Nuclear reactor

Nuclear reactor once called atomic pile a device designed to produce, sustain and control a nuclear fission reaction. The first successful reactor was built in a squash court at the university of Chicago in December 1942 under the direction of Enrico Fermi. Nuclear reactors used experimentally for the manufacture of radioisotopes and for producing power. Over 200 commercial power reactors producing electricity are in use worldwide. Other reactors power submarines in a typical power reactor heat is produced in a core by the fission of Uranium atoms. A gas or liquid coolant circulates through the core and extracts the heat it transfer this heat to water in a heat exchanger causing it to boil into steam. The steam then drives conventional steam turbo generating machinery to produce electricity. Most reactors are known as thermal reactors because they require slow or thermal neutrons to cause fission of the uranium. They incorporate a moderator graphite or water in the core to slow the neutrons down reactors are usually classified according to the type of coolant they use. Magnox gas-cooled reactors
Advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR)
Pressurized-water reactor (PWR)
Boiling-water reactor (BWR)
Steam-generating heavy-water reactor (SGHWR)
Another type of reactor now coming into limited use is the fast or breeder reactor which uses fast neutrons and thus requires no moderator it is cooled by liquid sodium. Control over all types of reactor is exercised by means of control rods made of neutron-absorbing material when they are pushed further into the reactor core, they slow down the nuclear reaction.
Nuclear power plant picture
1. Reactor block
2. Cooling tower
3. Reactor
4. Control rod
5. Support for pressure
6. Steam generator
7. Fuel element
8. Turbine
9. Generator
10. Transformer
11. Condenser
12. Gaseous
13. Liquid
14. Air
15. Air (humid)
16. River
17. Cooling water Circulation
18. Primary Circuit
19. Secondary Circuit
20. Water Vapor
21. Pump