Understanding Nuclear Reactors

by Brian Hooton

• ISBN13: 9780198902652
• ISBN10: 0198902654
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780198902676
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2024-04-30
• Publisher: Oxford
• More Book Details

Summary

Understanding Nuclear Reactors provides a non-mathematical understanding of how nuclear reactors operate. It describes the components, the Pressure Vessel, the Pressuriser to control the pressure in a Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR), and the Steam Generator and it also explains how the chain reaction is controlled in the day-to-day operations in the Control Room. What goes on elsewhere in the nuclear fuel cycle, mining, enrichment, fuel manufacturer, spent fuel management, and reprocessing are also covered in detail.

The book tells a set of historical stories about the development of the physics behind reactors and the discovery of fission and explains the hopes for the development of Generation IV reactors. Special attention is given to the safety of reactors and the lessons to be learned from the incidents at Three Mile Island, Browns Ferry, Chernobyl, and Fukushima. Hooton uses a set of stories to explain the invisible hazard of radiation on the human body.

Global warming was the motivation for the book, so Hooton offers a detailed account of alternative energy sources to fossil fuel, solar panels, wind turbines, geothermal, as well as nuclear. He gives a detailed account of all the current developments in nuclear fusion as a future prospect for the production of electricity. The hydrogen strategy is emerging, and may become a revolution, but it is a very subtle partner in the quest for net zero, so he includes a detailed account of how it fits into the plan to defeat Global warming.

Author Biography

Brian Hooton, Former United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority

Brian Hooton became a Research Fellow in the Nuclear Physics Division at Harwell in 1961. In 1968 he had a sabbatical year at Chalk River, the Atomic Energy of Canada. Upon his return to Harwell, he became a Group Leader. In 1983 he was appointed as the Senior Advisor to the Secretary (SAS) at the London HQ of the UKAEA, where he had very broad responsibilities across the whole of the UKEAE's sites. Hooton retired from the UKAEA in 1991 and set up Nuclear Consultancy Services Ltd offering consultancy services to the nuclear industry.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction and Prelude1.1. Global Warming1.2. Capacity Factors1.3. Welcome to the Nuclear Age1.4. The First Electricity Producing Reactors1.5. The Prelude2. Fundamental Nuclear Physics2.1. The Pauli Exclusion Principle2.2. Nuclear Forces2.3. Nuclear Reactions2.4. Energy and Mass Units2.5. Photons2.6. Antimatter, Pair Production, and Annihilation2.7. Mass Defects, Q Values, and Cross-Sections2.8. Cross-Sections2.9. The Discovery of Radioactivity2.10. The General Characteristics of Radioactivity2.11. Gamma Decay2.12. Spontaneous Fission3. Basic Quantum Theory3.1. Skip this Chapter if you Wish3.2. The Uncertainty Principle3.3. The Theoretical Treatment of Nuclear Physics3.4. Atomic Spectra and Quantum Numbers3.5. Sommerfeld's Contribution3.6. Pauli's Contribution3.7. Spin and Parity3.8. Alpha Decay3.9. Beta Decay and the Story of the Neutrino3.10. The Discovery of the Neutron3.11. Quantum Theory and Beyond4. The Story of E = MC2 and Relativity4.1. The Unification of Electricity and Magnetism4.2. Relative Motion4.3. Einstein's Theory4.4. Standards of Mass, Length, and Time5. The Fission Process and the Characteristics of Fission5.1. The Discovery of Fission5.2. Niels Bohr and Copenhagen5.3. The Fission Process5.4. Neutron Interactions5.5. The Fate of Gamma Rays5.6. Fission Fragments5.7. Delayed Neutrons5.8. The Energy of Fission5.9. Decay Heat5.10. The Chain Reaction6. Nuclear Reactors in General6.1. Nuclear Reactor Calculations6.2. The Growth of the Neutron Population6.3. The Six Factor Formula6.4. The Effect of Delayed Neutrons on Reactor Control6.5. Reactivity6.6. Monte Carlo Models6.7. Nuclear Reactor Operations6.8. Fuel6.9. Moderators6.10. Coolants6.11. Poisons6.12. Control Poisons6.13. Unavoidable Poisons6.14. Burnable Poisons6.15. Engineering Materials6.16. The Fast Reactor6.17. Hybrid Reactors7. Reactor Operations and Control7.1. Controlling Reactors to Keep them Safe7.2. The First Reactors7.3. Reactor CP17.4. Controlling Commercial Reactors7.5. The Reactor Pressure Vessel7.6. The Reactor Coolant Pump7.7. The Pressuriser7.8. The Steam Generator7.9. The Boron Loading Loop7.10. Power Measurement7.11. The Fuel Temperature Coefficient (FTC)7.12. The Moderator Temperature Coefficient (MTC)7.13. The Void Coefficient7.14. Changes In Steam Demand7.15. Control Room Operations8. Safety8.1. Safety, Risk, and Consequences8.2. The Regulators8.3. Decay Heat Removal8.4. Loss of Coolant8.5. Passive Safety Measures8.6. The Windscale Fire8.7. Brown's Ferry8.8. Three Mile Island8.9. Chernobyl 19868.10. Problems in the Fukushima Region of Japan8.11. Safety Overview8.12. Understanding the Health Hazard of Radiation9. The Nuclear Fuel Cycle9.1. The Nuclear Fuel Cycle Definition9.2. Mining9.3. Enrichment9.4. Fuel Fabrication9.5. Spent Fuel Management9.6. Spent Fuel Ponds9.7. Cherenkov Radiation9.8. Reprocessing9.9. Nuclear Waste10. International Treaties and Obligations10.1. Euratom10.2. Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, NPT10.3. The International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA10.4. Nuclear Safeguards10.5. Obligations11. The Future of Fission Reactors and Fusion11.1. The Alternatives to Fossil Fuel11.2. Generation IV Technology11.3. The Move to Higher Temperatures11.4. The Move to Fast Reactors11.5. The Move to SMRs and AMRs11.6. Plutonium Breeding11.7. Thorium Breeding11.8. New Coolants11.9. Molten Salts11.10. New Types of Fuel11.11. Burning Waste and Using the Minor Actinides as Fuel11.12. New Reprocessing Technology11.13. The Economics and Politics of Electricity Generation11.14. The Utilisation of E = MC212. Nuclear Fusion12.1. The Fusion Process12.2. Producing Fusion in the Laboratory12.3. ITER12.4. MAST and STEP12.5. The Fuel for Fusion12.6. The Tritium Breeding Ratio, TBR12.7. Venture Capital12.8. The Conclusion on Fusion13. The Hydrogen Strategy13.1. The Basic Properties of Hydrogen13.2. The Production of Hydrogen13.3. Carbon Capture13.4. Energy Storage13.5. New Markets for Hydrogen13.6. Hydrogen in the Colours of the Rainbow13.7. The Race to Deliver Net Zero