Nuclear reactor facts for kids
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A nuclear reactor is a machine that uses fission to generate heat. There are different designs which use different fuels. Most often, uranium-235 or plutonium-239 are the main components of these fuels.
Most nuclear reactors are used to make electricity. In nuclear power plants heat from the reactor changes water into steam. The steam is then used to power electric turbines which make electricity. It is important to remember that the turbines do not change the temperature of the steam, or the amount of steam. Instead, the turbines take energy from the movement of the steam.
Some reactors are used for other purposes. Some reactors make neutrons for science research and others make radioactive isotopes. Some universities have small nuclear reactors to teach students how reactors work.
The first nuclear reactor was built in 1942 by a team of scientists led by Enrico Fermi. This was a part of the Manhattan Project which needed the fuel from the reactor to make the atomic bomb. The first nuclear reactor to make electricity was a small experimental reactor built in Idaho in 1951. It made just enough electricity for four light globes.
Nuclear reactors are expensive to build because of the many safety features they need to have. There is also a problem with the huge amount of radioactive waste from the reactors. However they produce electricity cheaply, and do not pollute the air. There have been serious accidents at several nuclear reactors: Windscale (UK) 1957, Mayak (USSR) 1957, Three Mile Island (USA) 1979, Chernobyl (USSR) 1986 and Fukushima (Japan) 2011. Concerns about safety have limited the growth of nuclear power. There are about 437 reactors around the world which provide about 5% of the world's electricity.
Images for kids
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Core of CROCUS, a small nuclear reactor used for research at the EPFL in Switzerland
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The Chicago Pile, the first nuclear reactor, built in secrecy at the University of Chicago in 1942 during World War II as part of the US's Manhattan project
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Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn in their laboratory
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Some of the Chicago Pile Team, including Enrico Fermi and Leó Szilárd
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Primary coolant system showing reactor pressure vessel (red), steam generators (purple), pressurizer (blue), and pumps (green) in the three coolant loop Hualong One pressurized water reactor design
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NC State's PULSTAR Reactor is a 1 MW pool-type research reactor with 4% enriched, pin-type fuel consisting of UO2 pellets in zircaloy cladding.
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Treatment of the interior part of a VVER-1000 reactor frame at Atommash
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In thermal nuclear reactors (LWRs in specific), the coolant acts as a moderator that must slow down the neutrons before they can be efficiently absorbed by the fuel.
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Diablo Canyon – a PWR
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The CANDU Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant
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The Magnox Sizewell A nuclear power station
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The Torness nuclear power station – an AGR
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Scaled-down model of TOPAZ nuclear reactor
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The Superphénix, closed in 1998, was one of the few FBRs.
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Three of the reactors at Fukushima I overheated, causing the coolant water to dissociate and led to the hydrogen explosions. This along with fuel meltdowns released large amounts of radioactive material into the air.
See also
In Spanish: Reactor nuclear para niños
