Technical

Description: How Pressurized Water Reactors Work

The following description will cover the equipment and processes within a Pressurized Water Reactor as
seen in Figure 1. The cycle will be described as it occurs chronologically.
Primary Loop
The process starts in the
Primary loop with the steel
reactor core. Within the core,
hundreds of small tubes known
as fuel rods are filled with
uranium atoms and begin to
react in a chain reaction
undergoing nuclear fission as
neutrons are shot at the atoms.
This nuclear fission creates
large amounts of thermal
energy. These reactors are very
hot and are surrounded by water that has been pressurized up to 155 bar (15.5 MPa); that is 56 times
more pressure than inside a typical car tire.
The water in the primary loop acts as a coolant for the reactor as well as the main source of energy transfer
for the next process. Since the water is highly pressurized, the waters boiling point is dramatically
increased leaving the water liquid at high temperatures up to 600 degrees Fahrenheit. The water pressure
is maintained with the use of a pressurizer.
Secondary Loop
As the heated water flows through the primary loop, through conduction it begins to heat the
unpressurized water in the secondary loop, also known as the steam generator, until the water within the
steam generator boils. As the steam travels through piping within the second system, it is pressurized and
turns a Steam Turbine. The turbine connected to an electric generator converts the mechanical energy of
the turbine in the form of work to useful electricity.
The steam then travels through a condenser where it is cooled, condensed, and the pressure is reduced.
The liquid water is then fed through a Feedwater pump where it is pumped back through the section
containing the heated primary loop. The process continues in a cycle.

Other systems and information
Within this system, there consist three independent loops. The primary loop, the secondary loop, and the
third loop connected to the condenser. This third loop is filled with cold water from an independent water
source, such as the ocean or a lake, and is used to cool the water of the secondary loop. Each system
works independently insuring stability and safety. The water in the primary loop has direct contact with
the radioactive process; by being separated from the boiling water, most of the dangerous radioactive
material that could be released in a fuel leak stays contained in the reactor area.
Heat within each loop is transferred by conduction.