A Nuclear reactor uses Uranium or Plutonium to sustain a fission reaction. This reaction is balanced where exactly 1 reaction produces 1 other reaction. Reactors can store enormous energy in a small volume. The largest accumulated experience with operating nuclear power plants comes from submarines and aircraft carriers. Land-based nuclear reactors use low-enriched uranium, around 3-5% and must be refueled every 1-1.5 years. Land-based nuclear reactors have power levels of around 3GWth.
[[Nuclear fission]]
[[Neutron Balance]]
[[Nuclear Reactor Control Rods]]
[[Neutron Moderators]]
[[RBMK Reactor]]
[[Pressurized Water Reactors]]
[[Uranium-235 Reaction]]
[[Fuel Temperature Coefficient]]
Reactor Kinetics – reactor behavior without feedback
[[Reactor Dynamics]] – reactor behavior with feedback.
[[Timescales for Nuclear Reactors]]
[[Damaging Nuclear Reactor Transients]] – criticality incident not necessary
Delayed Fission Neutrons – key to reactor operation
[[Prompt Fission Neutrons]]
[[Delayed Critical Conditions]]
[[Point Reactor Kinetics Model]] – simple 1D reactor model with delayed neutrons
[[Fast Reactor]]
[[Nuclear Power Plants]]
[[Two-loop Reactor Design]]
Submarine Reactors – 25-50 MW
[[Low-Enriched Uranium]] – used in land-based reactors
[[USS Nautilus SSN-571]] – light water reactor
[[SC-WR]] – supercritical water reactor
[[Organic Moderated Reactor Experiment]]
[[Nuclear Fuel]] – used in reactors
[[Space Reactors]]
[[Manufacturing Tritium]] – lithium must be irradiated in a nuclear reactor
Nuclear Reactor Load Rejection Test
[[Main Steam Line Break Test]] – Safety test for reactor simulations
[[Small Modular Reactors]] – can be combined to large powerplant-scale systems
[[TRIGA Mk 2 Reactor]] – General Atomics research reactor
Sources
- Why Chernobyl Exploded – The Real Physics Behind The Reactor, (Jun. 08, 2019). Accessed: Dec. 08, 2022. [Online Video]. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3d3rzFTrLg
- A. Morrison, “A comparison of pumpjets and propellers for non-nuclear submarine propulsion”.
- M. Ragheb, “Nuclear Naval Propulsion,” in Nuclear Power – Deployment, Operation and Sustainability, P. Tsvetkov, Ed., InTech, 2011. doi: 10.5772/19007.