A collection of nuclear power plant diagrams are available in the following 101 Diagramss to help you learn how the nuclear reactor works. The images that we have collected in the following images below show basic components and layout of a nuclear power station.The first diagram is available right below, and the other types of nuclear reactor such as BWR and CANDU are also provided.
From the illustration drawn on the above nuclear power plant diagram, it can be seen that a nuclear reactor consists of fuel rods, control rods and moderator. A fuel rod contains small round fuel pallets (uranium pallets). Control rods are of cadmium which absorb neutrons. They are inserted into reactor and can be moved in or out to control the reaction. The moderator can be graphite rods or the coolant itself. Moderator slows down the neutrons before they bombard on the fuel rods. The nuclear power plant consist of two main buildings: containment and turbine building. The containment building is the key building of the nuclear island while the turbine building houses a turbine, generator, condenser and other equipment, which is used for conversion thermal energy from pressurized steam to mechanical work used for drive the generator. The following structure diagrams of the nuclear reactor will help you to understand more.
Most reactors need to be shut down for refuelling, so that the pressure vessel can be opened up. The CANDU and RBMK types have pressure tubes (rather than a pressure vessel enclosing the reactor core) and can be refuelled under load by disconnecting individual pressure tubes. A CANDU fuel assembly consists of a bundle of 37 half metre long fuel rods (ceramic fuel pellets in zircaloy tubes) plus a support structure, with 12 bundles lying end to end in a fuel channel. The CANDU reactor diagram is posted below.
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