All Topics  
Heavy water reactor

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Heavy water reactor
 
 
  Topics Heavy water reactor Topic Home

Heavy water reactors use heavy water
Heavy water

Heavy water is water that contains a higher proportion than normal of the isotope deuterium, as deuterium oxide, D2O or ?H2O, or as deuterium protium oxide, HDO or ?H?HO....
 as a neutron moderator
Neutron moderator

In nuclear engineering, a neutron moderator is a medium which reduces the speed of fast neutrons, thereby turning them into thermal neutrons capable of sustaining a nuclear chain reaction involving uranium-235....
. Heavy water is deuterium
Deuterium

Deuterium, also called heavy hydrogen, is a stable isotope of hydrogen with a natural abundance in the oceans of Earth of approximately one atom in 6500 of hydrogen ....
 oxide
Oxide

An oxide is a chemical compound contaning at least one oxygen atom as well as at least one other element. Most of the Earth's crust consists of oxides....
, D2O. Neutrons in a nuclear reactor
Nuclear reactor

A nuclear reactor is a device in which nuclear chain reactions are initiated, controlled, and sustained at a steady rate, as opposed to a nuclear bomb, in which the chain reaction occurs in a fraction of a second and is uncontrolled causing an explosion....
 that uses uranium
Uranium

Uranium is a silvery-gray metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table that has the chemical symbol U and atomic number 92....
 must be slowed down so that they are more likely to split other atoms and get more neutrons released to split other atoms. Light water can be used, as in a light water reactor
Light water reactor

The light water reactor or LWR is a type of thermal reactor, a reactor that uses a neutron moderator to reduce the speed of neutrons to low velocity thermal neutrons....
, but since it absorbs neutrons the uranium must be enriched for criticality to be possible. The most common pressurised heavy water reactor
Pressurised heavy water reactor

A pressurised heavy water reactor is a Nuclear power plant, commonly using unenriched natural uranium as its fuel, that uses heavy water as its coolant and Neutron moderator....
 is the CANDU reactor
CANDU reactor

The CANDU reactor is a Canadian-invented, pressurized heavy water reactor developed initially in the late 1950s and 1960s by a partnership between Atomic Energy of Canada Limited , the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario , Canadian General Electric , as well as several private industry participants....
.

Opponents of heavy water reactors suggest that because such reactors can be fueled with unenriched uranium
Enriched uranium

Enriched uranium is a kind of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 has been increased through the process of isotope separation....
 there is much greater risk of nuclear proliferation
Nuclear proliferation

Nuclear proliferation is a term now used to describe the spread of nuclear weapons, fissile material, and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and information, to nations which are not recognized as "nuclear weapon States" by the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, also known as the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty or NPT....
; since once a country has such a reactor, it only needs uranium as it is found in nature.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Heavy water reactor'
Start a new discussion about 'Heavy water reactor'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Heavy water reactors use heavy water
Heavy water

Heavy water is water that contains a higher proportion than normal of the isotope deuterium, as deuterium oxide, D2O or ?H2O, or as deuterium protium oxide, HDO or ?H?HO....
 as a neutron moderator
Neutron moderator

In nuclear engineering, a neutron moderator is a medium which reduces the speed of fast neutrons, thereby turning them into thermal neutrons capable of sustaining a nuclear chain reaction involving uranium-235....
. Heavy water is deuterium
Deuterium

Deuterium, also called heavy hydrogen, is a stable isotope of hydrogen with a natural abundance in the oceans of Earth of approximately one atom in 6500 of hydrogen ....
 oxide
Oxide

An oxide is a chemical compound contaning at least one oxygen atom as well as at least one other element. Most of the Earth's crust consists of oxides....
, D2O. Neutrons in a nuclear reactor
Nuclear reactor

A nuclear reactor is a device in which nuclear chain reactions are initiated, controlled, and sustained at a steady rate, as opposed to a nuclear bomb, in which the chain reaction occurs in a fraction of a second and is uncontrolled causing an explosion....
 that uses uranium
Uranium

Uranium is a silvery-gray metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table that has the chemical symbol U and atomic number 92....
 must be slowed down so that they are more likely to split other atoms and get more neutrons released to split other atoms. Light water can be used, as in a light water reactor
Light water reactor

The light water reactor or LWR is a type of thermal reactor, a reactor that uses a neutron moderator to reduce the speed of neutrons to low velocity thermal neutrons....
, but since it absorbs neutrons the uranium must be enriched for criticality to be possible. The most common pressurised heavy water reactor
Pressurised heavy water reactor

A pressurised heavy water reactor is a Nuclear power plant, commonly using unenriched natural uranium as its fuel, that uses heavy water as its coolant and Neutron moderator....
 is the CANDU reactor
CANDU reactor

The CANDU reactor is a Canadian-invented, pressurized heavy water reactor developed initially in the late 1950s and 1960s by a partnership between Atomic Energy of Canada Limited , the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario , Canadian General Electric , as well as several private industry participants....
.

Opponents of heavy water reactors suggest that because such reactors can be fueled with unenriched uranium
Enriched uranium

Enriched uranium is a kind of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 has been increased through the process of isotope separation....
 there is much greater risk of nuclear proliferation
Nuclear proliferation

Nuclear proliferation is a term now used to describe the spread of nuclear weapons, fissile material, and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and information, to nations which are not recognized as "nuclear weapon States" by the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, also known as the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty or NPT....
; since once a country has such a reactor, it only needs uranium as it is found in nature. Therefore, the oversight by international institutions of uranium enrichment is bypassed. While there is no need for fuel enrichment, heavy water reactors produce more plutonium
Plutonium

Plutonium is a rare transuranic radioactive chemical element. It is an actinide metal of silvery-white appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when plutonium oxide....
 and tritium
Tritium

Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. The atomic nucleus of tritium contains one proton and two neutrons, whereas the nucleus of Hydrogen atom contains one proton and no neutrons....
 as a by-products of normal use than light water reactors. Both plutonium and tritium are hazardous radioactive substances, used in the production of modern nuclear weapons; such as fission, boosted fission and neutron bombs as well as and in the primary stages of thermonuclear weapons. India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
 produced its plutonium for Operation Smiling Buddha, its first nuclear weapon test from plutonium extracted from a heavy water research reactor known as "CIRUS". Heavy water reactors require a set of safeguards to prevent their exploitation in such a fashion.

The reactors are used in nuclear power plants to produce nuclear power
Nuclear power

Nuclear power is any nuclear technology designed to extract usable energy from atomic nucleus via controlled nuclear reactions. The only method in use today is through nuclear fission, though other methods might one day include nuclear fusion and radioactive decay ....
 from nuclear fuel
Nuclear fuel

Nuclear fuel is any material that can be consumed to derive nuclear energy, by analogy to chemical fuel that is Combustioned to derive energy....
.

See also

  • NRX
    NRX

    NRX was a heavy water neutron moderator, light water cooled, nuclear reactor at the Canada Chalk River Laboratories, which came into operation in 1947 at a design power rating of 10 MW , increasing to 42 MW by 1954....
  • CIRUS
  • MIT Nuclear Research Reactor
    MIT Nuclear Research Reactor

    The MIT Nuclear Research Reactor serves the research purposes of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is a tank-type 5 MW reactor that is moderated and cooled by light water and uses heavy water as a reflector....
  • CANDU
  • KS 150
    KS 150

    KS 150 is a heavy water gas cooled reactor nuclear reactor. Single unit was used in the Bohunice Nuclear Power Plants in Jaslovsk? Bohunice, Czechoslovakia....