Sources of Radiation

Nuclear Power Reactors

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Day 4 Lecture 3

Objective
To discuss about Nuclear Power Reactors
including their Types and Basic Elements

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Contents
Types of Nuclear Reactors
PWRs
BWRs
CANDU
Advanced Nuclear Reactors
Components of a Nuclear Power Plant

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The Beginning

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Fossil vs Nuclear

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Nuclear Reactors

Types of Nuclear Reactors:

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Light Water Reactors (LWR)

Heavy Water Reactors (HWR)
High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors
Fast Neutron
Fast Breeder

Primordial Nuclides
Nuclide

Natural Activity

7.04 x 108 yr 0.711% of all natural

uranium

4.47 x 109 yr 99.275% of all

natural U; 0.5 to
4.7 ppm total U in
common rocks

Th

1.41 x 1010 yr 1.6 to 20 ppm in

common rocks

235

238

232

Half-life

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Slow Neutron Interactions

Fission
1

n +

235

U fission products
available for
more fission

the mean number of neutrons released per fission for U235 is 2.5). This leads to a self-sustaining chain reaction
or critical mass.

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Boiling Water (BWR)

Nuclear Reactors

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Pressurized Water (PWR)

Nuclear Reactors

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Components of a Nuclear Plant

The next five slides display the main

components of a Nuclear Power Plant:

Control Building
Containment Building
Turbine Building
Fuel Building
Diesel Generator Building
Auxiliary Building

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Control Building

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Containment Building

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Turbine Building

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Fuel Building

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Diesel Generator and

Auxiliary Buildings

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Protective Barriers

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Steam Generator

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Nuclear Reactors

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Advanced Reactors
The first advanced reactors now operating in
Japan
Nine new nuclear reactor designs either
approved or at advanced stages of planning
Incorporate safety improvements and are
simpler to operate, inspect, maintain and repair
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Advanced Reactors
The new generation of reactors have:
a standardised design to expedite licensing, reduce
capital cost and reduce construction time
higher availability and longer operating life,
will
be economically competitive in a range of sizes,
further reduce the possibility of core melt accidents
higher burnup to reduce fuel use and the amount of
waste
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Advanced Reactors
More 'passive' safety features which rely on gravity,
natural convection to avoid accidents
Two broad categories:
Evolutionary - basically new models of existing,
proven designs
Developmental - depart more significantly from
todays plants and require more testing and
verification before largescale deployment
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CANDU Reactors
CANDU stands for "Canada Deuterium Uranium
It is a pressurizedheavywater, naturaluranium
power reactor designed first in the late 1950s by a
consortium of Canadian government and private
industry
All power reactors in Canada are CANDU type
The CANDU designer is AECL (Atomic Energy of
Canada Limited), a federal crown corporation
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CANDU Reactors

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CANDU Reactors

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High Temperature
Gas Cooled Reactors

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High Temperature
Gas Cooled Reactors

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Pebble Bed Reactor

In the 1950s, Dr Rudolf
Schulten ( 'father' of the
pebble bed reactor) had an
idea. The idea was to
compact silicon carbide
coated uranium granules
into hard billiard-ball-like
graphite spheres to be used as fuel for a new hightemperature, helium-cooled type of reactor. The idea
took root, and in due course, the AVR, a 15 MW
(megawatt) demonstration pebble bed reactor, was built
in Germany. It operated successfully for 21 years.
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Pebble Bed Reactor

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Pebble Bed Reactor

Potential Problems (according to some groups)
It has no containment building
It uses flammable graphite as a moderator
It produces more high level nuclear wastes than current
nuclear reactor designs

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Pebble Bed Reactor

Potential Problems (according to some groups)
It relies heavily on nearly
perfect fuel pebbles
It relies heavily upon fuel
handling as the pebbles are
cycled through the reactor
There's already been an accident at a pebble bed
reactor in Germany due to fuel handling problems
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Where to Get More Information

Cember, H., Johnson, T. E, Introduction to Health Physics,
4th Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York (2009)
More information at:
http://www.pbmr.co.za/index.htm

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