets 35% of the overall electricity requirements of the state.
It was originally designed and constructed for 500 MW electrical output. In 2006, it was upgraded to 620 MW electrical output. The reactor produces 1912 MW of heat which is converted to electricity at 32% efficiency to generate the 620 MW electrical output
The reactor core holds up to 368 fuel assemblies, and 89 control rods. The spent fuel pool is allowed to contain up to 3353 spent fuel assemblies.
Read more about this topic: Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant
Famous quotes containing the words design and/or function:
“I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth.”
—John Adams (1735–1826)
“The information links are like nerves that pervade and help to animate the human organism. The sensors and monitors are analogous to the human senses that put us in touch with the world. Data bases correspond to memory; the information processors perform the function of human reasoning and comprehension. Once the postmodern infrastructure is reasonably integrated, it will greatly exceed human intelligence in reach, acuity, capacity, and precision.”
—Albert Borgman, U.S. educator, author. Crossing the Postmodern Divide, ch. 4, University of Chicago Press (1992)