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A nuclear reactor core is the portion of a nuclear reactor containing the nuclear fuel components where the nuclear reactions take place and the heat is generated. [1] Typically, the fuel will be low- enriched uranium contained in thousands of individual fuel pins.
A nuclear reactor coolant – usually water but sometimes a gas or a liquid metal (like liquid sodium or lead) 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.
MSRs eliminate the nuclear meltdown scenario present in water-cooled reactors because the fuel mixture is kept in a molten state. The fuel mixture is designed to drain without pumping from the core to a containment vessel in emergency scenarios, where the fuel solidifies, quenching the reaction.
A gas core reactor, and the very closely related vapor core reactor, is a proposed kind of nuclear reactor in which the nuclear fuel would be in a gaseous state rather than liquid or solid. In this type of reactor, the only temperature-limiting materials would be the reactor walls, and with appropriate cooling of the walls, the reactor can run ...
The molten mass of reactor core dripped under the reactor vessel and now is solidified in forms of stalactites, stalagmites, and lava flows; the best-known formation is the "Elephant's Foot", located under the bottom of the reactor in a Steam Distribution Corridor. [16] [17] The corium was formed in three phases.
1943 Reactor diagram using boron control rods. Control rods are inserted into the core of a nuclear reactor and adjusted in order to control the rate of the nuclear chain reaction and, thereby, the thermal power output of the reactor, the rate of steam production, and the electrical power output of the power station.
A reactor consists of an assembly of nuclear fuel (a reactor core), usually surrounded by a neutron moderator such as regular water, heavy water, graphite, or zirconium hydride, and fitted with mechanisms such as control rods which control the rate of the reaction.
The blocks are stacked, surrounded by the reactor vessel into a cylindrical core with a diameter and height of 14 m × 8 m. [15] The maximum allowed temperature of the graphite is up to 730 °C. [16] The reactor has an active core region 11.8 m in diameter by 7 m height. There are 1700 tons of graphite blocks in an RBMK-1000 reactor. [14]