Splitting Atoms for Power - Nuclear Power - page 19

coolant. It picks up heat from the core and carries the heat to a
device called a heat exchanger . There, the heat is transferred
to the second water system. This causes the water in the second
system to boil, forming steam. The steam is used to make a
turbine turn, which causes a generator to produce electricity.
Boiling water reactors have just one water system. The same
water that passes through the core forms the steam that drives
the turbine.
Scientists in Canada invented another type of reactor known
as the CANDU reactor . (The name comes from CANada

u

Some Milestones

in Nuclear Power
• On December 20, 1951, nuclear energy was fi rst used
to make electricity. An experimental reactor in Arco,
Idaho, produced electricity to turn on four light bulbs.
• On June 26, 1954, an electricity-producing nuclear
reactor was connected to a public power system for
the fi rst time. It was in Obninsk, Russia.
• On August 27, 1956, a commercial nuclear power
station connected with a national grid for the fi rst time.
It was Calder Hall 1 in England.
• On December 18, 1957, the fi rst U.S. commercial power

plant began making electricity. It was the Shippingport

Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania.