About nuclear energy

Commitments: Safety and Environment
The nuclear energy sector is, together with aeronautics, one of the most highly regulated industries. Once the fuel is used, it is cooled in pools and, subsequently, it is placed in concrete casks.

The plants normally have three radiation protection barriers: the first is the fuel rod itself (zirconium tubes with the uranium inside). The second is the reactor vessel: a cylindrical carbon steel vessel, covered on the inside with stainless steel, that is some 15 centimeters thick, 18 meters high and almost 5 meters in diameter. On the inside is the reactor core, where the steam that drives the turbine is obtained. The third barrier is the reactor containment building, a reinforced concrete structure that is one meter thick and 55 meters high (almost a third of those meters underground) and designed to withstand the conditions of the worst possible accident. To this are added the emergency systems, which are actuated if the cooling systems break.