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Energy Production in Pressurized Water Reactors

A Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) operates in the same way as many other power plants, by converting heat into electricity. The difference from other power plants is the reactor uses controlled chain fission reaction of uranium-235 nucleus. In order to understand power generation in PWR, the description is divided into four segments: 1. The fission process 2. Fission reaction control 3. Extraction of heat 4. Electricity production The fission process: The base of nuclear power generation is the concept of the nuclear fission chain reaction. The fission process involves a uranium-235 atom and a neutron. When a neutron hits the uranium atom, there is a probability for the neutron to split the atom into smaller pieces, and during this fragmentation process, an enormous amount of energy is produced. More importantly, during the fission reaction 2 to 3 additional neutrons are produced. This makes it possible for the reaction to be self-sustaining. Comparatively, for the same weight of fuel, the fission process creates approximately a billion times more energy than that of fossil fuel. Next, the additional neutrons that were created during the fission !"#$%&'()'*"+,-"."&/'0-123'4"5#%5+'1.'!"66"17'8%12&66 process have different possibilities for future interactions (see Figure 1). The first option is these neutrons could split other uranium-235 atoms, which release energy and create more neutrons. The second option is to get absorbed in different material inside of nuclear reactor. The third option is the neutron could completely leak out of the system. In other words, it might not interact with any material inside of the reactor. During the second and the third options, neutrons are lost, preventing future fission reactions, since they are not involved in splitting the uranium atoms. Nevertheless, if the amount of neutrons produced in each step of the chain would be increasing, then the amount of energy released would be increasing exponentially. In other words, change in the number of neutrons from generation to generation is directly related to the change of energy release. Fission reaction control: In the PWR, control rods and soluble chemicals control number of the neutrons from generation to generation. Those materials are made of neutron absorbing substances. Thus, neutrons, instead of causing more fission reactions, would be absorbed in the material and be lost from the system. During initial startup of the reactor, the control rods closely control power, and a slow ! "!

Energy Production in Pressurized Water Reactors

startup rate is desired. When needed power level is achieved, all control rods are usually at fully out position, which means that chain reactions are primarily controlled by soluble chemicals. Throughout steady state operations, the amount of neutrons remains constant keeping the power level constant. Due to depletion of fissile material in the fuel, less soluble absorbers are needed in the reactor core over time. When almost no soluble chemicals are left in the core, the reactor undergoes outage. During the outage, new fuel elements are placed in the core and the process starts from the beginning. Typical PWRs operate 12-18 months in between the outages. In other words, the amount of fuel is enough for operation at 100% of power for that interval. Extraction of heat: When the reactor operates at full power, it creates an enormous amount of heat that can be extracted from fuel. Otherwise, the fuel elements might start melting under such an immense heat, which is the most limiting criteria for any reactor. For instance, the centerline temperature of the fuel can reach as high as 1000 !C. In PWRs, the heat is extracted by means of forced flow of the reactor coolant, light water (H2O), which is forced to flow throughout the reactor core by powerful pumps. Water temperature rises as it absorbs heat from the reactor core. In PWRs, water does not turn into steam, because the reactor vessel is pressurized to such a degree that water boils only at an extremely high temperature. The coolant water converts secondary loop water into steam by means of conductive heat exchange in a steam generator as seen in Figure 2. After leaving the reactor pressure vessel, the coolant goes !"#$%&'9)'*:&5+'#&7&%5:"17'5:'8;<'=(> through inverted U-tubes that are located in the steam generator. Secondary water flows around these U-tubes and extracts heat from the coolant. Since pressure of the secondary water is much less than the coolant, the secondary water converts into steam and leaves the steam generator. To sum it up, produced energy is extracted from the reactor in two steps. The first step, coolant water removes heat from reactor core. At the second step, secondary water extracts energy from the coolant and converts into steam.

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Energy Production in Pressurized Water Reactors

Electricity production: The steam goes from steam generator to turbine, as indicated by red arrow in Figure 3. The turbine is designed in such a way that steam loses its energy gradually in the turbine, which causes the turbine to rotate. Then, this rotation sets in motion the generator, which has three magnets located in a circle at equal distances, and rotation of the magnets creates electrical current. Then the electricity is distributed to customers. The steam cools in the turbine, and condenses back to water in the condenser.

The secondary water is pumped from condenser to the steam generator. This completes the cycle of the secondary loop, and water again heats up in the steam generator. At the same time, coolant water, after the steam generator, loses its energy and is driven back into the reactor core to extract heat, which concludes the coolant cycle. Summary: The PWR has a complicated design, which ensures reliable and safe operation of the plant. Single PWR can produce as much as 1000 MW of electric power, which is enough to power almost half a million houses in the U.S. However, due to recent events in Fukushima, the future of nuclear power industry is in jeopardy. The public has fears of radiation release during a nuclear reactor accident.

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Energy Production in Pressurized Water Reactors

References: [1]: Lochbaum, D. (2012). Cracked Steam Generator Tubes at San Onofre, Union of Concerned Scientists: All Things Nuclear. Retrieved from http://allthingsnuclear.org/cracked-steam-generator-tubes-at-san-onofre/ [2] The Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR), U.S. NRC, Retrieved from http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students/animated-pwr.html Modifications: the picture was cropped to show only the secondary loop, and the red arrow was added to represent the direction of the steam flow.

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