Pressurized

Water
Reactor
The core of a typical pressurized water reactor (PWR)
contains about 100 tons of nuclear fuel.

The fuel consists of uranium dioxide pellets loaded in

metal fuel rods placed in a square array called a fuel
assembly. PWRs like Salem, South Texas Project and
Vogtle have 193 fuel assemblies in their cores.

PWRs operate for 18 to 24 months between refueling

outages. During refueling, roughly one-third of the fuel
assemblies are removed from the core to the spent fuel
pool and replaced with fresh fuel assemblies.
The core is housed within the reactor pressure vessel
(RPV). The RPV is forged of steel that is approximately
seven inches thick. Steel plates are welded together to
form a hollow cylinder. A domed lower head is welded
to the bottom side of the cylinder. A domed upper head
is bolted to a flange on the top side of the cylinder.

During refueling, the upper head is unbolted and

removed to provide access to the core and RPV
internals.
 Control rods govern the power level of the core. Control
rods contain material like boron that absorb the
neutrons emitted by splitting atoms. Control rods slip
between fuel rods within a fuel assembly when inserted
in the core.

Control rods are connected by long, thin metal poles to

drive mechanisms above the RPV’s upper head. The
control rod drive mechanisms are used to withdraw
control rods from the core into the space within the RPV
above the core.

During a reactor trip, Boron is also dissolved

control rods are fully into the water filling the
inserted into the core RPV. The concentration
within a handful of of boron in the water is
seconds to interrupt adjusted to provide fine
the nuclear chain tuning of the core’s
reaction power level.
and shut down the core.
Two to four loops connect to the RPV. Each loop consists
of a steam generator, reactor coolant pump, and piping.
The piping between the RPV and the steam generator is
called the “hot leg.” The piping from the steam
generator to the reactor coolant pump and back to the
RPV is called the “cold leg.”

Water flowing up through the core is heated by the

energy produced by splitting atoms. Because of high
pressure, the water does not boil even though it is
heated to 550 to 600ºF.

The hot water gives

up some of this heat
in the steam
generator. The
water temperature
in the “cold leg” is
only about 10ºF
lower than the “hot
leg” temperature.
 Only one of the loops is equipped with a pressurizer.
The pressurizer is a metal cylinder partially filled with
water connected to the “hot leg.” The lower region of the
pressurizer contains electric rings that are turned on to
increase the temperature and pressure of the water
flowing through the loops.

A piping run from In addition, the

the “cold leg” can pressurizer
be used to spray accommodates
cooler water into expansion and
the pressurizer to shrinkage of water
decrease the as it heats up and
temperature and cools down during
pressure of the
plant operation.
water flowing
through the loops.
The pressurizer is protected against bursting caused by
over-pressurization. If the pressure rises too high, a
relief valve automatically opens to vent fluid from the
pressurizer to the pressurizer relief tank. Once the
pressure drops sufficiently, the relief valve
automatically closes.
To prevent air
bubbles from
collecting beneath
the domed RPV upper
head during
operation, piping
runs from the head to
the “cold leg.”
The RPV, attached
loops, and
pressurizer are
called the primary
system. Considerable energy
would be released if a
The primary system primary system pipe
is totally enclosed were to break. The
within the reactor thickness of the
containment containment walls are
building. The dictated by the need to
containment remain intact given the
building is made of force exerted on the
reinforced concrete walls by the energy
walls five to six feet released during an
thick at the base and accident.
1½ to 3 feet thick at
the top.
The condensate and
main feedwater
system is connected
to the primary
system loops at the
steam generators.

The main feedwater

pumps transfer
water from the
condenser hotwell to
the steam
generators.

The main feedwater

pumps boost or
back off their flow
rates to maintain
constant water
levels in the steam
generators.
The main steam
system transports
steam from the
steam generators to
the turbine.

The amount of
steam produced is
proportional to the
core’s power level.
As core power level
increases, more
steam is produced.

The steam spins the

turbine. The turbine
spins at a constant
rate of 1,800 or 3,600
revolutions per
minute.
The main steam
system piping is
protected from over-
pressurizaion. If the
pressure rises too
high, relief valves
automatically open
to vent the steam to
the atmosphere.
When the pressure
drops low enough,
the relief valves
automatically re-
close.
The turbine is
connected to an
electrical generator,
the whole reason for
the nuclear power
plant.

The electricity from

the main generator
is routed through
transformers to
increase its voltage
to that of the
transmission grid.
The main feedwater
and main steam
systems are called
the secondary
system.

Much of the
secondary system is
housed within the
turbine building.

The turbine building

is not as robust as
the containment
building. It is
designed to
withstand acts of
nature.
Steam exits the
turbine into the
condenser, a large
metal box. Water
from the nearby
lake, river, or ocean
flows through
thousands of metal
tubes inside the
condenser. The
steam is cooled
down and converted
back into water
dropping into the
hotwell.

Water about 30ºF

warmer is returned
to the lake, river, or
ocean.
The accumulators
form part of the
emergency core
cooling systems
(ECCS).The
accumulators are
metal cylinders
partially filled with
water and
pressurized with
nitrogen.

If the primary
system pressure
drops to less than
half its normal
operating pressure,
indicative of a loss
of water inventory,
water from the
accumulators
automatically flows
into the “cold leg.”
The charging
pumps can transfer
water from the
refueling water
storage tank to the
“cold legs” to
compensate for
minor losses of
water from the
primary system.
During normal
operation, primary
system water flows
continuously
through the
demineralizers and
the volume control
tank and then back
to the “cold leg.”

This controls the

water chemistry of
the primary system.
The safety injection
system is another
one of the ECCS.

It can transfer water

from the refueling
water storage tank
to the “cold legs” to
compensate for
losses of water from
the primary system.
The auxiliary
building houses
much of the ECCS
and chemical
control equipment.
Because of equipment
containing radioactive
liquids and gases, the
auxiliary building
ventilation is filtered
and monitored.
During an accident,
the containment spray
pump can deliver
water from the
refueling water
storage tank to cool
the containment.
During an accident,
water from a broken
primary system pipe
and from the
containment spray
nozzles collects in the
containment sump.

Containment sump water can be recycled to the primary system

or containment spray nozzles.
The auxiliary
feedwater pumps
provide water to the
steam generators in
event of an accident.
Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR)
 SCHEMATIC OF A PWR

Major PWR vendors include Westinghouse,

Areva and Mitsubishi
© source unknown. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse.
 PWR Coolant Circuits
INDIRECT CYCLE: Primary and Secondary Coolant
Loops

Single Phase (Liquid) Reactor Coolant

[Tin=287.7˚C, Tout=324˚C, P=15.2 MPa, Tsat= 343.3˚C]

Two-Phase (Steam-Water) Power Conversion

Cycle Loop
[TSG,in=227˚C, TSG,out=285˚C, P=6.9 MPa, Tsat=285˚C]

[TCondenser= 37.8˚C, P=6.6 kPa]

PWR Vessel, Core and Primary
System
ARRANGEMENT OF THE PRIMARY SYSTEM
FOR A WESTINGHOUSE 4-LOOP PWR

A.V. Nero, Jr., A Guidebook to Nuclear Reactors, 1979

© University of CA press. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse.
FLOW PATH WITHIN REACTOR VESSEL
CR guide tubes

Upper support
plate Barrel flange

Hot nozzle
Water in at Water out at
288C 324C

Cold nozzle
Top of active fuel

Core

Bottom of active fuel

Lower core plate

 REACTOR VESSEL
AND INTERNALS

Pictures from: M. Kanda, Improvement in US-APWR design from lessons learned in Japanese
PWRs.ICAPP-07. May 2007 (top), and EPR brochure available at www.areva.com (bottom two)

© source unknown. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our
Public domain image from Wikipedia. Creative Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse.
 TYPICAL 4-LOOP REACTOR VESSEL
PARAMETERS
Overall length of assembled vessel, closure head, and nozzles 13.36 m
Inside diameter of shell 4.39 m
Radius from center of vessel to nozzle face
Inlet 3.33 m
Outlet 3.12 m
Nominal cladding thickness 5.56 mm
Minimum cladding thickness 3.18 mm
Coolant volume with core and internals in place 134.2 m3
Operating pressure 15.51 MPa
Design pressure 17.24 MPa
Design temperature 343.3˚C
Vessel material Carbon steel
Cladding material Stainless steel
Number of vessel material surveillance capsules, total 8
TYPICAL 4-LOOP CORE

Image by MIT OpenCourseWare.

Masche, G., Systems Summary: W PWR NPP, 1971

 Geometry of the fuel

Image by MIT OpenCourseWare.

Cross Section of a Representative

Fuel Pin (not drawn to scale)
mm (in.) BWR PWR
Image by MIT OpenCourseWare.
2ro 10.40 (0.409) 8.20 (0.323)
2rco 12.27 (0.483) 9.50 (0.374)
t 0.813 (0.032) 0.57 (0.023)
© source unknown. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative
Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse.
 Why the fuel/clad gap?
Provides clearance for
fuel pellet insertion
during fabrication

Accommodates fuel
swelling without
breaking the clad

Filled with helium gas

Example of a Cracked Fuel Cross Section

Source: Todreas & Kazimi, Vol. I, p. 333
14 © Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons license.
For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse.
TYPICAL FUEL ROD PARAMETERS
Outside diameter 9.50 mm
Cladding thickness 0.57 mm
Diametral gap 0.166 mm
Pellet diameter 8.19 mm
Pitch 12.6 cm

Rods array in assembly 17x17

Fuel rods per assembly 264

Total number of fuel rods in core 50,952

 CUTAWAY OF TYPICAL ROD CLUSTER CONTROL
ASSEMBLY (RCCA)

From: EPR brochure. Available at www.areva.com

Masche, G., Systems Summary: W PWR NPP, 1971

© source unknown. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse.
PWR Control Rod (Westinghouse RCCA)
Made of B4C (“black” rods for scram) or Ag-In-Cd (“gray” rods for
fine tuning)

Control rod guide tube (24)

Instrument thimble
Public domain image from wikipedia.

© source unknown. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our
Creative Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse.
Other means to control reactivity in PWRs
Boron (boric acid, H3BO3) dissolved in coolant. Compensates for
loss of reactivity due to fuel burnup. High concentration at BOC
(beginning of cycle), progressively decreased to zero at EOC (end
of cycle)
Pros: uniform absorption throughout core, concentration is easily controlled
Cons: makes coolant slightly acidic (requires addition of other chemicals to re-
equilibrate pH), can deposit (come out of solution) as crud on fuel rods, can make
moderator reactivity feedback positive at high concentration
8000
Core critical boron concentration (ppm)

7000

6000

5000

4000

3000

2000

1000
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Exposure (GWD/MTU)

Enrichment = 5W/ U235 Enrichment = 6W/ U235 Enrichment = 7W/ U235

0 0 0

Image by MIT OpenCourseWare.

Other means to control reactivity in PWRs (2)
Burnable absorbers (“poisons”) loaded in fuel. Gd (Gd2O3) has
higher a than 235U, thus it “burns” faster than fuel, which tends to
increase keff over time.
Pros: no impact on coolant corrosion or moderator reactivity feedback
Cons: lowers melting point and thermal conductivity of UO2, cannot burn out
completely by EOC
1.20

1.15

1.10
k
1.05

1.00

0.95
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Assembly exposure (GWD/MTU)

No Poison 24 BA Pins 32 BA Pins

36 BA Pins 40 BA Pins 44 BA Pins

Image by MIT OpenCourseWare.

 PWR GRID SPACERS

From: Mitsubishi US-APWR Fuel and core design. DOE Technicalsession

UAP-HF-07063. June 29, 2007.

Masche, G., Systems Summary: W PWR NPP, 1971

Hold fuel rods in place  prevent excessive vibrations

Have mixing vanes  enhance coolant mixing and heat transfer
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REPRESENTATIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF PWRs
Parameter 4-loop PWR Parameter 4-loop PWR

1. Plant 5. Fuel Assembiles

Number of primary loops 4 Number of assemblies 193
Reactor thermal power (MWth) 3411 Number of heated rods per assembly 264
Total plant thermal efficiency (%) 34 Fuel rod pitch (mm) 12.6
Plant electrical output 1150
Fuel assembly pitch (mm) 215
Power generated directly in coolant (%) 2.6
Number of grids per assembly 7
Power generated in the fuel (%) 97.4
2
Fuel assembly effective flow area (m ) 0.02458
2. Core
Location of first spacer grid above beginning
Core barrel inside diameter/outside diameter (m) 3.76/3.87 0.3048
of heated length (m)
Rated power density (kW/L) 104.5
Grid spacing (m) 0.508
Core volume (m3) 32.6
Grid type L-grid*
Effective core flow area (m2) 4.747
Number of control rod thimbles per assembly 24
Active heat transfer surface area (m2) 5546.3
Number of instrument tubes 1
Average heat flux (kW/m2 ) 598.8 Guide tube outer diameter (mm) 12.243
Design axial enthalpy rise peaking factor (Fh) 1.65
6. Rod Cluster Control Assemblies
Allowable core total peaking factor (FQ) 2.5
Neutron absorbing material Ag-In-Cd
3. Primary Coolant
Cladding material Type 304 SS
System pressure (MPa) 15.51
Core inlet temperature (oC) 292.7 Cladding thickness (mm) 0.46
Average temperature rise in reactor (oC) 33.4
Number of clusters Full/Part length 53/8
Total core flow rate (Mg/s) 18.63
Number of absorber rods per cluster 24
Effective core flow rate for heat removal (Mg/s) 17.7
*Employs mixing vanes
Average core inlet mass flux (kg/m2-s) 3,729

4. Fuel Rods
Total number 50,952
Fuel density (% of theoretical) 94
Fuel pellet diameter (mm) 8.19
Fuel rod diameter (mm) 9.5
Cladding thickness (mm) 0.57
Cladding material Zircaloy-4
Active fuel height (m) 3.66
Image by MIT OpenCourseWare.
A.V. Nero, Jr., A Guidebook to Nuclear Reactors, 1979.
 PWR PRESSURIZER
Pressurizer (Saturated Liquid-Steam System: P=15.5 MPa, T=344.7˚C)
Controls pressure in the primary system

From cold leg

Liquid Spray

Steam
- Pressure can be raised by heating
2m water (electrically)
Liquid
Electric heaters
- Pressure can be lowered by
condensing steam (on sprayed
droplets)

Surge Line

Hot leg
 PRESSURIZER TYPICAL DESIGN DATA

Number and type 1 Two-phase water and steam pressurizer

Overall height 16.08 m
Overall diameter 2.35 m
Water volume 30.58 cu m
Steam volume 20.39 cu m
Design pressure 17.2 MPa
Design temperature 360oC
Type of heaters Electric immersion
Number of heaters 78
Installed heater power 1800 kW
Number of relief valves 2 Power-operated
Number of safety valves 3 Self-actuating
Spray rate
Pressure transient 3028 L/m
Continuous 3.79 L/m

Shell material Mn-Mo steel, clad internally with stainless steel

Dry weight 106,594 kg
Normal operating weight 125, 191 kg
Flooded weight (21.1oC) 157,542 kg

Image by MIT OpenCourseWare.

Masche, G., Systems Summary: W PWR NPP, 1971

Reactor Coolant Pumps

- Large centrifugal pumps

-Utilize controlled leakage

shaft seal

-Have large flywheel to

ensure slow coast-down
upon loss of electric power
to the motor
PWR Secondary System
 PWR STEAM GENERATORS

Primary side,Hot (Tin = 324˚C,T out = 288˚C): High Pressure Liquid

Secondary side, Cold (Tsat = 285˚C): Lower Pressure Steam and Liquid

- Water Boils on Shell Side of Heat Exchanger

- Steam Passes through Liquid Separators, Steam Dryers
- Liquid Water NaturallyRecirculates via Downcomer
- Level Controlled via Steam and Feedwater Flowrates
 U-TUBE
STEAM
GENERATOR

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Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse.
From: EPR brochure. Available at www.areva.com
 ONCE-THROUGH NUCLEAR STEAM GENERATOR

Used only in old B&W plants

B&W, Steam, Its Generation & Use, 1972.

© source unknown. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons © Babcock & Wilcox. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative
license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse. Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse.
 TYPICAL DESIGN DATA FOR STEAM GENERATORS

Number and type 4 Vertical, U-tube steam generators with integral steam-drum
Height overall 20.62 m
Upper shell OD 4.48 m
Lower shell OD 2.44 m
Operating pressure, tube side 15.5 MPa
Design pressure, tube side 17.2 MPa
Design temperature, tube side 343.3oC
Full load pressure, shell side 6.90 MPa
Maximum moisture at outlet (full load) 0.25%
Design pressure, shell side 8.27 MPa
Reactor coolant flow rate 4360 kg/s
Reactor coolant inlet temperature 325.8oC
Reactor coolant outlet temperature 291.8oC
Shell material Mn-Mo steel
Channel head material Carbon steel clad internally with stainless steel
Tube sheet material Mo-Cr-Ni steel clad with Inconel on primary face
Tube material Inconel
Tube OD 2.22 cm
Average tube wall thickness 1.27 mm
Steam generator weights
Dry weight, in place 312,208 kg
Normal operating weight, in place 376,028 kg
Flooded weight (cold) 509,384 kg
Image by MIT OpenCourseWare.

Masche, G., Systems Summary: W PWR NPP, 1971

 PWR power cycle (secondarys ystem)
5 3 •
W T1 (1- f )m• g
•
W T2
m•s
m•p High Low
Pressure Pressure
Turbine Turbine
Steam
Generator
Reactor
m•s
b a
9 Moisture
11 4
Separator
7
12 Condenser
m• f
•
fmg 8
6
2 OFWH
10 13
•
Boiler
Feedwater
Main
1
WP2 Pump
Condensate •
Pump
Turbine W P1

Low Steam Pressure Requires:

Large turbine
Lower rotational speed (1800 RPM)
Condenser
Steam Side at Low Pressure
Cooling water from sea, river or cooling tower