‫‪Nuclear Reactor‬‬

‫‪Prof.Dr. Khaled Elgendy‬‬

‫االسم‪:‬ادهم صالح مسلم نبوى الطحان‬

‫الفرقة‪:‬الرابعة‬
‫القسم‪:‬الكيمياء التطبيقية الصناعية‬

‫‪Nuclear Chemistry‬‬
 Nuclear Reactor
Contents
1) Nuclear reactor
2) Introduction
3) Principles of operation
a) Chain reaction and criticality
b) Reactor control
c) Fissile and fertile materials
d) Heat removal
e) shielding
4) Reactor design and components
a) Core
b) Fuel types
c) Coolants and moderators
d) Reflectors
e) Coolant system
f) Containment design principles
5) The nuclear fuel cycle
a) Uranium mining and processing
b) Enrichment
c) Fabrication
d) Fuel management
e) Unloading and cooling
f) Reprocessing
g) Waste disposal
6) Nuclear reactor summary
7) Chernobyl accident summary
8) Werner Heisenberg summary

Nuclear Chemistry
Introduction
Nuclear reactor, any of a class of devices that can initiate and control a self-
sustaining series of nuclear fissions. Nuclear reactors are used as research tools, as
systems for producing radioactive isotopes, and most prominently as energy
sources for nuclear power plants.

Principles of operation
Nuclear reactors operate on the principle of nuclear fission, the process in which a heavy
atomic nucleus splits into two smaller
fragments. The nuclear fragments are in very
excited states and emit neutrons,
other subatomic particles, and photons. The
emitted neutrons may then cause new
fissions, which in turn yield more neutrons,
and so forth. Such a continuous self-
sustaining series of fissions constitutes a
fission chain reaction. A large amount of
energy is released in this process, and this
energy is the basis of nuclear power systems.

In an atomic bomb the chain reaction is

designed to increase in intensity until much
of the material has fissioned. This increase is
very rapid and produces the extremely
prompt, tremendously energetic explosions
characteristic of such bombs. In a nuclear
reactor the chain reaction is maintained at a
controlled, nearly constant level. Nuclear
reactors are so designed that they cannot
explode like atomic bombs.

Most of the energy of fission—approximately 85 percent of it—is released within a very

short time after the process has occurred. The remainder of the energy produced as a
result of a fission event comes from the radioactive decay of fission products, which are
fission fragments after they have emitted neutrons. Radioactive decay is the process by
which an atom reaches a more stable state; the decay process continues even after
fissioning has ceased, and its energy must be dealt with in any proper reactor design.

a) Chain reaction and criticality

The course of a chain reaction is determined by the probability that a neutron released
in fission will cause a subsequent fission. If the neutron population in a reactor
decreases over a given period of time, the rate of fission will decrease and ultimately
drop to zero. In this case the reactor will be in what is known as a subcritical state. If
over the course of time the neutron population is sustained at a constant rate, the fission
rate will remain steady, and the reactor will be in what is called a critical state. Finally, if

Nuclear Chemistry
 the neutron population increases over time,
the fission rate and power will increase, and
the reactor will be in a supercritical state.

Before a reactor is started up, the neutron

population is near zero. During reactor start-
up, operators remove control rods from the
core in order to promote fissioning in the
reactor core, effectively putting the reactor
temporarily into a supercritical state. When
the reactor approaches its nominal power
level, the operators partially reinsert the
control rods, balancing out the neutron
population over time. At this point the
reactor is maintained in a critical state, or
what is known as steady-state operation.
When a reactor is to be shut down, operators
fully insert the control
rods, inhibiting fission from occurring and
forcing the reactor to go into a subcritical
state.
b) Reactor control
A commonly used parameter in the nuclear
industry is reactivity, which is a measure of
the state of a reactor in relation to where it
would be if it were in a critical state.
Reactivity is positive when a reactor is supercritical, zero at criticality, and negative
when the reactor is subcritical. Reactivity may be controlled in various ways: by adding
or removing fuel, by altering the ratio of neutrons that leak out of the system to those
that are kept in the system, or by changing the amount of absorber that competes with
the fuel for neutrons. In the latter method the neutron population in the reactor is
controlled by varying the absorbers, which are commonly in the form of movable control
rods (though in a less commonly used design, operators can change the concentration of
absorber in the reactor coolant). Changes of neutron leakage, on the other hand, are
often automatic. For example, an increase of power will cause a reactor’s coolant to
reduce in density and possibly boil. This decrease in coolant density will increase
neutron leakage out of the system and thus reduce reactivity—a process known as
negative-reactivity feedback. Neutron leakage and other mechanisms of negative-
reactivity feedback are vital aspects of safe reactor design.

c) Fissile and fertile materials

All heavy nuclides have the ability to fission when in an excited state, but only a few
fission readily and consistently when struck by slow (low-energy) neutrons. Such species
of atoms are called fissile. The most prominently utilized fissile nuclides in the nuclear
industry are uranium-233 (233U), uranium-235 (235U), plutonium-239 (239Pu), and
plutonium-241 (241Pu). Of these, only uranium-235 occurs in a usable amount in
nature—though its presence in natural uranium is only some 0.7204 percent by weight,

Nuclear Chemistry
 necessitating a lengthy and expensive enrichment process to generate a usable reactor
fuel (see below Nuclear fuel cycle).

d) Heat removal
A significant portion of the energy of fission is converted to heat the instant
that the fission reaction breaks the initial target nucleus into fission
fragments. The bulk of this energy is deposited in the fuel, and a coolant is
required to remove the heat in order to maintain a balanced system (and also
to transfer the heat energy to the power-generating plant). The most common
coolant is water, though any fluid can be used. Heavy water (deuterium
oxide), air, carbon dioxide, helium, liquid sodium, sodium-potassium alloy
(called NaK), molten salts, and hydrocarbons have all been used in reactors or
reactor experiments.

e) Shielding
An operating reactor is a powerful source of radiation, since fission
and subsequent radioactive decay produce neutrons and gamma rays, both of
which are highly penetrating radiations. A reactor must have specifically
designed shielding around it to absorb and reflect this radiation in order to
protect technicians and other reactor personnel from exposure. In a popular
class of research reactors known as “swimming pools,” this shielding is
provided by placing the reactor in a large, deep pool of water. In other kinds of
reactors, the shield consists of a thick concrete structure around the reactor
system referred to as the biological shield. The shield also may contain heavy
metals, such as lead or steel, for more effective absorption of gamma rays, and
heavy aggregates may be used in the concrete itself for the same purpose.

Reactor design and components

There are a large number of ways in which a nuclear reactor may be designed
and constructed; many types have been experimentally realized. Over the
years, nuclear engineers have
developed reactors with solid
and liquid fuels, thick- and
no-reflectors, forced
cooling circuits and natural
conduction or convection
heat-removal systems, and so
on. Most reactors, however,
have certain basic
components.

Nuclear Chemistry
a) Core
All reactors have a core, a central region that contains
the fuel, fuel cladding, coolant, and (where separate
from the latter) moderator. The fission energy in a
nuclear reactor is produced in the core.

b) Fuel types
A reactor’s fuel must conform to the integral design of the
reactor as well as the mechanisms that drive its operations. Following are brief
descriptions of the fuel materials and configurations used in the most important types
of nuclear reactors, which are described in greater detail in Types of reactors.

The light-water reactor (LWR), which is the most widely used variety for commercial
power generation in the world, employs a fuel consisting of pellets of sintered uranium
dioxide loaded into cladding tubes of zirconium alloy or some other advanced cladding
material. The tubes, called pins or rods, measure approximately 1 cm (less than half an
inch) in diameter and roughly 3 to 4 metres (10 to 13 feet) in length. The tubes are
bundled together into a fuel assembly, with the pins arranged in a square lattice.
The uranium used in the fuel is 3 to 5 percent enriched. Since light (ordinary) water,
used in LWRs as both the coolant and the moderator, tends to absorb more neutrons
than other moderators do, such enrichment is crucial.

c) Coolants and moderators

A variety of substances, including light water, heavy water, air, carbon
dioxide, helium, liquid sodium, liquid sodium-potassium alloy,
and hydrocarbons (oils), have been used as coolants. Such substances are, in
general, good conductors of heat, and they serve to carry the thermal
energy produced by fission from the fuel and through the integral system,
finally either venting the heat directly to the atmosphere (in the case of
research reactors) or transporting it to the steam-generating equipment of
the nuclear power plant (in the case of power reactors).

d) Reflectors
A reflector is a region of unfueled material surrounding the core. Its function
is to scatter neutrons that leak from the core, thereby returning some of them
back into the core. This design feature allows for a smaller core size. In
addition, reflectors “smooth out” the power density by utilizing neutrons that
would otherwise leak out through fissioning within fuel material located near
the core’s outer region.

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 e) Coolant system
The function of a power reactor installation is to extract as much heat of nuclear
fission as possible and convert it to useful power, generally electricity. The coolant
system plays a pivotal role in performing this function. A coolant fluid enters the core
at low temperature and exits at a higher temperature after collecting the fission
energy. This higher-temperature fluid is then directed to conventional thermodynamic
components where the heat is converted into electric power. In most light-
water, heavy-water, and gas-cooled power reactors, the coolant is maintained at high
pressure. Sodium and organic coolants operate at atmospheric pressure.

f) Containment design principles

The containment basically consists of the reactor building, which is designed
and tested to prevent elevated levels of radioactivity that might be released
from the fuel cladding, the reactor vessel, and the shielding from escaping to
the environment. To meet this purpose, the containment structure must be at
least nominally airtight. In practice, it must be able to maintain
its integrity under circumstances of a drastic nature, such as accidents in
which most of the contents of the reactor core are released to the building. It
has to withstand pressure buildups and damage from debris propelled by an
energy burst within the reactor, and it must pass appropriate tests to
demonstrate that it will not leak more than a small fraction of its contents over
a period of several days, even when its internal pressure is well above that of
the surrounding air. The containment building also must protect components
located inside it from external forces such as tsunamis, tornadoes, and
airplane crashes.

The nuclear fuel cycle

No discussion of nuclear power
is complete without a brief
exposition of the nuclear
fuel cycle. The whole point of a
reactor is, after all, to initiate
and control the process
of fission on a very large scale in
nuclear fuel, and the low cost of
fueling is the chief reason for the
economic competitiveness of
nuclear power. The principal
steps of the fuel cycle
include uranium mining and
extraction from its ore
(processing), uranium
enrichment, fuel fabrication, loading and irradiation in the reactor (fuel management),
unloading and cooling, reprocessing, waste packaging, and waste disposal.

Nuclear Chemistry
a) Uranium mining and processing
Uranium is extracted from ores whose uranium content is often less than 0.1
percent (one part per thousand). Most ore deposits occur at or near the
surface; whether they are mined through open-pit or underground
techniques depends on the depth of the deposit and its slope. The mined ore
is crushed and the uranium chemically extracted from it at the mouth of the
mine. The residue remains naturally radioactive, as it contains long-lived
radioactive daughter nuclei of uranium and has to be carefully managed to
minimize the release of radioactive contaminants into the environment. The
uranium concentrate, which is known as yellow cake, consists of
uranium compounds (typically 75 to 95 percent). It is shipped to a chemical
plant for further purification and chemical conversion.

b) Enrichment
Several enrichment techniques have
been developed, though only two of
these methods are used on a large
scale; these are gaseous diffusion and
gas centrifuging. In gaseous diffusion,
natural uranium in the form
of uranium hexafluoride gas (UF6), a
product of chemical conversion, is
encouraged (through a mechanical
process) to seep through a porous
barrier. The molecules
of 235UF6 penetrate the barrier slightly
faster than those of 238UF6. Since the
percentage of 235U increases by only a
very small amount after traversal of
the barrier, the process must be repeated over and over in thousands of stages
to obtain the necessary enrichment for commercial nuclear power use.

c) Fabrication
This step involves the conversion of the suitably enriched product material to the
chemical form desired for reactor fuel. The only fuel fabricated on a large scale is for
light-water reactors (LWRs).

d) Fuel management
Fuel is loaded into a reactor in a very specific and well-controlled pattern so
as to obtain the most energy production before the material becomes

Nuclear Chemistry
 unusable. Fresh fuel is more reactive than old fuel. Typically, a reactor is
fueled in cycles, each cycle lasting one to two years, and a fuel batch is kept
in the reactor for three or four cycles. At the end of each cycle, the oldest fuel
is removed—normally this consists of about one-third the fuel content in the
core—and fresh fuel loaded. The partially burned fuel that remains, however,
is shuffled before the fresh fuel is installed. The objective of this procedure is
to achieve a fuel assembly arrangement of maximum reactivity while keeping
the power distribution among the different fuel assemblies as even as
possible and within technical specifications.

e) Unloading and cooling

Spent reactor fuel is extremely radioactive, and its radioactivity also makes it a source
of heat (see above Fueling and refueling LWRs). When the spent fuel is removed from
the reactor, it must continue to be both shielded and cooled. This is accomplished by
placing the spent fuel in a water-storage pool, or spent-fuel cooling pool, located next
to the reactor. The water in the pool contains a large amount of dissolved boric acid,
which is a strong absorber of neutrons; this ensures that the fuel assemblies in the
pool do not go critical. (Pool water is also a common source of emergency cooling
water for the reactor.)

f) Reprocessing
Both the converted plutonium and residual uranium-235 in spent fuel can be recycled
by chemically reprocessing the fuel and extracting the specific elements of interest.
Reprocessing not only provides a means to recycle nuclear fuel, but it also can reduce
the volume and radioactivity of the waste material that must ultimately be eliminated
by some method of permanent disposal.

g) Waste disposal
In the absence of reprocessing, spent fuel is considered to be waste and must
be prepared for permanent disposal in a separate facility. In addition, the
waste stream from spent-fuel reprocessing must also be disposed of. Many
nuclear countries, from the United States to China to Finland, have researched
the technologies and geologic locations for disposal sites, but no permanent
disposal site is in use anywhere in the world. Pending approval and
construction of disposal sites, all spent fuel and processed waste are being
kept either in cooling pools or in aboveground storage casks.

Nuclear Chemistry
Nuclear reactor summary
nuclear reactor, Device that can initiate
and control a self-sustaining series
of nuclear-fission reactions. Neutrons
released in one fission reaction may strike
other heavy nuclei, causing them to fission.
The rate of this chain reaction is controlled
by introducing materials, usually in the
form of rods, that readily absorb neutrons.
Typically, control rods made of cadmium or
boron are gradually inserted into the core if
the series of fissions begins to proceed at
too great a rate, which could lead to
meltdown of the core. The heat released by
fission is removed from the reactor core by
a coolant circulated through the core. Some
of the thermal energy in the coolant is used
to heat water and convert it to high-
pressure steam. This steam drives a
turbine, and the turbine’s mechanical
energy is then converted into electricity by
means of a generator. Besides providing a
valuable source of electric power for
commercial use, nuclear reactors also serve
to propel certain types of military surface
vessels, submarines, and some unmanned
spacecraft. Another major application of
reactors is the production of radioactive
isotopes that are used extensively in
scientific research, medical therapy, and industry.

Chernobyl accident summary

Chernobyl accident, Accident at the Chernobyl (Ukraine) nuclear power
station in the Soviet Union, the worst disaster in the history of nuclear power
generation. On April 25–26, 1986, technicians attempted a poorly designed
experiment, causing the chain reaction in the core to go out of control. The
reactor’s lid was blown off, and large amounts of radioactive material were
released into the atmosphere. A partial meltdown of the core also occurred. A
cover-up was attempted, but, after Swedish monitoring stations reported
abnormally high levels of wind-transported radioactivity, the Soviet
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 government admitted the truth. As many as 49 people may have died in the
initial explosions. Beyond these immediate deaths, several thousand
radiation-induced illnesses and cancer deaths were expected in the long term.
The incident set off an international outcry over the dangers posed by
radioactive emissions.

Werner Heisenberg summary

Werner Heisenberg, (born Dec. 5, 1901, Würzburg, Ger.—died Feb. 1, 1976,
Munich, W.Ger.), German physicist. Educated at Munich and Göttingen, he
taught at the University of Leipzig (1927–41) and directed the Max Planck
Institute for Physics (1942–76). In 1925 he solved the problem of how to
account for the stationary discrete energy states of an anharmonic oscillator, a
solution that launched the development of quantum mechanics. In 1927 he
published his famous uncertainty principle. He also made important
contributions to the theories of the hydrodynamics of turbulence, the atomic
nucleus, ferromagnetism, cosmic rays, and subatomic particles. He was
awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1932 for his work on quantum
mechanics. He led Germany’s efforts in World War II (1939–45) to develop an
atomic bomb.

Nuclear Chemistry