Nuclear Reactor Components

salehts06 (42)in #steemstem • 8 years ago

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Reactor tank

This tank can be a tube (cylinder) or a ball made of metal mixture with a thickness of about 25 cm. the function of the tank is as a container for placing other reactor components and as a site for nuclear reactions. This thick-walled tank also serves as a radiation barrier to avoid exiting the reactor system.

Terrace reactor

Reactor components that serve as a place for fuel. The reactor core is made of holes (columns) to place the reactor fuel in the form of a rod. The reactor core is made of heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant metal.

Nuclear fuel

Fuel is the main component that plays an important role for the ongoing nuclear reaction. Fuel is made up of natural isotopes such as Uranium, Thorium which have properties that can divide when reacted with neutrons.

Refrigerant

To prevent excessive heat accumulation on the reactor core, a cooling agent may be used for heat exchange. This cooling material can be used water or gas.

Elements of control

Nuclear reactions can get out of control if the neutron particles generated from the previous reaction are partially not captured or absorbed. To control this reaction, the reactor is equipped with a control element made from a material that can capture or absorb neutrons. Element control also serves to stop the operation of the reactor (shut down) at any time in the event of an accident.

Moderator

The function of the moderator is to slow the rapid neutron speed (moderation) generated from the core reaction to reach the thermal neutron speed to increase the likelihood of subsequent nuclear reactions (chain reactions). The material used for the moderator is water or graphite.

Here are some basic components of the reactor.

The nuclear reactor fuel is the material that will cause a fission chain reaction to take place itself, as a source of nuclear energy. The fission isotopes are uranium-235, uranium-233, plutonium-239. Uranium-235 is present in nature (by a ratio of 1: 40 in natural uranium), and the other must be artificially produced.

Terator reactor, in which there is a fuel element that wraps the fuel.

Moderator is a reactor component that serves to decrease fast neutron energy (+2 MeV) to normal reactor component (+ 0.02 - 0.04 eV) in order to react with nuclear fuel. In addition, the moderator also functions as a primary cooler. Requirements required for good moderating materials are able to remove most of the neutron's rapid energy in each collision and have little ability to absorb neutrons, and have a great ability to dissipate neutrons.

The materials used as a moderator, among others:

light water (H2O),
heavy water (D2O),
graphite, and
beryllium.
Each fission reaction produces more new neutrons (2-3 new neutrons), it is necessary to regulate the number of neutrons reacting with the fuel. The reactor component acting as a regulator of the number of neutrons reacting with the fuel is the control rod. In the reactor is known the multiplier factor (k), ie the ratio of the number of neutrons generated per cycle to the number of neutrons at the beginning of the cycle to:

k = 1, reactor operation in critical condition,

k> 1, reactor operation in super critical condition,

k <1, the reactor operation is subcritical.

The material used for the reactor control rod must have a high ability to absorb neutrons. Such materials include cadmium (Cd), boron (B), or haefnium (Hf).