Scribd
Upload
48 views3 pages

By Moderator Material: Treatment of The Interior Part of A Reactor Frame at

The document discusses nuclear fusion as a potential source of power generation, noting that while it has been researched since the 1940s, no self-sustaining fusion reactor has been built. It then provides details on different types of nuclear reactors categorized by moderator material (e.g. graphite, heavy water, light water) and coolant (e.g. pressurized water, boiling water, liquid metal, gas, molten salt). The majority of current reactors are light water cooled and moderated.

Uploaded by

Maan Miralles
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
48 views3 pages

By Moderator Material: Treatment of The Interior Part of A Reactor Frame at

The document discusses nuclear fusion as a potential source of power generation, noting that while it has been researched since the 1940s, no self-sustaining fusion reactor has been built. It then provides details on different types of nuclear reactors categorized by moderator material (e.g. graphite, heavy water, light water) and coolant (e.g. pressurized water, boiling water, liquid metal, gas, molten salt). The majority of current reactors are light water cooled and moderated.

Uploaded by

Maan Miralles
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

In principle, 

fusion power could be produced by nuclear fusion of elements such as


the deuterium isotope of hydrogen. While an ongoing rich research topic since at least the 1940s, no
self-sustaining fusion reactor for power generation has ever been built.
By moderator material[edit]
Used by thermal reactors:

 Graphite-moderated reactors
 Water moderated reactors
o Heavy-water reactors (Used in Canada,[24] India, Argentina, China, Pakistan,
Romania and South Korea).[25]
o Light-water-moderated reactors (LWRs). Light-water reactors (the most common
type of thermal reactor) use ordinary water to moderate and cool the reactors. [24] When
at operating temperature, if the temperature of the water increases, its density drops, and
fewer neutrons passing through it are slowed enough to trigger further reactions.
That negative feedback stabilizes the reaction rate. Graphite and heavy-water reactors tend
to be more thoroughly thermalized than light water reactors. Due to the extra thermalization,
these types can use natural uranium/unenriched fuel.
 Light-element-moderated reactors.
o Molten salt reactors (MSRs) are moderated by light elements such as lithium or
beryllium, which are constituents of the coolant/fuel matrix salts LiF and BeF 2.
o Liquid metal cooled reactors, such as those whose coolant is a mixture of lead and
bismuth, may use BeO as a moderator.
 Organically moderated reactors (OMR) use biphenyl and terphenyl as moderator and
coolant.
By coolant[edit]

Treatment of the interior part of a VVER-1000 reactor frame at Atommash.


In thermal nuclear reactors (LWRs in specific), the coolant acts as a moderator that must slow down the
neutrons before they can be efficiently absorbed by the fuel.

 Water cooled reactor. These constitute the great majority of operational nuclear reactors: as
of 2014, 93% of the world's nuclear reactors are water cooled, providing about 95% of the
world's total nuclear generation capacity.[22]
o Pressurized water reactor (PWR) Pressurized water reactors constitute the large
majority of all Western nuclear power plants.
 A primary characteristic of PWRs is a pressurizer, a specialized pressure
vessel. Most commercial PWRs and naval reactors use pressurizers. During normal
operation, a pressurizer is partially filled with water, and a steam bubble is maintained
above it by heating the water with submerged heaters. During normal operation, the
pressurizer is connected to the primary reactor pressure vessel (RPV) and the
pressurizer "bubble" provides an expansion space for changes in water volume in the
reactor. This arrangement also provides a means of pressure control for the reactor by
increasing or decreasing the steam pressure in the pressurizer using the pressurizer
heaters.
 Pressurized heavy water reactors are a subset of pressurized water reactors,
sharing the use of a pressurized, isolated heat transport loop, but using heavy water as
coolant and moderator for the greater neutron economies it offers.
o Boiling water reactor (BWR)
 BWRs are characterized by boiling water around the fuel rods in the lower
portion of a primary reactor pressure vessel. A boiling water reactor uses 235U, enriched
as uranium dioxide, as its fuel. The fuel is assembled into rods housed in a steel vessel
that is submerged in water. The nuclear fission causes the water to boil, generating
steam. This steam flows through pipes into turbines. The turbines are driven by the
steam, and this process generates electricity.[26] During normal operation, pressure is
controlled by the amount of steam flowing from the reactor pressure vessel to the
turbine.
o Supercritical water reactor (SCWR)
 SCWRs are a Generation IV reactor concept where the reactor is operated at
supercritical pressures and water is heated to a supercritical fluid, which never
undergoes a transition to steam yet behaves like saturated steam, to power a steam
generator.
o Pool-type reactor can refer to open pool reactors[dubious  –  discuss] which are water cooled,
but not to be confused with pool type LMFBRs which are sodium cooled
o Some reactors have been cooled by heavy water which also served as a moderator.
Examples include:
 Early CANDU reactors (later ones use heavy water moderator but light water
coolant)
 DIDO class research reactors
 Liquid metal cooled reactor. Since water is a moderator, it cannot be used as a coolant in a
fast reactor. Liquid metal coolants have included sodium, NaK, lead, lead-bismuth eutectic, and
in early reactors, mercury.
o Sodium-cooled fast reactor
o Lead-cooled fast reactor
 Gas cooled reactors are cooled by a circulating gas. In commercial nuclear power plants
carbon dioxide has usually been used, for example in current British AGR nuclear power plants
and formerly in a number of first generation British, French, Italian, & Japanese
plants. Nitrogen[27] and helium have also been used, helium being considered particularly suitable
for high temperature designs. Utilization of the heat varies, depending on the reactor.
Commercial nuclear power plants run the gas through a heat exchanger to make steam for a
steam turbine. Some experimental designs run hot enough that the gas can directly power a gas
turbine.
 Molten salt reactors (MSRs) are cooled by circulating a molten salt, typically a eutectic
mixture of fluoride salts, such as FLiBe. In a typical MSR, the coolant is also used as a matrix in
which the fissile material is dissolved.
 Organic nuclear reactors use organic fluids such as biphenyl and terphenyl as coolant rather
than water.

You might also like