A nuclear reactor produces and controls the release of energy from splitting the atoms of certain

elements. In a nuclear power reactor, the energy released is used as heat to make steam to
generate electricity. (In a research reactor the main purpose is to utilise the actual neutrons
produced in the core. In most naval reactors, steam drives a turbine directly for propulsion.)

The principles for using nuclear power to produce electricity are the same for most types of
reactor. The energy released from continuous fission of the atoms of the fuel is harnessed as
heat in either a gas or water, and is used to produce steam. The steam is used to drive the
turbines which produce electricity (as in most fossil fuel plants).

There are several components common to most types of reactors:

Fuel. Usually pellets of uranium oxide (UO2) arranged in tubes to form fuel rods. The rods are
arranged into fuel assemblies in the reactor core.

Moderator. This is material which slows down the neutrons released from fission so that they
cause more fission. It may be water, heavy water, or graphite.

Control rods. These are made with neutron-absorbing material such as cadmium, hafnium or
boron, and are inserted or withdrawn from the core to control the rate of reaction, or to halt it.
(Secondary shutdown systems involve adding other neutron absorbers, usually as a fluid, to the
system.)

Coolant. A liquid or gas circulating through the core so as to transfer the heat from it.

Pressure vessel or pressure tubes. Either a robust steel vessel containing the reactor core
and moderator, or a series of tubes holding the fuel and conveying the coolant through the
moderator.

Steam generator. Part of the cooling system where the heat from the reactor is used to make
steam for the turbine.

Containment. The structure around the reactor core which is designed to protect it from outside
intrusion and to protect those outside from the effects of radiation or any malfunction inside. It is
typically a metre-thick concrete and steel structure.

There are several different types of reactors as indicated in the following table.

1.PRESSURIZED WATER REACTORS (PWR)

The PWR was developed initially from the system used to power the USA's nuclear
submarines. Ordinary water used both as the coolant and moderator in a common circuit.
The fuel is 2-4% enriched uranium oxide clad in zirconium alloy.

The system is highly pressurised to achieve a high coolant temperature. LWR's use a
massive steel pressure vessel to hold the complete reactor core. In order to refuel, the
reactor must be shutdown, cooled, and depressurised. The lid is then removed from the
pressure vessel. Fuelling is carried out at intervals of 12-18 months with a required
shutdown period of several weeks.
The Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) has 3 separate cooling systems. Only 1 is expected
to have radioactivity - the Reactor Coolant System. The Reactor heats the water that
passes upward past the fuel assemblies from a temperature of about 300 C to a
temperature of about 334 C. Boiling, other than minor bubbles called nucleate boiling, is
not allowed to occur. Pressure is maintained by a Pressuriser connected to the Reactor
Coolant System. Pressure is maintained at approximately 15 MPa through a heater and
spray system in the pressuriser. The water from the reactor is pumped to the steam
generator and passes through tubes. The Reactor Cooling System is expected to be the
only one with radioactive materials in it. Typically PWRs have 2, 3, or 4 reactor cooling
system loops inside the containment.

In a Secondary Cooling System (which includes the Main Steam System and the
Condensate-Feedwater Systems), cooler water is pumped from the Feedwater System and
passes on the outside of those steam generator tubes, is heated and converted to steam.
The steam then passes through the Main Steam Line to the Turbine, which is connected
to and turns the Generator. The steam from the Turbine condenses in a Condenser. The
condensed water is then pumped by Condensate Pumps through Low Pressure Feedwater
Heaters, then to the Feedwater Pumps, then to High Pressure Feedwater Heaters, then to
the Steam Generators. The diagram above simplifies the process by only showing the
condenser, a pump, and the steam generator.

The condenser is maintained at a vacuum using either vacuum pumps or air ejectors.
Cooling of the steam is provided by Condenser Cooling Water pumped through the
condenser by Circulating Water Pumps, which take a suction from water supplied from
the ocean, sea, lake, river, or Cooling Tower.

The first commercial PWR plant in the United States was Shipping Pennsylvania.
2.BOLING WATER REACTORs (BWR)

The BWR is a light water reactor and is similar in many respects to the PWR. The basic
difference is that the coolant is permitted to boil in the core of the BWR.

The fuel is 2-3% enriched uranium clad in zirconium alloy. Like the PWR, the reactor is
fuelled off-load at intervals of 12-18 months.

The core of the BWR is less compact than a PWR. Therefore a larger pressure vessel is
required but it is thinner walled because of the lower operating pressure.

In a Candu and a PWR the heat from the reactor is passed through a boiler to generate
steam which goes to the turbine that drives the electrical generator. This is called an
indirect cycle. In a BWR the steam generated in the reactor core is taken straight to the
turbine, without the use of an intermediate boiler. This is known a direct cycle.

Water is circulated through the Reactor Core picking up heat as the water moves past the
fuel assemblies. The water eventually is heated enough to convert to steam. Steam
separators remove water from the steam in the upper part of the reactor.

The steam then passes through the Main Steam Lines to the Turbine-Generators. The
steam typically goes first to a smaller High Pressure (HP) Turbine, then passes to
Moisture Separators (not shown), then to the 2 or 3 larger Low Pressure (LP) Turbines.
The turbines are connected to each other and to the Generator by a long shaft (not one
piece).

The Generator produces the electricity, typically at about 20,000 volts AC. This electrical
power is then distributed to a Generator Transformer, which steps up the voltage to either
230,000 or 345,000 volts. Then the power is distributed to a switchyard or substation
where the power is then sent offsite.

The steam, after passing through the turbines, then condenses in the Condenser, which is
at a vacuum and is cooled by ocean, sea, lake, or river water. The condensed steam then
is pumped to Low Pressure Feedwater Heaters. The water then passes to the Feedwater
Pumps, which in turn, pump the water to the reactor and start the cycle all over again.

The BWR is unique in that the Control Rods used to shutdown the reactor and maintain a
uniform power distribution across the reactor, are inserted from the bottom by a high-
pressure hydraulically operated system. The BWR also has a Torus or a Suppression
Pool. The torus or suppression pool is used to remove heat released if an event occurs in
which large quantities of steam are released from the reactor or the Reactor Recirculation
System, used to circulate water through the reactor.

3.PRESSURIZED HEAVY WATER REACTORs (PHWR), CANDU

The Canadian-designed Candu-PHW reactor is fuelled with natural uranium oxide clad in
zirconium alloy. To avoid the use of a large pressure vessel, the CANDU utilizes the
pressure tube concept. The fuel is loaded into horizontal zirconium alloy pressure tubes
that pass through a large tank - the calendria - filled with heavy water moderator in alow
pressure circuit. This tank is penetrated by several hundred horizontal tubes, which
contain the fuel. Heavy water, at high pressure, is used as the fuel coolant. The use of
pressure tubes in the reactor core allows the primary coolant system to be pressured
without the need for a massive pressure vessel. Coolant does not boil.

The Candu system is fuelled on-load: a pair of remotely operated machines, one at each
end of the reactor, simultaneously insert fresh fuel while removing used fuel bundles. O-
load fuelling results in optimum reactor flux patterns and efficient utilization of fuel; in
addition it contributes to Candu's high capacity factor.

Because the Candu system uses neutrons more efficiently than light water reactors, it
requires less uranium for a given electrical output.
A complete coolant circuit involves two fuel tubes and two circulation loops. The heavy
water enters the reactor at a temperature of about 266 C and exits at 310 C. It passes from
the reactor to a header, that is, a junction chamber for the coolant tubes, and then to an
inverted U-tube steam generator where steam is produced and carried to the turbines. The
coolant then returns to the reactor, passing in the opposite direction through an adjacent
fuel tube, where it is heated again before flowing to a second steam generator. The
pressuriser performs the same function in the CANDU system as it does in the PWR.
Although most of the heat from the fuel is carriedaway by the heavy water coolant, some
energy is deposited in the heavy water moderator. This is removed by the moderator
coolant loop.

4.LIQUID METAL FAST BREEDER REACTOR (LMFBR)

The world's reserves of U235 are not adequate to support indefinitely the needs of a
growing nuclear power industry based only on burner or converter reactors. Breeder
reactors are capable of satisfying the electrical energy needs of the world for thousands of
years. The fundamental principles underlying the fast breeder reactor concept were
discovered before the end of World War 2, and the potential impact of breeder reactors
on future energy supplies was immediately recognised. The world's first nuclear-
generated electricity came from an LMFBR. The LMFBR is the only breeder, which has
reached a stage of practical commercialisation anywhere in the world.
The LMFBR operates on the uranium-plutonium fuel cycle. This means that the reactor is
fuelled with bred isotopes of plutonium in the core or driver, and the blanket is natural or
depleted uranium.

Assemblies of fuel elements are placed inside a tank containing the liquid sodium
coolant. The core is surrounded by a "blanket" of depleted uranium (dioxide) in stainless
cans.

The sodium is heated by the core and pumped through an intermediate heat exchanger
where it heats sodium in a separate secondary circuit. The sodium in the secondary circuit
transfers its heat to water in a steam generator; the steam drivers a turbine coupled to an
electric generator.

There is no moderator, so the core and the blanket contain only fuel rods and coolant.
Sodium has been universally chosen as the coolant for the modern LMFBR. Sodium is
also an excellent heat transfer agent, so that an LMFBR can be operated at high power
density. Furthermore, because sodium has such a high boiling point, reactor coolant loops
can be operated at high temperature and this leads to high plant efficiency. Finally
sodium, unlike water, is not corrosive to many structural materials. Sodium also has some
undesirable characteristics. Its melting point is much higher than room temperature, so
the entire coolant system must be kept heated at all times to prevent the sodium from
solidifying. Sodium is highly reactive chemically. All LMFBRs utilise two sodium loops:
the primary reactor loop carrying radioactive sodium, and an intermediate sodium loop
containing nonradiactive sodium. The detailed manner in which the intermediate sodium
loop is arranged divides LMFBRs into two categories: the loop-type LMFBR and the
pool-type LMFBR.

5.HIGH TEMPERATURE GAS COOLED REACTOR (HTGR)

One of the great advantage of gas cooled reactors is their high thermal efficiency. The
plant produces superheated steam at approximately 540 C and 16 MPa, and operates at an
overall efficiency of about 40 percent, as high as the most efficient fossil fuel plant
available today.

At startup, the HTGR is fuelled with a mixture of thorium and highly enriched uranium,
but, in time, the U-235 converted from the thorium replaces some of the U-235. The
reactor does not breed, however, so that some U-235 must always be present. The
equilibrium core contains U-235, fertile Th-232, and all the recycled U-233.

Fuel for the HTGR is in the form of small uranium and thorium dicarbides, which
specially coated to prevent the release of fission products. These particles are cast into
rods using a carbonaceous binder. The rods are then inserted into holes in hexagonal
graphite blocks, and the blocks are arranged in a cylindrical array to form the core.
Additional holes through the graphite provide passages for the coolant gas while others
hold channels for control rods.
Helium flows downward through the core, then through the steam generators, and is
pumped back to the core through the circulation blowers. All of these components are
located within prestressed concrete vessel.

A unique feature of the HTGR is the very high temperature of the circulating helium.
Such helium can be used directly in a gas turbine to drive an electrical generator, thus
eliminating the need for an intermediate steam cycle. There are many advantages to such
a system. Firstly, gas turbines and their associated cycle components are considerably
more compact then comparable steam cycle equipment. Secondly, the temperature of the
reject heat is so high that this energy can be used itself in a number of practical
applications. The HTGR can provide high-temperature heat required in many chemical
processes, such as the glassification of coal and desalination of sea water, among others.

6.ADVANCED GAS COOLED REACTOR (AGR)

The AGR was developed in Britain as a successor to the Magnox system. It was designed
to allow higher fuel and coolant temperatures, thus improving the steam conditions. The
AGR uses graphite as moderator and carbondioxide as heat transfer medium. Its uranium
dioxide fuel is clad in stainless steel and is in the form of a cluster of small diameter rods,
permitting relatively higher power levels to be achieved. This allows the size of the
reactor core to be the smaller than that of the Magnox reactor, but necessitates the use of
2-3% enriched uranium fuel. In order to obtain maximum availability of the plant, on-
load refuelling was adopted for the AGR.

Clusters of fuel elements are joined together end-to-end in a stringer, placed in vertical
holes in the graphite. Carbondioxide gas is heated by passing over the fuel in the core. It
transfers its heat to water in a steam generator; the steam drives a turbine coupled to an
electric generator.

Because of the high temperatures, the AGR stations are of the single-pressure type. They
are also characterised by prestressed concrete vessels, double containment of all access
penetrations, and provision for refuelling the reactors on load for high availability.
7.MAGNOX REACTOR

Magnox reactors have a low power density-0.1 to 0.5MW(e)/cu.m - compared to 30

MW(e)/cu.m. for PWR's. These results from using natural uranium as fuel and graphite
as the moderator, which requires heterogeneous reactor designs with a very large carbon-
to-U-235 ratio, typically 12000 to 18000 (compared to 3000 in HTGR(s). Furthermore,
the maximum specific power is limited to 4 to % MW(t)/tonne of maximum permissible
cladding and fuel temperatures and because of limitations on the transfer surface area.

Magnesium alloy Magnox (0.8% aluminium, 0.002 to 0.50% beryllium, 0.008% calcium,
and 0.006% iron additions) is used in the United Kingdom and a Mg-Zr alloy in France.
Because of carbondioxide oxidation and melting of the cladding at 645 C, the maximum
cladding temperature is limited to 500 C or less. A relatively high coolant pressure and
high pumping power (as a ratio of the thermal power) as well as extended surfaces on the
fuel element, are required in order to obtain an acceptable exit gas temperature of 375 to
415 C.

Graphite corrosion by carbondioxide could be reduced by hydrogen or methane injection

in the coolant. Finally, the fuel burnup is limited to values on the order of 5 to 6 MWd/kg
(compared to 30 MWd/kg in PWRs and 100 MWd/kg in HTGRs) because of the metallic
uranium under irradiation, and also because of the reactivity limitations with natural
uranium fuel.

The International Nuclear Event Scale

For prompt communication of safety significance

Level, Off-Site Impact On-Site Impact Defence-in- Examples
Descriptor Depth
 Degradation
Major Release:
7
Widespread health Chernobyl, Ukraine,
Major
and environmental 1986
Accident
effects
Significant
6 Release: Full
Serious implementation of -
Accident local emergency
plans
Limited Release:
5 Windscale, UK,
Partial
Accident Severe core 1957 (military).
implementation of
with Off-Site damage Three Mile Island,
local emergency
Risks USA, 1979.
plans
Saint-Laurent,
France, 1980 (fuel
4
Minor Release: Partial core rupture in reactor).
Accident
Public exposure of damage. Acute Tokai-mura, Japan,
Mainly in
the order of health effects to 1999 (criticality in
Installation
prescribed limits workers fuel plant for an
either of:
experimental
reactor).
Vandellos, Spain,
Very Small Near Accident. 1989 (turbine fire,
3 Major
Release: Loss of no radioactive
Serious contamination,
Public exposure at Defence-in- contamination).
Incident Overexposure of
a fraction of Depth Davis-Besse, USA,
any of: workers
prescribed limits provisions 2002 (severe
corosion)
Incidents with
2
nil nil potential safety
Incident
consequences
Deviations from
1 authorised
nil nil
Anomaly functional
domains
0 No safety
nil nil
Below Scale significance
Source: International Atomic Energy Agency