nuclear reactor: Production of Heat and Nuclear Materials

The transmutation of nonfissionable materials to fissionable materials in nuclear reactors has made possible the large-scale production of atomic energy. The excess nuclear fuel produced can be extracted and used in other reactors or in nuclear weapons. The heat energy released by fission in a reactor heats a liquid or gas coolant that circulates in and out of the reactor core, usually becoming radioactive. Outside the core, the coolant circulates through a heat exchanger where the heat is transferred to another medium. This second medium, nonradioactive since it has not circulated in the reactor core, carries the heat away from the reactor. This heat energy can be dissipated or it can be used to drive conventional heat engines that generate usable power. Submarines and surface ships propelled by nuclear reactors and nuclear-powered electric generating stations are in operation. However, nuclear accidents in 1979 at Three Mile Island and in 1986 at Chernobyl raised concern over the safety of reactors, and these concerns were revived somewhat in 2011 after an earthquake and tsunami resulted in a nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan. Another concern over fission reactors is the storage of hazardous radioactive waste. In the United States, the events at Three Mile Island made nuclear fission plants politically unacceptable and economically unattractive for many years; no new plants were approved for construction until 2012. In contrast, in France, Japan, and a few other nations nuclear fission has been used extensively for power generation. The Japanese and French adopted a more cautious approach in the aftermath of Fukushima; Germany, which has been less dependent on nuclear reactors, chose to accelerate its planned phase out of nuclear power generation.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Fusion Reactors
• Production of Heat and Nuclear Materials
• Types of Fission Reactors
• Fission Reactors
• Bibliography

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