of even-odd structure falls into (n,a) reactions with fast neutrons (neutron energy 1 MeV).

Fission of 238U is an example of fast fission [19].

3.4.3 Spontaneous fission
Nuclear fission can take place spontaneously. However, spontaneous fission reactions are rare
events. In principle spontaneous fission is possible. The only thing preventing this from
happening more often is the fission barrier through which fragments must tunnel [19].
3.4.4 Charged Particle fission
Z > 90 elements show fission with protons, deuterons and alpha particles. It is found that
high energy charged particles induce fission in elements even in the middle of the periodic
table [19].
3.4.5 Photo fission
In heavier elements, high energy photons induce fission.

-rays (5.1 MeV) can produce

fission in 238U.
Very large energy is released in all cases and also fast neutrons are emitted. Because of their
exceptionally high neutrons to protons ratio, Meitner and Frish indicated that the fission
fragments should be unstable, undergoing a chain of - disintegration, e.g. [19].
98
40

98
Zr + 98
41Cb 42 Mo
1

+2 0n
235
92

U + 0n

236
92

136
52

136
Te+ 136
53 I 54 Xe

A typical -decay chain is as

140
54

140
140
140
Xe 140
55Cs 56 Ba 57 La 58Cs

(Stable)

3.5 Energy release in Fission

Nuclear fission reaction is highly exoergic reaction. Now, it is well established through
various experiments that the total kinetic energy of fission fragments is about 167 MeV.
Besides this, some energy is also carried by the gamma rays and a few prompt neutrons
emitted along with the fission fragments. To these we have to add the energies of particles
and antineutrinos emitted by fission fragments, which are usually radioactive, as also the

energies of the gamma rays associated with the beta-disintegrations of the fission fragments.
Table 3.1 gives an idea of energies within the different components in nuclear fission.
However, the total energy released in a fission process is higher than the given value.
Table 3.1: total energy shared by the different components in nuclear fission [19]
Components in nuclear fission
Kinetic energy (K.E) of fusion fragments
K.E of prompt neutrons
Energy of prompt -rays
Energy of

-particles emitted by fission fragments

Energy (MeV)
167
5
6
8

Energy of antineutrinos emitted by fission fragments

Energy of the -rays emitted by the fission fragments

12
6

Total energy released

204

3.5 The chain reacting system or a Nuclear reactor

A nuclear reactor is a device in which energy is made available through controlled nuclear
reaction. The main parts of a reactor are:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)

A core in which the nuclear reaction takes place and energy is released
A control system used for controlling the rate of energy release.
A method of extracting the energy such as a cooling system which could remove

(iv)

heat from the core.

A biological shield to protect the personnel against radiations emitted from the
reactor [20].

Control

rods
Coolant

Pressure

vessel

Shield
Reflector
Neutron
detector

Moderator
Fuel
Coolant

Figure 3-2: Basic components of a Nuclear Reactor [20]

3.5.1 Reactor core

The core consists of a number of fuel rods made of fissile material. The material used for
cladding the nuclear fuel should be resistant to abrasion, should have a low neutron cross
section, bond well to uranium and should be cheaply available. The materials used are
aluminum, stainless steel and zirconium. There should be good metallurgical bond between
the fuel and the cladding material, otherwise heat transfer across the interface will be poor
and will result in hot spots in the fuel, leading to malfunctioning of the reactor.
It is desirable to use reactor core as a cubical or cylindrical in shape rather than spherical, as
it facilitates the refueling operation and simplifies the process of circulation of coolant
through the core. With this configuration, the core has a series of parallel fuel elements in the
form of thin plates or small rods, with coolant flowing axially and additional moderator or
reflector surrounding the assembly.
If the reactor is to be used for converting the fertile material into fissionable material, the
material to be converted should be placed around the core so that the neutron, which
otherwise would escape the core, would be utilized for conversion. This arrangement also
simplifies the process of separation of the converted material during fuel reprocessing.

3.5.2 Moderator
The moderator is used to slow down the neutrons, by absorbing some of the kinetic energy of
the neutrons by direct collision, thereby increasing the chances of fission. From the
requirement of moderator, it is clear that the material should have a light weight nucleus, so
that it does not absorb the neutron as it collides. The material used are: graphite, ordinary
water and heavy water.
Graphite is simple to fabricate and handle and does not pose any containment problem.
However, if continued neutron bombing is maintained, this may create some stress problems.
Light water, after dissolved impurities are removed, is the cheapest of all the moderating
materials. This can be used as a coolant at moderate temperature and pressure. Heavy water is
costlier per unit weight, as compared to graphite or ordinary water; as a result containment is
a serious problem for heavy water than for ordinary water. For the same power output the size
of the reactor, using heavy water is more compact as compare to the one using ordinary
water.
3.5.3 Reflector
A neutron reflector is placed around the core and used to avoid the leakage of neutrons from
the core. If a neutron tries to escape the core it is reflected back, by the reflector, and used for
the conversion of non-fissionable material to fissionable material, thereby improving the
efficiency of the reactor [20].
3.5.4 Reactor control
The most common method of control involves insertion of a material, having high absorption
cross section for thermal neutrons, into the core. Cadmium and boron are the two most
commonly used materials. Boron is frequently alloyed with steel or aluminum and is used in
the form of control rods or plates which may be inserted or removed from the system,
depending upon the requirement.
3.5.5 Coolant system
For large nuclear power plants closed loop coolant system is used, which means the coolant
passing through the reactor is re-circulated and is not passed through the turbines and is
discharged. With this, the discharge of the radioactive material into the atmosphere or rivers
is avoided, thereby providing safety to the people residing in nearby areas.

Boiling water as coolant is being used in United States of America. Liquid metal like sodium
or sodium-potassium alloy is being used as a coolant, as it has better heat transfer properties.
Sodium presents problems of containment, reactivity with water and if it is released to the
atmosphere accidently, this will lead to health hazards.
British nuclear power plants are using carbon dioxide at high pressure as the coolant, as it has
good heat transfer properties and poses no health hazard problem in case of leakage to the
atmosphere.
3.5.6 Shielding
Shielding is provided around a reactor to minimize the possible dosage of radiation acquired
by personnel living nearby the reactor. Of the three types of radiations discussed earlier, and -radiations do not cause much concern as the shielding provided against alpha and
neutron radiation will be sufficient to stop alpha and beta radiation. The shielding material
should be available cheaply and it should not pose any problems in giving suitable shape to
the shielding structure. Concrete is found to be the most commonly used shielding material
[20].

3.6 Multiplication factor

In order to understand the control of nuclear reactor, we define here, what is known as
multiplication factor (K). it is defined as the ratio of the total number of neutrons produced
during a small time, to the total number of neutrons absorbed or lost during the same time
[20]. Mathematically it can also be written as:
K=

number of neutrons produced the ( n+1 ) th stage of fission

number of neutrons producedthe nth stage of fission

In order to keep the power output constant, K must be kept equal to unity i.e. one neutron and
only one neutron from fission must split another nucleus. When K is less than unity, the
power developed decreases and when K is more than unity, the power developed increased.
When a reactor is started the value of K is taken greater than unity, thereby the power level
increases. K is reduced to unity immediately after required level of power is reached.
Similarly if the power level is to be lowered, value of K is made slightly less than unity and is
again made equal to unity after the desired lower level is reached. The reactor can be shut
down when K is made less than unity for a long time [3].

3.7 Critical Mass

The critical mass of Uranium in a reactor is that amount which is required to produce just
enough neutrons to balance those lost and absorbed and at the same time to maintain the
chain reaction i.e. when K = 1. The critical mass depends upon both enrichment of the fuel
and the moderator material. It has been found that if water is used as a moderator, natural
uranium cannot be used as a fuel, because then the multiplication factor is less than unity.
Since water is used both as a moderator and a coolant, it is clear that the fuel used must be
enriched [21].

3.8 Classification of reactors

In section 3.3 we saw that different materials can be used as parts of a reactor core. Nuclear
reactors can be classified according to different materials employed in the reactor core:
(i)

(ii)

Reactors on the basis of fuel elements:

(a) Natural uranium reactor containing 0.71% 235U.
(b) Enriched uranium reactor with more than 0.72% 235U.
(c) 239Pu or 233U.
Reactors in terms of neutron energies:
Reactors are classified as thermal (low energy), fast (high energy) or intermediate
according to the neutron energies at which most of the fission occur. Since the
fission rate cannot be controlled, the atomic bomb is not strictly a reactor. As
mentioned earlier, in thermal reactors most fission occurs due to the absorption of
slow neutrons resulting from the slowing down process of the fission neutrons. In
a fast reactor, the majority fissions occur by interaction of fissile material with
neutrons of high energy, i.e. fission with neutrons which either escape during
slowing down process or suffer relatively little slowing down. On the other hand,
in an intermediate reactor, fissions are affected mainly by neutrons slowed down
to energies between the fast and thermal energy range, preferably above the

(iii)

resonance energy region.

Reactors in terms of moderator used as graphite, heavy water, or water and

(iv)

beryllium or beryllium oxide moderator reactors.

Reactors are also categorized according to the coolant used, such as air, CO 2,

(v)

water or liquid metal (sodium) cooled reactors.

Reactors in terms of fuel-moderator composition:
As homogeneous reactor when the fuel and the moderator are in one phase as
solution, or heterogeneous reactor when the fuel and moderator form two different
phases.

(vi)

Reactors are also named according to the purpose for which they are intended as
power generation, research, plutonium extraction of isotope production reactors,
breeder reactors etc.
Sometimes reactors are named in terms of the combination of different
characteristics, e.g., thermal, natural uranium, graphite moderated, heterogeneous

(vii)
(viii)

air cooled research reactor, etc.

Reactors according to fuel and moderator;
Thermal reactor can also be classified as homogeneous or heterogeneous from the
point of view of their structure. Fuel and moderator in homogeneous reactors are
in the same phase, i.e. same physical state both in solid or both in liquid phase.
The two are intimately mixed, whereas the fuel and the moderator in the case of
heterogeneous reactors are in different phase. The fuel may be a liquid (D 2O or
H2O) or a solid (BeO or graphite. Obviously, the fuel and the moderator are thus
geometrically separated in this type of reactor. We may note that most of the
present day reactors are of heterogeneous type [19].

3.9 Thermal reactors

Electricity from nuclear energy is generated in the same way as in a coal fired power plant
except that the source of heat for firing the steam-powered turbine is from nuclear reactions.
Most nuclear power plants in operation today are thermal reactors. Thermal reactors include
both:
(i)
(ii)

Heavy water reactors using D2O as moderator

Light water reactor using H2O as moderator, this type include pressurized water
reactor and boiling water reactor [7].

3.9.1 Pressurized water reactors

The first Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) nuclear power plant built as a central station
electrical generating plant was the Shippingport Atomic Power Station near Pittsburg,
Pennsylvania. The reactor was designed and built by the Westinghouse Electric Company,
and operated by the Duquesne Light Company. The plant produced 68 MWe and 231 MWt. It
began operation late in 1957 and operated until 1982. During its lifetime, it operated as a
PWR and a light water breeder reactor (LWBR), where it had a core designed with a thorium
blanket to breed U233 as a potential reactor fuel. The Shippingport reactor was based on the
reactor system used for naval propulsion [23].

This is the most common type, with over 230 in use for power generation. PWRs use
ordinary water as both coolant and moderator. The design is distinguished by having a
primary cooling circuit which flows through the core of the reactor under very high pressure,
and a secondary circuit in which steam is generated to drive the turbine [22].

Containment Dome

Control Rods

Steam Loop to turbine

Turbine
Generator
Electricity to
Transmission Line

Reactor
Vessel

Condenser

Pump

Pump

Figure 3-3: Schematic of a Pressurized Water reactor plant [7]

A PWR has fuel assemblies of 200-300 rods each, arranged vertically in the core, and a large
reactor would have about 150-250 fuel assemblies with 80-100 tons of uranium. Water in the
reactor core reaches about 325oC, hence it must be kept under pressure which is 150 times the
atmospheric pressure to prevent it from boiling. In the primary cooling circuit the water is
also the moderator and if any of it turned to steam the fission reaction would slow down. This
negative feedback effect is one of the safety features of the type. The secondary circuit is
under less pressure and the water here boils in the heat exchangers which are thus steam
generators. The steam drives the turbine to produce electricity, and is then condensed and
returned to the heat exchangers in contact with the primary circuit [22].
3.9.2 Boiling Water reactor
The BWR nuclear plant, like the Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR), has its origins in the
technology developed in the 1950s for the United States Navy nuclear submarine program.
The first BWR nuclear plant to be built was the 5 MWe Vallecitos Plant (1957) near San Jose,

California. The Vallecitos plant confirmed that BWR plants could successfully and safely
produce electricity for a grid. The first large-scale BWR, Dresden I, followed in 1960, and
since then the BWR design subsequently underwent a series of evolutionary changes with
one purpose in mind: simplicity.
The major difference between the PWR and BWR is that the latter is a direct cycle nuclear
system with heat generation occurring in the fuel region and water boiling in the envelope of
the fuel bundles. There are approximately 92 operational BWRs in the world today and
several Advanced Boiling Water Reactors (ABWRs) currently under construction. This
design comprises about 25% of the total number of units in operation globally [23].
The reactor is designed to operate with 12-15% of the water in the top part of the core as
steam, and hence with less moderating effect and thus efficiency there. BWR units can
operate in load-following mode more readily then PWRs [22].

Figure 3-4: Schematic of Boiling Water reactor [24]

The steam passes through drier plates (steam separators) above the core and then directly to
the turbines, which are thus part of the reactor circuit. Since the water around the core of a
reactor is always contaminated with traces of radio nuclides, it means that the turbine must be
shielded and radiological protection provided during maintenance. The cost of this tends to
balance the savings due to the simpler design. Most of the radioactivity in the water is very
short-lived (mostly N-16, with a 7 second half-life), so the turbine hall can be entered soon
after the reactor is shut down.

A BWR fuel assembly comprises 90-100 fuel rods, and there are up to 750 assemblies in a
reactor core, holding up to 140 tons of uranium. The secondary control system involves
restricting water flow through the core so that more steam in the top part reduces moderation
[22].
3.9.3 Heavy Water Reactor
Light water reactors are the most common reactors in operation, but the pressurized heavy
water reactor (also known as CANDU reactor for Canadian deuterium uranium) should be
noted because its uses heavy water in the role of coolant and moderator and, as a result, can
make use of natural uranium fuel, bypassing the expense of uranium enrichment. Deuterium
does not absorb neutrons as effectively as light water, so the nuclear reaction can be sustained
without to use a higher proportion of the U-235 in the fuel. Graphite, too, is a moderator that
can be used with natural uranium fuel [7].

3.10 Breeder reactors

We know that natural uranium contains 0.7% U 235 which is fissionable and 99.3% U 238 which
is not fissionable. If this U238 could be converted into fissionable fuel, the life span of uranium
fuel will last for many centuries. The breeder reactor would start with U 235 and generate
electricity like an ordinary reactor but it would also produce Pu239 from U238. The Pu239
produced is more than U235 consumed and as long as U238 is supplied to the reactor, it can
produce electricity and more fuel than it started with. At first sight, it may appear that a
nuclear reactor with breeding ratio (ratio of number of secondary fuel atoms formed to the
number of primary fuel atoms consumed) equal to or greater than unity, could operate
indefinitely provided the spent fertile material (U238 or Th232) is replaced. But this is not true in
practice. Because Uranium fission products produced during operation, absorb more of
neutrons, thereby gradually bringing the chain reaction to a halt.
If the neutrons are used corresponding to their thermal velocity, the chances of fission are
more and hence, the chances of breeding (capture of neutron by U 238 or Th232) are less.
Whereas with fast neutrons, the chances of fission are less and chances of neutron capture for
breeding are relatively higher, as their absorption cross section are considerably larger at
higher neutron energy level. The breeder reactors are, therefore, invariably fast reactors and
hence they are called fast breeder reactors. The fast breeder reactors do not employ

moderators to slow down the neutrons to thermal velocity. The fuel is enriched uranium or
plutonium [19].