Topic: Nuclear Reactor

Group Name
Abdul Rehman 510-FBAS/BSPHY/F-13
M.Awais Shahid Minhas 509-FBAS/BSPHY/F-13
Haris Zahid 515-FBAS/BSPHY/F-13
Faizan Sattar 541-FBAS/BSPHY/F-13
Umair Khan 532-FBAS/BSPHY/F-13
Awais Ahmed 520-FBAS/BSPHY/F-13
M. Arslan Azam 502-FBAS/BSPHY/F-13

SUBMITTED TO
Dr. Kashif Nadeem
What is fission reaction?
In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, nuclear fission is either a
nuclear reaction or a radioactive decay process in which the nucleus of an
atom splits into smaller parts (lighter nuclei).

What is reactor?
An apparatus or structure in which fissile material can be made to undergo a
controlled, self-sustaining nuclear reaction with the consequent release of
energy is called reactor.
What is nuclear reactor physics?
Nuclear reactor physics is the branch of science that deals with the study
and application of chain reaction to induce a controlled rate of fission in a
nuclear reactor for the production of energy is called nuclear reactor physics.
What is fission reactors?
Nuclear fission reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity
generation. Heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid (water or
gas), which runs through steam turbines.

Explanation:
Types of Nuclear reactors

There are two types of nuclear reactors

1. Thermal-neutron reactor
2. Fast-neutron reactor

1. Thermal-neutron reactor:
A thermal reactor is a nuclear reactor that uses slow or thermal
neutrons. ("Thermal" does not mean hot in an absolute sense, but means
in thermal equilibrium with the medium it is interacting with, the reactor's
fuel, moderator and structure, which is much lower energy than the fast
neutrons initially produced by fission.)
Most nuclear power plant reactors are thermal reactors and use a neutron
moderator to slow neutrons until they approach the average kinetic
energy of the surrounding particles, that is, to reduce the speed of
the neutrons to low velocity thermal neutrons. Neutrons are uncharged,
this allows them to penetrate deep in the target and close to the nuclei.
Thus scattering neutrons by nuclear forces, some nuclides are scattered
large.
The nuclear cross section of uranium-235 for slow thermal neutrons is
about 1000 barns, while for fast neutrons it is in the order of 1
barn. Therefore thermal neutrons are more likely to cause uranium-
235 to fission than to be captured by uranium-238. If at least one neutron
from the U-235 fission strikes another nucleus and causes it to fission,
then the chain reaction will continue. If the reaction will sustain itself, it is
said to be critical, and the mass of U-235 required to produce the critical
condition is said to be a critical mass.
 2.Fast-neutron reactor:
A fast neutron reactor or simply a fast reactor is a category
of nuclear reactor in which the fission chain reaction is sustained
by fast neutrons. Such a reactor needs no neutron moderator,
but must use fuel that is relatively rich in fissile material when
compared to that required for a thermal reactor.
Plutonium can be fissioned by fast neutron, hence moderator is not
needed in fat reactors. The core of fast reactors consists of a mixture
of plutonium and uranium dioxide surrounded by a blanket of
uranium-238.Neutron that escape from the core interact with
U-238 in the blanket , producing thereby plutonium-229.

Components of a nuclear reactor:

There are several components common to most types of
reactors
Fuel:
Uranium is the basic fuel. Usually pellets of uranium oxide (UO2) are
arranged in tubes to form fuel rods. The rods are arranged into fuel assemblies
in the reactor core.
Moderator:
Material in the core which slows down the neutrons released from fission
so that they cause more fission. It is usually water, but may be heavy water or
graphite.
Control rods:
These are made with neutron-absorbing material such as cadmium,
hafnium or boron, and are inserted or withdrawn from the core to control the
rate of reaction, or to halt it. In some PWR reactors, special control rods are
used to enable the core to sustain a low level of power efficiently. (Secondary
control systems involve other neutron absorbers, usually boron in the coolant
its concentration can be adjusted over time as the fuel burns up.)
Coolant:
A fluid circulating through the core so as to transfer the heat from it. In
light water reactors the water moderator functions also as primary coolant.
Except in BWRs, there is secondary coolant circuit where the water becomes
steam. (See also later section on primary coolant characteristics)
Pressure vessel or pressure tubes:
Usually a robust steel vessel containing the reactor core and
moderator/coolant, but it may be a series of tubes holding the fuel and
conveying the coolant through the surrounding moderator.
Steam generator:
Part of the cooling system of pressurised water reactors (PWR & PHWR)
where the high-pressure primary coolant bringing heat from the reactor is used
to make steam for the turbine, in a secondary circuit. Essentially a heat
exchanger like a motor car radiator. Reactors have up to six 'loops', each with a
steam generator.
These are large heat exchangers for transferring heat from one fluid to another
here from high-pressure primary circuit in PWR to secondary circuit where
water turns to steam. Each structure weighs up to 800 tonnes and contains from
300 to 16,000 tubes about 2 cm diameter for the primary coolant, which is
radioactive due to nitrogen-16 (N-16, formed by neutron bombardment of
oxygen, with half-life of 7 seconds). The secondary water must flow through the
support structures for the tubes. The whole thing needs to be designed so that
the tubes don't vibrate and fret, operated so that deposits do not build up to
impede the flow, and maintained chemically to avoid corrosion. Tubes which
fail and leak are plugged, and surplus capacity is designed to allow for this.
Leaks can be detected by monitoring N-16 levels in the steam as it leaves the
steam generator.
Containment:
The structure around the reactor and associated steam generators which is
designed to protect it from outside intrusion and to protect those outside from
the effects of radiation in case of any serious malfunction inside. It is typically a
metre-thick concrete and steel structure.
Working principle of nuclear reactor:
In a furnace, coal or oil is burnt to produces heat, while in a reactor
fission reaction produces heat. When fission take place in the atom of uranium
or any other heavy atom, then an energy at the rate of 200 MeV per nucleus is
produced. This energy happened in the form of kinetic energy of the fission
fragments. These fast moving fragments besides colliding with one another
also collide with uranium atoms. In this way their kinetic energy gets
transformed in heat energy. This heat is used to produce steam which in turn
rotates the turbine. Turbine rotates the generator which produces electricity.
Nuclear reactor basic principles:

1. Neutron induced fission releases energy plus extra fast

neutrons.
2. Fast neutrons are slowed down by a moderator such
as water or graphite, allowing chain reaction to take place
(rapid increase in neutron population). In water reactors, the
coolant is also the moderator.
3. Chain reaction is controlled by controlling the condition of
the moderator, or by use of neutron absorbing materials (e.g.
cadmium control rods)
4. Heat is removed by some form of heat exchanger where it
is used to run a heat engine.
SYSTEMATIC DIAGRAM OF NUCLEAR REACTOR
Inside a Nuclear Reactor:
1.Steam outlet
2. Fuel Rods
3. Control Rods
 First Reactor Construction
Enrico Fermi December 1942

Graph:
Pressurized Water Reactor
Nuclear Energy:
1. Each of the five reactors produces about 1,100 million watts
(megawatts) of electricity.
2. This is enough to power one million homes per reactor.
3. The total 5,500 reactor produced megawatts is out of a peak state
electrical power of 30,000 40,000 megawatts.
World Wide Nuclear power reactor:
1. There are 440 nuclear power reactors in 31 countries.
2. 30 more are under construction.
3. They account for 16% of the worlds electricity.
4. They produce a total of 351 gigawatts (billion watts) of electricity

APPLICATIONS:
From the moment we get up in the morning, until we go to sleep, we
benefit unknowingly from many ingenious applications of radioisotopes and
radiation. The water we wash with (origin, supply assurance), the textiles we
wear (manufacture control gauging), the breakfast we eat (improved grains,
water analysis), our transport to work (thickness gauges for checking steels and
coatings on vehicles and assessing the effects of corrosion and wear on motor
engines), the bridges we cross (neutron radiography), the paper we use
(gauging, mixing during production processes), the drugs we take (analysis) not
to mention medical tests (radioimmunoassay, perhaps radiopharmaceuticals),
or the environment which radioisotope techniques help to keep clean, are all
examples that we sometimes take for granted.
Nuclear energy in Pakistan: