4 ms·
The PWR was and is used in submarines. It led to Shippingport which led to Yankee Rowe and Indian Point 1, which launched the commercial nuclear power industry.
by acidburnNSA 2y ago
The PWR was and is used in submarines. It led to Shippingport which led to Yankee Rowe and Indian Point 1, which launched the commercial nuclear power industry.
Conversely the graphite moderated Hanford reactors that made plutonium never led to commercial reactors. Closest you got was Hanford N but that was kind of a one-off.
If it matters, I'm a professional nuclear engineer with a lifelong interest and expertise in reactor history.
- PaulHoule 2y agoThe PWR (and related BWR) are bad at weapons plutonium production for two reasons: (1) there aren't a lot of excess neutrons to transform U238 -> Pu239, graphite reactors can be tuned up to make about twice as much Pu. (2) Either kind of LWR runs under pressure and it would be a big deal to shut the reactor down, bleed the pressure, and change the fuel; most other reactor types can be refueled online. The longer Pu239 stays in the reactor, the more of it adsorbs another neutron and becomes Pu240 which is bad for nuclear weapons because it creates a neutron background that causes predetonation. Graphite reactors have a history for power production: see [1] and [2]. They might even have a future [3] but the German experience makes me think the prismatic type core makes more sense [4] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_gas-cooled_reactor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_gas-cooled_reactor [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RBMK https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RBMK [3] https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Chinese-HTR-PM-Demo-begins-commercial-operation https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Chinese-HTR-PM-D... [4] https://inis.iaea.org/records/81760-q0060 https://inis.iaea.org/records/81760-q0060