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One type uses solid nuclear graphite for the neutron moderator and ordinary water for the coolant. See the Soviet-made RBMK nuclear-power reactor. This was the type of reactor involved in the Chernobyl disaster. In the Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor, a British design, the core is made of a graphite neutron moderator where the fuel assemblies are ...
A nuclear reactor coolant is a coolant in a nuclear reactor used to remove heat from the nuclear reactor core and transfer it to electrical generators and the environment. Frequently, a chain of two coolant loops are used because the primary coolant loop takes on short-term radioactivity from the reactor.
Schematic diagram of an RBMK Schematic side view of the layout of an RBMK reactor core The reactor hall and piping systems of the RBMK reactor. The reactor pit or vault is made of reinforced concrete and has dimensions 21.6 m × 21.6 m × 25.5 m. It houses the vessel of the reactor, which is annular, made of an inner and outer cylindrical wall ...
A pressurized water reactor (PWR) is a type of light-water nuclear reactor. PWRs constitute the large majority of the world's nuclear power plants (with notable exceptions being the UK, Japan, India and Canada). In a PWR, water is used both as a neutron moderator and as coolant fluid for the reactor core.
A nuclear reactor coolant – usually water but sometimes a gas or a liquid metal (like liquid sodium or lead) or molten salt – is circulated past the reactor core to absorb the heat that it generates. The heat is carried away from the reactor and is then used to generate steam.
An example of a heavy water reactor is Canada's CANDU reactor. Liquid metal cooled reactor - utilizes a liquid metal, such as sodium or a lead-bismuth alloy to cool the reactor core. Molten salt reactor - salts, typically fluorides of the alkali metals and of the alkali earth metals, are used as the coolant. Operation is similar to metal-cooled ...
A boiling water reactor uses demineralized water as a coolant and neutron moderator. Heat is produced by nuclear fission in the reactor core, and this causes the cooling water to boil, producing steam. The steam is directly used to drive a turbine, after which it is cooled in a condenser and converted back to liquid water. This water is then ...
The pellets are stacked, according to each nuclear core's design specifications, into tubes of corrosion-resistant metal alloy. The tubes are sealed to contain the fuel pellets: these tubes are called fuel rods. The finished fuel rods are grouped in special fuel assemblies that are then used to build up the nuclear fuel core of a power reactor.