Development Team
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Subject: Energy Related Materials Unit 2: Materials for Nuclear Energy Lecture 2: Overview of Nuclear Reactor Systems Development Team : Prof. Vinay Gupta, Department of Physics and Principal Investigator Astrophysics, University of Delhi, Delhi Paper Coordinator : Prof. Suddhasatwa Basu, IIT delhi Content Writer : Prof. Suddhasatwa Basu and Dr. Anil Verma Content Reviewer : Prof. S. C. Kaushik, IIT Delhi 1 Materials for Nuclear Energy Energy Related Materials Overview of Nuclear Reactor Systems Description of Module Subject Name Energy Related Materials Unit: 2 Materials For Nuclear Energy Lecture: 2 Overview of Nuclear Reactor Systems Module Id M2.2 2 Materials for Nuclear Energy Energy Related Materials Overview of Nuclear Reactor Systems CONTENT OF THIS UNIT 2.2.1 Introduction to Nuclear Reactor and its Components 2.2.2 Types of Nuclear Reactor: Generation to Generation 2.2.2.1 Generation-I Reactor 2.2.2.2 Generation-II Reactor 2.2.2.3 Generation-III Reactor 2.2.2.4 Generation-III+ Reactor 2.2.3 Materials Selection Criteria for Rector Design 2.2.3.1 General Properties 2.2.3.2 Special Properties 3 Materials for Nuclear Energy Energy Related Materials Overview of Nuclear Reactor Systems Learning Objectives: From this module students may get to know about the following: Nuclear reactor and its functioning Work of different components of nuclear reactor Types of nuclear reactor and their uses generation by generation Materials selection criteria for nuclear reactor 4 Materials for Nuclear Energy Energy Related Materials Overview of Nuclear Reactor Systems 2.2.1 Introduction to Nuclear Reactor and its Components A nuclear device that is designed to initiate and maintain a long term controlled fission chain reaction, is known as nuclear reactor. A schematic of simple reactor is shown in figure 2.6, in which consists of several important components discussed as follows. The nuclear fuel: 235U is the basic radioactive fuel that is used in nuclear reactor could be in the form of metal, alloy, and ceramic. Generally, the pallets of uranium oxide are organized in fuel tubes with the moderator to form fuel rods. The fuel tubes containing fuels are usually made of metallic alloys and called as fuel cladding. These fuel cladding plays an important role in nuclear reactor, as they provide mechanical support to the fuel, prevents the fuel from corrosion from the coolants, and protects the fission fragments. Reactor Core: It contains all of the nuclear fuel and also produced all of the heat within the nuclear reactor. Moderator: The moderator is material within the core that is used to slow down the neutron released from fission for sustainable nuclear fission reaction. Generally heavy water and graphite are used as moderator materials. Reflector: The reflector surrounds the fuel-moderator assembly and its main purpose is to control the leakage of released neutrons by leading them towards the core, hence; improving the neutron economy. Shield: The exterior part of the reactor is creased by shielding materials, which provides safety for the people near the reactor by absorbing neutrons and gamma rays escaped from the reactor core. Control Rods: These are used to control the fission chain reaction by absorbing the thermal neutrons. Control rods are generally made from cadmium, boron or hafnium, which are good absorber of slow neutrons. A nuclear reactor usually consists of two control rods, one for routine control and another for emergency control, which are inserted or withdrawn from the reactor core to control the reaction rate. 5 Materials for Nuclear Energy Energy Related Materials Overview of Nuclear Reactor Systems Coolant: It is the fluid material, which is flowed through the reactor core to transfer tremendous amount of heat away from the reactor. The usual coolants are heavy water, carbon dioxide, liquid metals, etc. Containment: It is a dome-shaped structure made of a metre-thick concrete and steel around the reactor. It is designed to protect the reactor from outside interruption and also to protect those outside from the effect of harmful radiation. Figure 2.6: A schematic of a simple reactor design. 2.2.2 Nuclear Reactors: Generation to Generation Nuclear reactors can be described in different categories, such as: (i) based on fission reaction (thermal, epithermal, and fast reactors), (ii) based on purpose (e.g. power reactors, research reactors, and test reactors), (iii) based on coolant present (e.g. light/heavy water reactors, gas- cooled reactors, and liquid metal-cooled reactors), (iv) based on core construction (e.g. cubical, cylindrical, octagonal, and spherical reactors), and so on forth. The various generations of nuclear reactors are shown in figure 2.7. The first nuclear reactor was built during World War II 6 Materials for Nuclear Energy Energy Related Materials Overview of Nuclear Reactor Systems in 1942 at university of Chicago by Enrico Fermi, which produced heat of about 200 W. This was a thermal reactor, where uranium dioxide and graphite were used as nuclear fuel and moderator materials. However, no coolant and shielding materials were used in that reactor. Figure 2.7: Nuclear reactors evolution in the world. 2.2.2.1 Generation-I Reactors (G-I) Generation-I reactors had simple design features, which were manufactured in the beginning of nuclear power development. G-I consists of prototype reactors from 1950s and 1960s. Magnox and Shippingport are the G-I reactors, which were manufactured at United Kingdom and United States, respectively. Magnox Reactor: Magnox comes from the name of magnesium based alloy used to made fuel tubes and was primarily used for plutonium production and electricity generation. Magnesium based alloy was selected due to its low neutron capture cross section. Generally, in that reactor, graphite was used as a moderator, natural uranium as fuel, and CO2 as coolant. The schematic of magnox reactor is shown in figure 2.8. 7 Materials for Nuclear Energy Energy Related Materials Overview of Nuclear Reactor Systems Figure 2.8: A schematic of a Magnox reactor. Additionally, the magnesium alloy was highly resistant to creep and corrosion from CO2 in comparison to ordinary materials, also it did not react the fuel. However, these reactors could not withstand high temperatures and, hence; shows inadequate efficiency and power capacity. Also, these reactors were unable for safety store of spent fuel due to chemical reactivity of fuel in the presence of water, hence; the spent fuels required being recycled instantly after taking out from the reactor. However, most of the G-I reactors have been shut down. 2.2.2.2 Generation-II Reactors (G-II) Most of the nuclear reactors are being used nowadays in commercial nuclear power plants are of G-II type. These were designed commercially and economically liable. Furthermore, the reactors functioning in marine vessels and various research reactors belong to G-II. The reactors belong to G-II category are developed with improved design and safety features in compared to G-I reactors. There are several nuclear reactors in G-II type, which are discussed as follows. Light Water Reactors (LWRs): These reactors utilize light water as coolant and moderator as well as reflector in many cases, hence called as light water reactors. LWRs use thermalized 8 Materials for Nuclear Energy Energy Related Materials Overview of Nuclear Reactor Systems neutrons for nuclear fission of 235U and show a thermal efficiency of 30%. The main types of LWRs are pressurized water reactor (PWR) and boiling water reactor (BWR), these are mainly created due to difference in approaches of steam generating process. Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR): PWRs were developed and employed much earlier than BWRs due to the fact that pressurized water could be safer to handle than the steam in the reactor core. These reactors were manufactured and installed by companies such as Westinghouse and Areva. Figure 2.9 shows a schematic of a typical PWR plant, which consists of two separate light water loops. Hence, the PWRs are recognized from primary cooling loop, which passes through the core at high pressure, and a secondary loop, where steam is produced to drive the turbine. Generally, in PWRs the normal water is used as both coolant and moderator. The core in PWRs is located within the reactor pressure vessel made of low alloy ferrite steel, which contains 200-300 fuel rods arranged vertically. A large PWR may contain 150-250 fuel rods with 80-100 tonnes of uranium. The control rods in PWR are usually made of Ag-I-Cd alloy, which are used for fast control of fission reaction. The water in the core gets heated up to a temperature of ~350oC, which must be kept below 150 times atmospheric pressure to stop it from boiling. The pressure is kept lower and maintained through steam in pressurizer. Boiling Water Reactor (BWR): A typical structure of BWR is shown in Figure 2.10, which has a direct cycle system of cooling i.e. only one water loop, no steam generator. Here the water is kept at low atmospheric pressure (~75 times atmospheric pressure), so that it can boils in the core. In BWR the core is located close to the bottom end of the reactor pressure vessel, which consist uranium oxide fuels clad with Zircaloy-2 cladding tubes. A BWR contains up to 750 assemblies in core holding up to 140 tonnes of uranium, where each assembly consists of 92-100 fuel rods. The ordinary water is flowed the reactor core creating high quality steam, which dried at the top of the reactor vessel. The BWR usually work in the temperature range of 290–330 ºC and at a pressure of about 7MPa. 9 Materials for Nuclear Energy Energy Related Materials Overview of Nuclear Reactor Systems Figure 2.9: Schematic of a typical PWR plant.