Reactor core
The reactor core ( English core ) is the part of a nuclear reactor that contains the nuclear fuel and in which the chain reaction takes place.
The size and mass of the reactor core of a nuclear power plant depend on the reactor power and the reactor type. The nuclear fuel inventory is based on an electrical output of 1 gigawatt (for comparison: one block of the Biblis nuclear power plant has an output of around 1.3 gigawatts)
- for a pressurized water reactor (PWR): 80 t
- for a boiling water reactor (BWR): 120 t
- for a heavy water reactor (HWR): 115 t
- for a Magnox reactor (GGR): 900 t
- for an advanced gas-cooled reactor (EGR): 170 t
- for a high temperature reactor (HTR): 24 t
- with a water-cooled graphite-moderated reactor (LWGR): 190 t
- with a fast breeder reactor (SBR): 76 t
The reactor core is with most types of reactors inside a reactor pressure vessel and the inside of the containment (including containment called). In nuclear power plants, the heat generated in the reactor core is used to generate water vapor. This then drives a turbine in the conventional part of the power plant and thus the generator .
The reactor core is usually spatially divided into different zones. The central fissure zone in which the power-generating chain reaction takes place can be surrounded, for example, by a neutron reflector zone or, in the breeding reactor , by the breeding zone (breeding mantle) .
literature
- Markus Borlein: Nuclear technology. Vogel Business Media, Würzburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-8343-3253-0 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Markus Borlein: Kerntechnik, p. 199