EE-411

 Reactor/ Nuclear Reactor: In nuclear power station,

heavy elements such as Uranium ( U 235 ) or Thorium
( Th 235 ) are subjected to nuclear fission in a special
apparatus known as a Reactor / Nuclear Reactor.

 HeatExchanger. The coolant gives up heat to the heat

exchanger which is utilised in raising the steam. After
giving up heat, the coolant is again fed to the reactor.
 Steam Turbine. The steam produced in the heat exchanger is
led to the steam turbine through a valve. After doing a useful
work in the turbine, the steam is exhausted to condenser.

 Condenser: The condenser condenses the steam which is fed

to the heat exchanger through feed water pump.

 Alternator: The steam turbine drives the alternator which

converts mechanical energy into electrical energy. The output
from the alternator is delivered to the bus-bars through
transformer, circuit breakers and isolators.
 Reactor/ Nuclear Reactor: In nuclear power station, heavy
elements such as Uranium ( U 235 ) or Thorium ( Th 235 ) are
subjected to nuclear fission in a special apparatus known as a
Reactor / Nuclear Reactor.
 A nuclear reactor is a cylindrical stout pressure vessel and
houses:
 Control Rods
 Moderator
 Fuel rods of Uranium
 Uranium dioxide or uranium(IV) oxide (UO2), also
known as urania or uranous oxide, is
an oxide of uranium, and is a black, radioactive,
crystalline powder that naturally occurs in the mineral
uraninite.
 It is used in nuclear fuel rods in nuclear reactors. A
mixture of uranium and plutonium dioxides is used
as MOX fuel
 The most salient difference is in how each isotope
can be induced to undergo fission. U-235 is fissile,
which means that slow-moving neutrons can cause
fission.U-238 is fissionable, which means that only
fast, energetic neutrons can cause fission
 For example, a 1100 MWe pressurized water
reactor may contain 193 fuel assemblies composed
of over 50,000 fuel rods and some 18 million fuel
pellets. Typical reactor refueling intervals vary
from 12 to 24 months, after which the reactor is
shutdown for a few weeks to a month for refueling
and maintenance operations
 As little as 15 lb (7 kg) of uranium-235 can
be used to make an atomic bomb. The
first nuclear bomb used in war, Little Boy, relied
on uranium fission, but the very
first nuclear explosive (the Gadget used at
Trinity) and the bomb that destroyed Nagasaki
(Fat Man) were both plutonium bombs
 Thefuel rods constitute the fission material
and release huge amount of energy when
bombarded with slow/fast moving neutrons.

 Fuel: The fuel used for

nuclear fission is 235
U
isotope.
 The control rods are of cadmium and are inserted into the reactor.
Cadmium is strong neutron absorber and thus regulates the supply of
neutrons for fission.

 When the control rods are pushed in deep enough, they absorb most
of fission neutrons and hence few are available for chain reaction
which, therefore, stops.

 In actual practice, the lowering or raising of control rods is

accomplished automatically according to the requirement of load.
 They must have high absorption cross-section
 They must be adequately strong
 They must have low atomic mass number in order to
allow rapid movement with slight inertia effects.
 They must be able to shutdown the reactor almost
instantly under all conditions
 They must be able to provide adequate control of power
during operation
 They must provide good resistance to corrosion
 They must be stable under heat and radiation
 They must have reasonable heat transfer properties
 They must be economical
 The moderator consists of graphite rods which
enclose the fuel rods. The moderator slows
down the neutrons before they bombard the
fuel rods. Most moderators are graphite, water
or heavy water.
 The heat produced in the reactor

 is
removed by the coolant, generally a sodium
metal. The coolant carries the generated heat
to the heat exchanger. Water is used as a
coolant, some reactors use liquid sodium as a
coolant.
 Thisremoves heat from the core produced by
nuclear reaction, the heat being used to
generate steam in other apparatus.

 The types of coolants used are carbon dioxide,

air, hydrogen, helium, water, sodium or
sodium potassium
 The coolant used must be fluid at operating
temperature of the reactor.
 Having high thermal conductivity
 Low neutron absorption property
 Coolant must be stable from the stand point of
view of dissociation by neutron bombardment
or by heat
 Here the nuclear fission process takes
place.

 This contains a number of fuel rods made

of fissile materials
 To protect the people working from radiation and
(thermal shielding) radiation fragments.
OR
 Shielding helps in giving protection from the
deadly alpha- and beta- particle radiations and
Gama rays as well as neutrons given off by the
process of fission within the reactor
Reactor control
 The multiplication factor K for a reactor is defined as
the ratio of the number of the neutrons produced in one
generation divided by the no. of neutrons produced in
the preceding generation.

 Since the fission process is initiated by neutrons, the

fission rate or power is directly proportional to the
neutrons level in the reactor.

Thus, the following three conditions may arise,
 If K>1, the neutron population is increasing with time
and reactor power is increasing with time and the
reactor is said to supercritical.
 If K=1, The neutron population and reactor power is
constant. The reactor is said to be critical
 If K<1, the neutron population and reactor power are
decreasing with time and the reactor is said to be sub-
critical.
 Another term which is closely related to the
multiplication factor is the reactivity of the reactor
designated by the symbol ρ, and defined in terms of
multiplication factor K as follows:

K 1

K
 K 1

K
Thus for
I. Supercritical ρ is positive
II. Critical ρ is zero
III. Subcritical ρ is negative