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NaK containing 40% to 90% potassium by mass is liquid at room temperature.The eutectic mixture consists of 77% potassium and 23% sodium by mass (NaK-77), and it is a liquid from −12.6 to 785 °C (9.3 to 1,445.0 °F), and has a density of 0.866 g/cm 3 at 21 °C (70 °F) and 0.855 g/cm 3 at 100 °C (212 °F), making it less dense than water. [3]
NaK was used as the coolant in the first breeder reactor prototype, the Experimental Breeder Reactor-1, in 1951. Sodium and NaK do, however, ignite spontaneously on contact with air and react violently with water, producing hydrogen gas. This was the case at the Monju Nuclear Power Plant in a 1995 accident and fire. Sodium is also the coolant ...
Schematic diagram showing the difference between the Pool and Loop designs of a liquid metal fast breeder reactor. The two main design approaches to sodium-cooled reactors are pool type and loop type. In the pool type, the primary coolant is contained in the main reactor vessel, which therefore includes the reactor core and a heat exchanger.
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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.
With the reactor again at full power, flow in the secondary cooling system was stopped. This test caused the temperature to increase, since there was nowhere for the reactor heat to go. As the primary (reactor) cooling system became hotter, the fuel, sodium coolant, and structure expanded, and the reactor shut down.
A positive void coefficient means that the reactivity increases as the void content inside the reactor increases due to increased boiling or loss of coolant; for example, if the coolant acts predominantly as neutron absorber. This positive void coefficient causes a positive feedback loop, starting with the first occurrence of steam bubbles ...
The aim of the template is to show the characteristics of an reactor design (e.g. RBMK) or individual experimental or prototype reactors (e.g. Chicago Pile-1 or Superphénix), but not for individual power plants (e.g. not Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant)