Magnetic Thermal Relay.

Application. This relay is designed for the overload protec­tion of motors connected to a single-phase or to a three-phase a.c. supply (a.c. — alternating current). The thermal unit matches the motor temperature and protects it against over­loads.

Construction. The relay consists of two main parts: the mag­netic unit and the contact box. The magnetic unit includes two coils on a horizontal shaft: a primary coil — for the current to be controlled and a secondary coil connected to a bimetallic bar. The parts of the relay are installed close to each other on a base of insulating material.

Operation. The current to be controlled flows through the primary coil and produces both a magnetic field and a cur­rent in the bimetallic bar and heats it. When the current increases above the maximum value, the bar warps. The contact on the shaft is opened.

The nuclear power plant

Industry depends on power. The industrial development of the last 200 years has been based primarily on the exploita­tion of coal and later of oil. In some parts of the world the force of flowing water has been used to generate electricity.Now a new fuel and a new source of power is put to the service of mankind. The fuel is uranium and the source of power is atomic power.

Nuclear power plants offer a new means of making power available in regions where the cost of transport is nearing its economic limits. One of the great advantages of atomic pow­er stations is the fact they can be built in the very region where power is to be used. As a result long electric transmis­sion lines become unnecessary. The atomic power plant is a typical steam power installation with the electricity generat­ed by a steam turbine operated by water converted into steam as a result of uranium fission.

The principal components of the power plant equipment are: the nuclear reactor, the heat exchanger in which the steam is produced, the steam turbine.

The power plant has two main water circulation circuits: the first — between the reactor and the steam exchanger for transferring heat and the second — between the steam exchang­er and the turbine for producing steam to drive the turbine.

The scientists have designed a few types of reactors. The reactors will operate with a mixture of natural and enriched uranium. Atomic power stations are advantageous because of their low fuel consumption. If the capacity of an atomic pow­er station is assumed to be one million kilowatts and its effi­ciency 25 per cent, only about 500 kg of fuel will be required to ensure the operation of the reactors for 24 hours. A power station of the same capacity operating with ordinary solid fuel would require 550 carloads of brown coal for the same period of time.

Atomic power plants will meet the ever-increasing demand for power by using a new source of energy, a source allowing the great industrial systems to continue hundreds — even thousands of years beyond the time when the conventional sources of power will have been exhausted.

Atomic power plants are modern installations. They consist of several main units and a great numbers of auxiliary ones. In a nuclear reactor uranium is utilized as a fuel. During operation process powerful heat and radioactive radiation are produced. The nuclear reactor is cooled by water circulation. Cooling water circulates through a system of tubes, in which the water is heated to a temperature of 250-300°C. In order to prevent boiling of water, it passes into the reactor at a pressure up to 150 atmospheres.

A steam generator includes a series of heat exchangers comprising tubes. The water heated in the reactor is deliv­ered into the heat exchanger tubes. The water to be convert­ed into steam flows outside these tubes. The steam produced is fed into the turbogenerator.

Besides, an atomic power plant comprises a common tur­bogenerator, a steam condenser with circulating water and a switchboard. Atomic power plants have their advantages as well as dis­advantages. Their reactors and steam generators operate noise­lessly; the atmosphere is not polluted by dust and smoke. As to the fuel consumption, it is of no special importance and there is no problem of fuel transportation.

The disadvantage of power plants utilizing nuclear fuel is their radiation. Radioactive radiation produced in the re­actors is dangerous for attending personnel. Therefore, the reactors and steam generators are installed underground. All their controls are operated by means of automatic devic­es. These measures serve to protect people from radioactive radiation.

But still there were some accidents, as it was at Chernobyl Atom Power Station in Ukraine. The radioactive radiation of that accident has spread over the vast territory.

Britain's first atomic station has begun to generate power in 1956. It supplies atomic power instead of electric power for industrial purposes over a large area. Yet the station de-signed to generate great amounts of cheap electricity is known to produce large quantities of plutonium," a basic material for military purposes. It was reported that in Great Britain atomic power stations ranging from 20,000 to 300,000 kW were be­ing designed. The total capacity of the stations was expected to be increased to 1,5-2 million kilowatts by 1965. Britain is supposed to stop the building of steam power stations and to go over entirely to atomic stations.