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The first artificial nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1, used nuclear graphite as a moderator. Graphite-moderated reactors were involved in two of the best-known nuclear disasters: an untested graphite annealing process contributed to the Windscale fire (but the graphite itself did not catch fire), while a graphite fire during the Chernobyl ...
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.
Idaho National Laboratory is our Nation's lead nuclear energy research, development, and demonstration laboratory, the place where 52 original nuclear reactors were constructed and demonstrated. One of those reactors was the TREAT facility, which operated from 1959-1994, and remained fully fueled while on standby status.
Water (sometimes called "light water" in this context) is the most commonly used moderator (roughly 75% of the world's reactors). Solid graphite (20% of reactors) and heavy water (5% of reactors) are the main alternatives. [1] Beryllium has also been used in some experimental types, and hydrocarbons have been suggested as another possibility.
By late 1941, mathematical analysis had shown that the lattice design had advantages over the homogeneous type, and so it was chosen for CP-1, and for the later production reactors as well. For a neutron moderator, graphite was chosen on the basis of its availability compared with beryllium or heavy water. [54]
Herbert G. MacPherson (2 November 1911 – 6 January 1993) was an American nuclear engineer and deputy director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). He contributed to the design and development of nuclear reactors and in the opinion of Alvin Weinberg he was "the country's foremost expert on graphite"...
The group's task was to design the production nuclear reactors that would convert uranium into plutonium. At the time, reactors existed only on paper, and no reactor had yet gone critical. In July 1942, Wigner chose a conservative 100 MW design, with a graphite neutron moderator and water cooling. [14]
Such was the interest in nuclear power and the priority devoted to it in those days that the first reactor, GLEEP, was operating by 15 August 1947. GLEEP (Graphite Low Energy Experimental Pile) was a low-power (3 kilowatt) graphite-moderated air-cooled reactor. The first reactor in Western Europe, it operated until 1990.