Physics Forums - Nuclear Engineering

Trying to create a list of Gen4 Reactors & Status,

Kidphysics — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:36:27 GMT

This comes from the reactors listed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_IV_reactor

If more are presented in this format I will edit this post and allow mods to edit this post. I think it is interesting to follow the current progress of fission and hopefully I can get help in creating the list as some of you may also find a complete list interesting and useful. Perhaps we can submit a wikipedia page if we get a respectable list.

If someone knows of a somewhat complete list let me know. My idea is to catagorize them, have a small segment about their status and provide a link for further information. I am submitting this post now so I can get feedback and whatnot. Either way this is my work in progress, I will probably be including interesting reactors like AVR since it has interesting history.

Red=Current Blue=future Black= decommissioned etc

Gen 4 reactors & Status

Thermal reactors

CAREM
-A 25 MW, light water version of CAREM is currently being built near Atucha I Nuclear Power Plant as the first prototype and a second one of 200 MWe is planned to be installed in Formosa Province.
--no working link and I'm not chasing it atm.

Pebble bed reactors

AVR
-High contamination, the reactor vessel was filled in 2008 with light concrete in order to fix the radioactive dust. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVR_reactor

HTR-10/ (HTR-PM)(possibly red?)
-In 2005, China announced its intention to scale up HTR-10 for commercial power generation. The first two 250-MWt High Temperature Reactor-Pebblebed Modules (HTR-PM) will be installed at the Shidaowan plant in Shandong Province and together drive a steam turbine generating 200 MWe. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2009 and commissioning in 2013.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTR

THTR-300
-suffered a number of technical difficulties, and owing to these and political events in Germany, was closed after only four years of operation. One cause for the closing was an accident on 4 May 1986 with a limited release of radioactive dust caused by a human error during a blockage of pebbles in a pipe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THTR-300

PBMR
-postponed indefinitely http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PBMR

MCNP fatal error with xsdir

DanatAMFL — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:40:56 GMT

fatal error. *** cross-section tables are missing from xsdir
10001.70m
10002.70m
10003.70m
...
bad trouble in subroutine ixsdir of imcn
cannot continue with missing cross-section table(s).

is the message I am getting. I have created a link using

ln -s /file/path/to/LANL/MCNP_DATA/mycustomxsectiondirectory xsdir

to direct MCNP to my custom x-section directory when it is looking for xsdir. The custom directory is identical to the xsdir file created during the mcnp install, aside from the names of the libraries. The custom libraries that are listed in the directory are in the same folder with the rest of the libraries from MCNP. My DATAPATH and PATH variables are set to the correct locations in both my .bashrc and .bash_profile files.(DATAPATH is set to the /LANL/MCNP_DATA folder and path is set to the /MCNP5/bin folder) I tried using the default xsdir file to see if it was an issue with my custom directory, and it gave me the same error. I'm not sure why it is giving me this error. It is MCNP5 ver. 1.60. Thanks for any help!

Small Leak Is Discovered at Plant in Fukushima

xholicwriter — Tue, 14 May 2013 22:04:09 GMT

Hi Everyone,

According to my research, the radiation level after the nuclear accident at Fukushima is not considered to be dangerous. However, new leak is discovered at plants in fukushima. How does this danger civilians at Fukushima?

Thank you very much

How exactly does a LWR/MSR "start"

Kidphysics — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:51:46 GMT

So I believe there were a source of neutrons in a LWR, something about a possibly decaying piece of Plutonium that would start the reaction?

As for MSR it seems like there is dissolved fuel (thorium, uranium) in a salt bath which is just dumped into one large vat... and then graphite moderators which act as fuel rods?? I am somewhat clueless even with wikipedia at bay.

mcnp atal error cell

crnjak — Tue, 14 May 2013 08:20:55 GMT

HI,

when I try to run the code it says: fatal error cell 2 have no fill//

1 1 -1 -1 fill=1 imp:n=1
2 1 -1 -2 lat=1 u=1 imp:n=1
3 0 1 imp:n=0

1 box -5 -5 -10 10 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 20
c 1 REC 0 0 0 0 0 70 20 0 0 0 10 0
2 box -5 -5 -10 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
c box -1 -1 -1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1

m1 94239.66c 1.0
c tally
f4:n 1 (2<2[0:9 0:9 0:19])
sdef pos .1 .1 .1
print

any tips????

Cheers.....

nuclear reactor

Numeriprimi — Sat, 11 May 2013 16:43:22 GMT

I think about an interesting question - How many people can kill unshielded nuclear reactor in one second? Some averages, estimates ... Do you have any idea? And why? On what is it dependent?Thanks.

Stuff at Iranian nuclear facility

MCTHOUSAND — Fri, 10 May 2013 17:31:15 GMT

In most of the news segments on the Iranian nuclear facilities you can see workers pouring something out of drums that looks like molten lead. I have wondered what that is. What is that stuff?

a question need solution

vietbilk — Fri, 03 May 2013 08:23:01 GMT

please help.
i'm studying about VVER, but i meat dificult when i found document.
who can help me know: why VVER's Steam Generation has structure horizontal?
with this design what advantages and disadvantage when we compare with design that have vertical Steam Generation? (PWR or BWR)
thank so much.

Explanation of some nuclear terms.

xholicwriter — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 03:31:27 GMT

Hi everyone,
I was reading the report about the Fukushima incident and I do not understand some concepts because of my limited understanding. Could you please help me?

Combustible Gas Control. <----- can you explain this concept in simpler language
The NRC regulations in 10 CFR 50.44, �Combustible Gas Control for Nuclear Power Reactors,� require reactors either to operate with their containment atmosphere inerted, resulting in the lack of oxygen to support combustion, or to have the capability for controlling combustible gas generated from a metal-water reaction involving approximately three-quarters of the fuel cladding so that there is no impact on the containment structural integrity. RG 1.7, �Control of Combustible Gas Concentrations In Containment,� provides further guidance on regulatory expectations for combustible gas control. pg 42

What happened fukushima

Information available at the time of this report indicates that, during the days following the Fukushima prolonged SBO event, Units 1, 3, and 4 experienced explosions, causing significant damage to the reactor buildings for those units. It is believed that the explosions in Units 1 and 3 resulted from hydrogen gas that was liberated inside the drywell during high-temperature zirconium fuel cladding reactions with water and that hydrogen gas migrated to the reactor building. The migration route of the hydrogen gas from the primary containment to reactor building has not yet been determined definitively; however, the failure to prevent, through containment venting, the primary containment pressure from significantly exceeding the design pressure likely contributed to the transport of hydrogen gas. It is believed that the explosion in the Unit 4 reactor building also resulted from hydrogen gas, but the source of the gas in Unit 4 is not yet clear. Unit 2 may also have experienced a hydrogen explosion in its suppression pool inside containment. However, the mechanism for suppression pool failure remains unclear. pg. 42

2. Containment Overpressure Protection pg.39 <----- could you explain this in simpler language?
can you explain what happened at fukushima pg. 40

3. Spent Fuel Pool Safety pg 43. <------ could you explain this in simpler language?
Can you explain what happened at fukushima pg. 45

http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operatin...apan-info.html

Thank you very much,
xholic

Cameras inside Dounreay Reactor

MalcolmB — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 08:59:59 GMT

Hi All...

Just popped up in my news feed: -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...lands-22292053

Could be interesting although there's only one image of the inside on the BBC news item.

And - to dismantle it: -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...lands-14184843

Cheers

Malc

a code for (alpha,gamma) reaction

rsaldideh — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 13:46:48 GMT

Hi
I want to define an Am-Be source in MCNPX 2.6
But I don't have Gamma spectra of this source.
Is there any computer code that can simulate (Alpha,Gamma) reaction?
Please Help!

ME v. Physics minors?

xholicwriter — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 06:10:08 GMT

Hi everyone,

Which of the two minors- ME and Physics- is more beneficial to nuclear engineering major, with focus in nuclear power? I know that NE covers a lot of ME.
Current plan:
Double majors: MSE and NE
Minor: Physics or ME
Note: I have finished a lot of lower division classes so I'm sure I can finish them in four years.

Thank you
xholic

fluid's boiling point dependence as function of pressure

Stephan_doc — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:08:08 GMT

Greetings to all,
I need some help for i understand how to demonstrate fluids boiling point dependence as function of pressure (i.e for main cool agents). Which are the basic equations for to write a general formula? I know that in PHWR type reactor water is at hight pressure to prevent boilling phenomena.
Thanks a lot