Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
1 History
Nuclear
Regulatory Commission image of pressurized water re-
actor vessel heads
Rancho Seco PWR reactor hall and cooling tower (being decom-
missioned, 2004)
An
Several hundred PWRs are used for marine propulsion
animation of a PWR power station with cooling towers in aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and ice break-
ers. In the US, they were originally designed at the Oak
Pressurized water reactors (PWRs) constitute the Ridge National Laboratory for use as a nuclear submarine
large majority of the worlds nuclear power plants (no- power plant. Follow-on work was conducted by Westing-
table exceptions being the United Kingdom, Japan and house Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory.[1] The rst purely
Canada) and are one of three types of light water reac- commercial nuclear power plant at Shippingport Atomic
tor (LWR), the other types being boiling water reactors Power Station was originally designed as a pressurized
(BWRs) and supercritical water reactors (SCWRs). In a water reactor (although the rst power plant connected
PWR, the primary coolant (water) is pumped under high to the grid was at Calder Hall, UK), on insistence from
pressure to the reactor core where it is heated by the en- Admiral Hyman G. Rickover that a viable commercial
ergy released by the ssion of atoms. The heated water plant would include none of the crazy thermodynamic
then ows to a steam generator where it transfers its ther- cycles that everyone else wants to build.[2]
mal energy to a secondary system where steam is gener- The United States Army Nuclear Power Program oper-
ated and ows to turbines which, in turn, spin an electric ated pressurized water reactors from 1954 to 1974.
generator. In contrast to a boiling water reactor, pressure
in the primary coolant loop prevents the water from boil-Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station initially
ing within the reactor. All LWRs use ordinary water as operated two pressurized water reactor plants, TMI-1 and
both coolant and neutron moderator. TMI-2.[3] The partial meltdown of TMI-2 in 1979 essen-
tially ended the growth in new construction of nuclear
PWRs were originally designed to serve as nuclear marine power plants in the United States for two decades.[4]
propulsion for nuclear submarines and were used in the
original design of the second commercial power plant at The pressurized water reactor has three new Generation
III reactor evolutionary designs: the AP-1000, VVER-
1
2 3 PWR REACTOR DESIGN
1200, ACPR1000+ coolant loop separation from the steam system and pres-
sure inside the primary coolant loop. In a PWR, there
are two separate coolant loops (primary and secondary),
which are both lled with demineralized/deionized water.
2 Design A boiling water reactor, by contrast, has only one coolant
loop, while more exotic designs such as breeder reactors
use substances other than water for coolant and modera-
tor (e.g. sodium in its liquid state as coolant or graphite as
a moderator). The pressure in the primary coolant loop
is typically 1516 megapascals (150160 bar), which is
notably higher than in other nuclear reactors, and nearly
twice that of a boiling water reactor (BWR). As an ef-
fect of this, only localized boiling occurs and steam will
recondense promptly in the bulk uid. By contrast, in a
boiling water reactor the primary coolant is designed to
boil.[6]
Pictorial explanation of power transfer in a pressurized water
reactor. Primary coolant is in orange and the secondary coolant
(steam and later feedwater) is in blue. 3 PWR reactor design
Nuclear fuel in the reactor vessel is engaged in a ssion
chain reaction, which produces heat, heating the water in
the primary coolant loop by thermal conduction through
the fuel cladding. The hot primary coolant is pumped
into a heat exchanger called the steam generator, where it
ows through hundreds or thousands of small tubes. Heat
is transferred through the walls of these tubes to the lower
pressure secondary coolant located on the sheet side of
the exchanger where the coolant evaporates to pressur-
ized steam. The transfer of heat is accomplished without
mixing the two uids to prevent the secondary coolant
from becoming radioactive. Some common steam gen-
erator arrangements are u-tubes or single pass heat ex-
changers.
In a nuclear power station, the pressurized steam is fed
through a steam turbine which drives an electrical gen-
erator connected to the electric grid for transmission.
After passing through the turbine the secondary coolant
(water-steam mixture) is cooled down and condensed in a
condenser. The condenser converts the steam to a liquid
so that it can be pumped back into the steam generator,
and maintains a vacuum at the turbine outlet so that the
pressure drop across the turbine, and hence the energy ex-
tracted from the steam, is maximized. Before being fed PWR reactor vessel
into the steam generator, the condensed steam (referred
to as feedwater) is sometimes preheated in order to min-
imize thermal shock.[5] 3.1 Coolant
The steam generated has other uses besides power gen- Light water is used as the primary coolant in a PWR. Wa-
eration. In nuclear ships and submarines, the steam is ter enters through the bottom of the reactors core at about
fed through a steam turbine connected to a set of speed 548 K (275 C; 527 F) and is heated as it ows upwards
reduction gears to a shaft used for propulsion. Direct me-
through the reactor core to a temperature of about 588 K
chanical action by expansion of the steam can be used for
(315 C; 599 F). The water remains liquid despite the
a steam-powered aircraft catapult or similar applications.
high temperature due to the high pressure in the primary
District heating by the steam is used in some countries coolant loop, usually around 155 bar (15.5 MPa 153 atm,
and direct heating is applied to internal plant applications.
2,250 psi). In water, the critical point occurs at around
Two things are characteristic for the pressurized water 647 K (374 C; 705 F) and 22.064 MPa (3200 psi or
reactor (PWR) when compared with other reactor types: 218 atm).[7]
3
3.2 Pressurizer neutrons are slowed down and hence reducing the reac-
tivity in the reactor. Therefore, if reactivity increases be-
Main article: Pressurizer yond normal, the reduced moderation of neutrons will
cause the chain reaction to slow down, producing less
heat. This property, known as the negative temperature
Pressure in the primary circuit is maintained by a pres-
coecient of reactivity, makes PWR reactors very sta-
surizer, a separate vessel that is connected to the primary
ble. This process is referred to as 'Self-Regulating', i.e.
circuit and partially lled with water which is heated to
the hotter the coolant becomes, the less reactive the plant
the saturation temperature (boiling point) for the desired
becomes, shutting itself down slightly to compensate and
pressure by submerged electrical heaters. To achieve a
vice versa. Thus the plant controls itself around a given
pressure of 155 bars (15.5 MPa), the pressurizer temper-
temperature set by the position of the control rods.
ature is maintained at 345 C (653 F), which gives a sub-
cooling margin (the dierence between the pressurizer In contrast, the RBMK reactor design used at Chernobyl,
temperature and the highest temperature in the reactor which uses graphite instead of water as the moderator
core) of 30 C (54 F). As 345 C is the boiling point of and uses boiling water as the coolant, has a large positive
water at 155 bar, the liquid water is at the edge of a phase thermal coecient of reactivity, that increases heat gen-
change. Thermal transients in the reactor coolant system eration when coolant water temperatures increase. This
result in large swings in pressurizer liquid/steam volume, makes the RBMK design less stable than pressurized wa-
and total pressurizer volume is designed around absorbing ter reactors. In addition to its property of slowing down
these transients without uncovering the heaters or emp- neutrons when serving as a moderator, water also has
tying the pressurizer. Pressure transients in the primary a property of absorbing neutrons, albeit to a lesser de-
coolant system manifest as temperature transients in the gree. When the coolant water temperature increases, the
pressurizer and are controlled through the use of auto- boiling increases, which creates voids. Thus there is less
matic heaters and water spray, which raise and lower pres- water to absorb thermal neutrons that have already been
surizer temperature, respectively.[8] slowed down by the graphite moderator, causing an in-
crease in reactivity. This property is called the void coef-
cient of reactivity, and in an RBMK reactor like Cher-
3.3 Pumps nobyl, the void coecient is positive, and fairly large,
causing rapid transients. This design characteristic of the
The coolant is pumped around the primary circuit by RBMK reactor is generally seen as one of several causes
powerful pumps.[9] After picking up heat as it passes of the Chernobyl disaster.[10]
through the reactor core, the primary coolant transfers
Heavy water has very low neutron absorption, so heavy
heat in a steam generator to water in a lower pressure
water reactors tend to have a positive void coecient,
secondary circuit, evaporating the secondary coolant to
though the CANDU reactor design mitigates this issue
saturated steam in most designs 6.2 MPa (60 atm, 900
by using unenriched, natural uranium; these reactors are
psia), 275 C (530 F) for use in the steam turbine.
also designed with a number of passive safety systems not
The cooled primary coolant is then returned to the reac-
found in the original RBMK design.
tor vessel to be heated again.
PWRs are designed to be maintained in an undermod-
erated state, meaning that there is room for increased
water volume or density to further increase moderation,
4 Moderator because if moderation were near saturation, then a re-
duction in density of the moderator/coolant could reduce
Main article: Passive nuclear safety neutron absorption signicantly while reducing moder-
ation only slightly, making the void coecient positive.
Pressurized water reactors, like all thermal reactor de- Also, light water is actually a somewhat stronger moder-
signs, require the fast ssion neutrons to be slowed down ator of neutrons than heavy water, though heavy waters
(a process called moderation or thermal) in order to in- neutron absorption is much lower. Because of these two
teract with the nuclear fuel and sustain the chain reaction. facts, light water reactors have a relatively small modera-
In PWRs the coolant water is used as a moderator by let- tor volume and therefore have compact cores. One next
ting the neutrons undergo multiple collisions with light generation design, the supercritical water reactor, is even
hydrogen atoms in the water, losing speed in the process. less moderated. A less moderated neutron energy 235
spec-
This moderating of neutrons will happen more often trum does worsen the capture/ssion ratio for U and
239
when the water is more dense (more collisions will oc- especially Pu, meaning that more ssile nuclei fail to
cur). The use of water as a moderator is an important ssion on neutron absorption and instead capture the neu-
safety feature of PWRs, as an increase in temperature tron to become a heavier nonssile isotope, wasting one
may cause the water to expand, giving greater 'gaps be- or more neutrons and increasing accumulation of heavy
tween the water molecules and reducing the probability transuranic actinides, some of which have long half-lives.
of thermalisationthereby reducing the extent to which
4 5 ADVANTAGES
Boiling water reactor [16] Wald, Matthew (May 1, 2003). Extraordinary Reactor
Leak Gets the Industrys Attention. New York Times. Re-
List of PWR reactors trieved 2009-09-10.
9 References
Duderstadt, James J.; Hamilton, Louis J.
(1976). Nuclear Reactor Analysis. Wiley.
ISBN 0471223638.
10 External links
Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT Open-
CourseWare.
11.2 Images
File:Commons-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: PD Contributors: ? Origi-
nal artist: ?
File:Nuclear_fuel_element.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Nuclear_fuel_element.jpg License:
Public domain Contributors: https://voa.marad.dot.gov/programs/ns_savannah/docs/Technical%20Press%20Info%20%20Photos%
20and%20Attachments.pdf Original artist: PD-USGov
File:PWR_nuclear_power_plant_animation.ogv Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/PWR_nuclear_
power_plant_animation.ogv License: Public domain Contributors: tva.com, Commons Archive Original artist: Tennessee Valley Authority
File:PressurizedWaterReactor.gif Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/PressurizedWaterReactor.gif Li-
cense: Public domain Contributors: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students/animated-pwr.html Original artist: U.S.NRC.
File:Radioactive.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Radioactive.svg License: Public domain Contribu-
tors: Created by Cary Bass using Adobe Illustrator on January 19, 2006. Original artist: Cary Bass
File:Ranchoseco.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Ranchoseco.jpg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contrib-
utors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Reactor_Vessel_head.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Reactor_Vessel_head.jpg License: Pub-
lic domain Contributors: http://www.nrc.gov/images/reading-rm/photo-gallery/20071114-026.jpg Original artist: NRC
File:Reactorvessel.gif Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Reactorvessel.gif License: Public domain Contrib-
utors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Symbol_list_class.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/db/Symbol_list_class.svg License: Public domain Con-
tributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Symbol_template_class.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5c/Symbol_template_class.svg License: Public
domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?