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The reactor vessel used in the first US commercial nuclear power plant, the Shippingport Atomic Power Station.Photo from 1956. A reactor pressure vessel (RPV) in a nuclear power plant is the pressure vessel containing the nuclear reactor coolant, core shroud, and the reactor core.
The reactor pressure vessel is manufactured from ductile steel but, as the plant is operated, neutron flux from the reactor causes this steel to become less ductile. Eventually the ductility of the steel will reach limits determined by the applicable boiler and pressure vessel standards, and the pressure vessel must be repaired or replaced ...
A typical design feature of nuclear reactors is layered safety barriers preventing escape of radioactive material. VVER reactors have three layers: Fuel rods: the hermetic zirconium alloy (Zircaloy) cladding around the uranium oxide sintered ceramic fuel pellets provides a barrier resistant to heat and high pressure. Reactor pressure vessel ...
These reactors use a pressure vessel to contain the nuclear fuel, control rods, moderator, and coolant. The hot radioactive water that leaves the pressure vessel is looped through a steam generator, which in turn heats a secondary (nonradioactive) loop of water to steam that can run turbines.
Water pressure in a closed system tracks water temperature directly; as the temperature goes up, pressure goes up and vice versa. To increase the pressure in the reactor coolant system, large electric heaters in the pressurizer are turned on, raising the coolant temperature in the pressurizer and thereby raising the pressure. To decrease ...
A containment building is a reinforced steel, concrete or lead structure enclosing a nuclear reactor. It is designed, in any emergency, to contain the escape of radioactive steam or gas to a maximum pressure in the range of 275 to 550 kPa (40 to 80 psi).
Neutron irradiation embrittlement limits the service life of reactor-pressure vessels (RPV) in nuclear power plants due to the degradation of reactor materials. In order to perform at high efficiency and safely contain coolant water at temperatures around 290°C and pressures of ~7 MPa (for boiling water reactors) to 14 MPa (for pressurized water reactors), the RPV must be heavy-section steel.
The High Pressure Coolant Injection (HPCI) System consists of a pump or pumps that have sufficient pressure to inject coolant into the reactor vessel while it is pressurized. It is designed to monitor the level of coolant in the reactor vessel and automatically inject coolant when the level drops below a threshold.