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A side effect of using a moderator in a nuclear explosive is that as the chain reaction progresses, the moderator will be heated, thus losing its ability to cool the neutrons. Another effect of moderation is that the time between subsequent neutron generations is increased, slowing down the reaction.
"Graphite reactor" directs here. For the graphite reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, see X-10 Graphite Reactor. A graphite-moderated reactor is a nuclear reactor that uses carbon as a neutron moderator, which allows natural uranium to be used as nuclear fuel. The first artificial nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1, used nuclear graphite ...
A fission fragment reactor is a nuclear reactor that generates electricity by decelerating an ion beam of fission byproducts instead of using nuclear reactions to generate heat. By doing so, it bypasses the Carnot cycle and can achieve efficiencies of up to 90% instead of 40–45% attainable by efficient turbine-driven thermal reactors.
Nuclear graphite is any grade of graphite, usually synthetic graphite, manufactured for use as a moderator or reflector within a nuclear reactor.Graphite is an important material for the construction of both historical and modern nuclear reactors because of its extreme purity and ability to withstand extremely high temperatures.
Thus, this reactor design is self-regulating, meltdown is impossible, and the design is inherently safe. From a safety point of view, the design leverages the technology used in the TRIGA reactor, which uses uranium zirconium hydride (UZrH) fuel and is the only reactor licensed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for unattended operation.
A pressurized heavy-water reactor (PHWR) is a nuclear reactor that uses heavy water (deuterium oxide D 2 O) as its coolant and neutron moderator. [1] PHWRs frequently use natural uranium as fuel, but sometimes also use very low enriched uranium .
A boiling water reactor (BWR) is a type of nuclear reactor used for the generation of electrical power. It is the second most common type of electricity-generating nuclear reactor after the pressurized water reactor (PWR). BWR are thermal neutron reactors, where water is thus used both as a coolant and as a moderator, slowing down neutrons.
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 ...