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English: Nuclear reactor: pressurized water type. Water is heated through the splitting of uranium atoms in the reactor core. The water, held under high pressure to keep it from boiling, produces steam by transferring heat to a secondary source of water. The steam is used to generate electricity.
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.
Fission product yields by mass for thermal neutron fission of U-235 and Pu-239 (the two typical of current nuclear power reactors) and U-233 (used in the thorium cycle). This page discusses each of the main elements in the mixture of fission products produced by nuclear fission of the common nuclear fuels uranium and plutonium.
Mixed oxide, or MOX fuel, is a blend of plutonium and natural or depleted uranium which behaves similarly (though not identically) to the enriched uranium feed for which most nuclear reactors were designed. MOX fuel is an alternative to low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel used in the light water reactors which predominate nuclear power generation.
The pressurized water reactor design, used in ~70% of commercial reactors, was developed for US Navy submarine propulsion, beginning with S1W in 1953. [5] In 1954, nuclear electricity production began with the Soviet Obninsk plant. [6] Spent fuel can be reprocessed, reducing nuclear waste and recovering reactor-usable fuel. [7]
Nuclear power plants are thermal power stations that generate electricity by harnessing the thermal energy released from nuclear fission. A fission nuclear power plant is generally composed of: a nuclear reactor, in which the nuclear reactions generating heat take place; a cooling system, which removes the heat from inside the reactor; a steam ...
Control rod assembly for a pressurized water reactor, above fuel element Control rods are used in nuclear reactors to control the rate of fission of the nuclear fuel – uranium or plutonium . Their compositions include chemical elements such as boron , cadmium , silver , hafnium , or indium , that are capable of absorbing many neutrons without ...
Uranium-233 is made from thorium-232 by neutron bombardment. Uranium-235 is important for both nuclear reactors (energy production) and nuclear weapons because it is the only isotope existing in nature to any appreciable extent that is fissile in response to thermal neutrons, i.e., thermal neutron capture has a