Pressurized water reactors generation

As of 1994 there were 105 operating commercial nuclear power stations in the United States (1) (see Power generation). AH of these faciUties were light, ie, hydrogen—water reactors. Seventy-one were pressurized water reactors (PWRs) the remainder were boiling water reactors (BWRs). 

Fig. 1. Pressurized water reactor (PWR) coolant system having U-tube steam generators typical of the 3—4 loops in nuclear power plants. PWR plants having once-through steam generators contain two reactor coolant pump-steam generator loops. CVCS = chemical and volume-control system.

Most nuclear reactors use a heat exchanger to transfer heat from a primary coolant loop through the reactor core to a secondary loop that suppHes steam (qv) to a turbine (see HeaT-EXCHANGETECHNOLOGy). The pressurized water reactor is the most common example. The boiling water reactor, however, generates steam in the core. 

Eig. 3. Schematic of a pressurized water reactor system. Eission heat is extracted by the lightwater coolant. The steam drives the turbine-generator. 

The DOE N-Reactor is one of the plutonium production reactors located on the Hanford Reservation near Richland, Washington. It is graphite moderated, pressurized water reactors that in addition to production of special nuclear materials also provided steam to turbine generators owned by the Washington Public Power Supply System for electric power production. It began op ition in 1 is put into standby status in 1988 and closed because of similarities to Chernobyl. 

PWR Pressurized Water Reactor (a reactor with steam generators separate from the reactor). 

FIGURE 17.25 A schematic representation of one type of nuclear reactor in which water acts as a moderator for the nuclear reaction. In this pressurized water reactor (PWR), the coolant is water under pressure. The fission reactions produce heat, which hoi Is water in the steam generator the resulting steam turns the turbines that generate electricity. 

The nuclear plants now operating in the U.S. are light water reactors, which use water as both a moderator and coolant. These are sometimes called Generation II reactors. In these Generation II Pressurized Water Reactors, the water circulates through the core where it is heated by the nuclear chain reaction. The hot water is turned into steam at a steam generator and the steam is used by a turbine generator to produce electric power. 

Fig. 10. Steam generator tor contemporary pressurized water reactor. (Combustion Ettgineeririg)...

Fig. 16. Standard pattern of control assemblies in contemporary pressurized water reactor core. The pattern provides morc-than-sufficient control for self-generated plutonium recycle. For complete open-market plutonium recycle, 4-element control assemblies are added in positions marked S...

Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) A type of nuclear power reactor that uses ordinary water as both the coolant and the neutron moderator. The heat produced is transferred to a secondary coolant which is subsequently boiled to produce steam for power generation. 

Pressurized vs. boiling LWRs The pressurized water reactor (PWR) transfers its energy from the fuel to an intermediate heat exchanger to generate the steam that... 

Fig. 21.23. Pressurized water reactor (PWR) for power generation. (Courtesy USDOE.)...

It was some ten years before any systematic program of pulse radiolysis at high temperature had begun when Christensen and Sehested [75] had available a pulse radiolysis cell that enabled measurements to be made up to 320 °C and 140 bar. This work focused on the radiation chemistry of water at elevated temperatures because of its relevance to the radiation chemistry occurring in the primary cooling circuits of pressurized water reactors used for electricity generation. 

Another type of reactor is the pressurized water reactor (PWR). In a PWR, coolant water surrounding the reactor core is kept under high pressure, preventing it from boiling. This water is piped out of the reactor vessel into a second building where it is used to heat a secondary set of pipes also containing ordinary water. The water in the secondary system is allowed to boil, and the steam formed is then transferred to a turbine and generator, as in the BWR. 

There are few published electrochemical studies of supercritical water (temperatures and pressures above 374 and 218 atm). Some of the data pertain to the power generation industry for example, a 1975 report summarizes some industrial experience with corrosion of steam generator tubing in pressurized water reactors (4). Most of the other literature references concern... 

Weeks, J. R. "Corrosion of Steam Generator Tubing in Operating Pressurized Water reactors". In Corrosion Problems In Energy Conversion and Generation Electrochem. Scl., 1975... 

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