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Hydrodynamics and Heat Transfer in Nuclear Reactor

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Hydrodynamics and Heat Transfer in Nuclear Reactor Hydrodynamics and heat transfer in nuclear reactor Lecture 1. Nuclear reactors Department of nuclear and thermal power plants Lecturer: prof. Alexander Korotkikh Contents Introduction Nuclear power plant Classification of nuclear reactors Principle of work of nuclear reactor Heat hydraulic processes in nuclear reactor Conclusion Introduction On June 27, 1954, the world's fist nuclear power plant to generate electricity for a power grid started operations at the Soviet city of Obninsk. A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical in all conventional thermal power stations the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to an electric generator which produces electricity. As of 23 April 2014, the Intern. Atomic Energy Agency report there are 435 nuclear power reactors in operation operating in 31 countries. Nuclear power plants are usually considered to be base load stations, since fuel is a small part of the cost of production. Nuclear power plant The conversion to electrical energy takes place indirectly, as in conventional thermal power plants. The fission in a nuclear reactor heats the reactor coolant. The coolant may be water, gas or liquid metal depending on the type of reactor. The reactor coolant then goes to a steam generator and heats water to produce steam. The pressurized steam is then usually fed to a multi-stage steam turbine. Steam turbines in Western nuclear power plants are among the largest steam turbines ever. After the steam turbine has expanded and partially condensed the steam, the remaining vapor is condensed in a condenser. The condenser is a heat exchanger which is connected to a secondary side such as a river or a cooling tower. The water is then pumped back into the steam generator and the cycle begins again. The water- steam cycle corresponds to the Ranking cycle. Nuclear power plant Pressurized water reactor (PWR) Classification of nuclear reactors A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. The most common use of nuclear reactors is for the generation of electric energy and for the propulsion of ships. Nuclear reactors usually rely on uranium to fuel the chain reaction. Uranium is a very heavy metal that is abundant on Earth and is found in sea water as well as most rocks. Naturally occurring uranium is found in two different isotopes: uranium-238 (U-238), accounting for 99.3% and uranium-235 (U-235) accounting for about 0.7%. Isotopes are atoms of the same element with a different number of neutrons. Thus, U-238 has 146 neutrons and U-235 has 143 neutrons. Different isotopes have different half-lives. A half-life is the amount of time it takes for half of a sample of a radioactive element to decay. U-238 has a longer half- life than U-235, so it takes longer to decay over time. Classification of nuclear reactors The nuclear reactor is the heart of the plant. In its central part, the reactor core's heat is generated by controlled nuclear fission. With this heat, a coolant is heated as it is pumped through the reactor and thereby removes the energy from the reactor. Heat from nuclear fission is used to raise steam, which runs through turbines, which in turn powers either ship's propellers or electrical generators. Nuclear reactors are classified by several methods; a brief outline of these classification methods is provided. Classification by type of nuclear reaction Nuclear fission. All commercial power reactors are based on nuclear fission. They generally use uranium and its product plutonium as nuclear fuel, though a thorium fuel cycle is also possible. Fission reactors can be divided roughly into two classes, depending on the energy of the neutrons that sustain the fission chain reaction. Thermal reactors (the most common type of nuclear reactor) use slowed or thermal neurons to keep up the fission of their fuel. Almost all current reactors are of this type. These contain neutron moderator materials that slow neutrons until their neutron temperature is thermalized, that is, until their kinetic energy approaches the average kinetic energy of the surrounding particles. Classification by type of nuclear reaction Fast neutron reactors use fast neutrons to cause fission in their fuel. They do not have a neutron moderator, and use less-moderating coolants. Maintaining a chain reaction requires the fuel to be more highly enriched in fissile material (about 20% or more) due to the relatively lower probability of fission versus capture by U-238. Fast reactors have the potential to produce less transuranic waste because all actinides are fissionable with fast neutrons, but they are more difficult to build and more expensive to operate. Classification by coolant Pressurized water reactor (PWR). Boiling water reactor (BWR). Liquid metal cooled reactor. Gas cooled reactors. Molten salt reactors (MSRs). Principle of work of nuclear reactor The reactor core generates heat in a number of ways: The kinetic energy of fission products is converted to thremal energy when these nuclei collide with nearby atoms. The reactor absorbs some of the gamma rays produced during fission and converts their energy into heat. Heat is produced by the radioactive decay of fission products and materials that have been activated by neutron absorption. This decay heat-source will remain for some time even after the reactor is shut down. A kilogram of U-235 converted via nuclear processes releases approximately three million times more energy than a kilogram of coal burned conventionally (7.2 × 1013 J/kg of U-235 versus 2.4 × 107 J/kg of coal). Principle of work of nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor coolant — usually water but sometimes a gas or a liquid metal (like liquid sodium) or molten salt — is circulated past the reactor core to absorb the heat that it generates. The heat is carried away from the reactor and is then used to generate steam. Most reactor systems employ a cooling system that is physically separated from the water that will be boiled to produce pressurized steam for the turbines, like the pressurized water reactor. However, in some reactors the water for the steam turbines is boiled directly by the reactor core; for example the boiling water reactor. Heat hydraulic processes in nuclear reactor 1. Conductive heat transfer with internal heat in the fuel elements. 2. Convective heat transfer at cooling of fuel elements by the coolant. 3. Radiative heat transfer at cooling of fuel elements by gas coolant. Conclusion A new generation of designs for nuclear power plants, known as the Generation IV reactors, are the subject of active research. Many of these new designs specifically attempt to make fission reactors cleaner, safer and/or less of a risk to the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Passively safe plants are available to be built and other reactors that are designed to be nearly fool-proof are being pursued. Fusion reactors, which are still in the early stages of development, diminish or eliminate some of the risks associated with nuclear fission. .
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