• 13 parts
  • Checked September 2026

Nuclear Power Plant Diagram Labeled

A pressurized water reactor plant as a flow drawing, then its reactor vessel cut open.

Nuclear Power Plant Diagram Labeled

Name Date

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
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Write the name of each numbered part.Answer key

  1. Containment building
  2. Steam generator
  3. Turbine
  4. Generator
  5. Condenser
  6. Cooling tower
  7. Pressurizer
  8. Pumps
  9. Primary loop
  10. Secondary loop
  11. Reactor vessel
  12. Fuel rods (reactor core)
  13. Control rods

Own drawing from plain geometry. Licence: own work.

Each numbered ring is a button. Use the arrow keys to move between them and Enter to choose. Names are read out in Study, and once a part is answered.

Next step Next: what is inside the generator

All 13 parts on the diagram

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The plant 10

  1. Containment building The domed concrete building that covers the reactor.
  2. Steam generator Hot reactor water in its tubes boils other water into steam.
  3. Turbine Steam spins it.
  4. Generator Turned by the turbine, it produces electricity.
  5. Condenser It turns the used steam back into water.
  6. Cooling tower It passes leftover heat from the cooling water to the air.
  7. Pressurizer It controls the pressure of the water in the primary loop.
  8. Pumps They keep the water moving round its loop.
  9. Primary loop Carries hot water from the reactor to the steam generator and back.
  10. Secondary loop Carries steam to the turbine and water back again.

The reactor vessel 3

  1. Reactor vessel The thick-walled tank that holds the core and its water.
  2. Fuel rods (reactor core) Sealed metal tubes of uranium pellets. Fission in them makes heat.
  3. Control rods Pushed in, they slow the reaction; drawn out, they speed it.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30 and kept only where at least two of these use it. (1) US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Pressurized Water Reactors, https://www.nrc.gov/reactors/power/pwrs.html , and its glossary entries Pressurizer, Cooling tower and Pressurized-water reactor, https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/glossary/pressurizer.html , https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/glossary/cooling-tower.html and https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/glossary/pressurized-water-reactor-pwr.html (nrc.gov refuses scripted requests, so each was read in its Internet Archive copy at web.archive.org): core, reactor vessel, fuel assemblies, primary coolant loop, steam generator, secondary loop, steamline, turbine, generator, condenser, pumps, pressurizer, cooling tower. (2) US Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy, Nuclear 101: How Does a Nuclear Reactor Work?, https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/nuclear-101-how-does-nuclear-reactor-work , with the Energy Information Administration's pages https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/nuclear/nuclear-power-plants.php and https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/nuclear/nuclear-power-plants-types-of-reactors.php (one department, one source): fuel rods, fuel assembly, core, reactor vessel, control rods, steam generator and its tubes, turbine, generator, containment dome, cooling tower. (3) Wikipedia, Pressurized water reactor, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressurized_water_reactor : reactor pressure vessel, fuel rods, control rods, pressurizer, steam generator, primary and secondary coolant, pumps, turbine, generator, condenser, cooling towers, containment building. Licence: own work

The drawing: Own drawing from plain geometry; nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

This is a pressurized water reactor plant, the most common kind in the United States. Two drawings: the whole plant with its loops of water, then the reactor vessel cut open.

Read the full guide

Heat, steam, electricity

Fuel rods in the reactor vessel make heat. Water in the primary loop, kept under pressure so that it does not boil, carries the heat to the steam generator. There it boils the water of the secondary loop into steam. The steam spins the turbine, and the turbine turns the generator.

Back to water

Used steam goes down to the condenser and turns back into water, and pumps send it back to the steam generator. The two loops do not mix: the hot reactor water stays inside the steam generator's tubes. A third loop carries cooling water between the condenser and the cooling tower.

  • Not every plant has a cooling tower. Some cool the condenser with water from a lake, a river or the ocean.

Questions and answers

What are the main parts of a nuclear power plant?

A reactor vessel holding the fuel rods and control rods, a pressurizer, a steam generator, a turbine, a generator, a condenser and pumps. A containment building covers the reactor, and many plants have a cooling tower.

What do the control rods do?

Control rods are let down among the fuel rods. Pushed farther into the core they slow the chain reaction, and drawn out they speed it up.

What does the steam generator do?

It is a tall tank with thousands of tubes inside. Hot water from the reactor flows through the tubes and boils the water around them into steam for the turbine.

What is the cooling tower for?

It cools the water that was used to turn the turbine's used steam back into water, passing that heat into the air instead of into a lake or river.

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