Well, reactor is actually the heart of the Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). Components inside a reactor are arranged in such way that to control and sustain the fission reaction of the fuel (which uranium-235). There are several arrangement of components inside a reactor which eventually become a particular type of nuclear reactor. We will look at each of the design and technology behind the design.
PRESSURISED WATER REACTOR (PWR)
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| COURTESY OF NRC USA |
CAPACITY :250.5 GWe
FUEL :ENRICHED UO2 (URANIUM OXIDE)
MODERATOR :WATER
COOLANT :WATER
COUNTRIES :US,FRANCE,JAPAN,RUSSIA,CHINA
PWR is the most common reactor and most succesful power reactor.
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| COURTESY OF NUCLEAR WORLD.ORG |
Type 2:
BOILING WATER REACTOR (BWR)
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| COURTESY OF NRC USA |
CAPACITY :86.4 GWe
FUEL :ENRICHED UO2 (URANIUM OXIDE)
MODERATOR :WATER
COOLANT :WATER
COUNTRIES :US, JAPAN,SWEDEN
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| COURTESY OF NUCLEAR WORLD.ORG |
Type 3:
CANDU REACTOR (PHWR)
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| COURTESY OF NULEAR-WORLD.ORG |
CAPACITY :23.6 GWe
FUEL :NATURAL UO2 (URANIUM OXIDE)
MODERATOR :HEAVY WATER
COOLANT :HEAVY WATER
COUNTRIES :CANADA
CANDU reactor is known as Canadian Deuterium Uranium reactor. It is also known as Pressurised Heavy Water reactor (PHWR).
Type 4:
GAS COOLED REACTOR (AGR & MAGNOX)
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| COURTESY OF NUCLEAR-WORLD.ORG |
CAPACITY :10.8 GWe
FUEL :NATURAL 238U and ENRICHED UO2 (URANIUM OXIDE)
MODERATOR :GRAPHITE 2
COOLANT :CARBON DIOXIDE,CO
COUNTRIES :UK
Type 4:
LIGHT WATER GRAPHITE REACTOR (LWGR)
LWGR is a Soviet design, developed from plutonium production reactors. It employs long (7 metre) vertical pressure tubes running through graphite moderator, and is cooled by water, which is allowed to boil in the core at 290°C, much as in a BWR. Fuel is low-enriched uranium oxide made up into fuel assemblies 3.5 metres long.
Constraints asssociated with moderation are largely due to the fixed graphite,where excess boiling simply reduces the cooling and neutron absorbtion without inhibiting the fission reaction. It induces a positive feedback problem,which raises power in exponential factor within seconds. That is why they have never been built outside the Soviet Union.
CAPACITY :12.3 GWe
FUEL :ENRICHED UO2 (URANIUM OXIDE)
MODERATOR :GRAPHITE
COOLANT :WATER
COUNTRIES :RUSSIA
FAST NEUTRON REACTOR (FNR)
Some reactors (only one in commercial service) do not have a moderator and utilise fast neutrons, generating power from plutonium while making more of it from the U-238 isotope in or around the fuel. While they get more than 60 times as much energy from the original uranium compared with the normal reactors, they are expensive to build. Further development of them is likely in the next decade, and the main designs expected to be built in two decades are FNRs.
CAPACITY :1 GWe
FUEL :PuO2 (PLUTONIUM OXIDE), UO2 (URANIUM OXIDE)
MODERATOR :NONE
COOLANT :LIQUID SODIUM
COUNTRIES :FRANCE,JAPAN,RUSSIA
hi. nice to know each reactor better and which countries is using. i was amazed that canada came out with their own kind of reactor. could you explain why pressurised water reactor is the most successful reactor compared to the rest? what makes it so successful? and regarding your blog's link? how come energy is spelt wrongly? lol.
ReplyDeleteLim Sze Yoong
justinsylim@hotmail.com
hi lim, you are right abt the link's name. I intentionally spelt it such way. just wanted to know how many sees it? for your suprise, you are the first to note it. congrats.
ReplyDeletenow, regarding your question. PWR is widely used because of several factors; mainly for safety reason and it's capacity to generate power. As you can see from post, the maximum capacity of a PWR is 250.5 GWe. It has the highest power capacity compared to others.
ReplyDeleteTalking abt safety issues, PWR has a 3 loop system, referring to the PWR pic at the post, 1st loop is the heat liberated from the reactor vessel to the steam generator, the 2nd loop is heat transferred from steam generator to turbine and condensor. Then 3rd loop is the cooling loop, where heat exchanged from condensor with the nearby sea or river water. These loops provides safety features where if there is any leakage at the reactor vessel, only the 1st loop components exhibits radioactivity. The rest are safe from radioactive products. This significant feature keeps away all the concern when there is a leakage at the reactor vessel. Everything can be taken care within the containment building. This is why my friend PWR is the most favourable nuclear reactor.