Former US Navy submarine nuclear reactor operator here.

Adjusting the steam output was kind of strange. On a submarine, the steam used to propel the submarine dwarfs all the other steam loads. As a result, there's a throttleman who controls that.

Even though this simulation is simplified, it's not too bad. It does hide some of the really interesting aspects of a water cooled/moderated nuclear reactor. The most interesting thing is that water makes the reactor self-regulating because of its negative temperature coefficient of reactivity. I'll explain.

When a uranium-235 atom absorbs a stray neutron, it becomes unstable and splits. This releases more neutrons. Very few of these neutrons will be absorbed by surrounding uranium-235 atoms. This is a good thing. Most will escape the fuel, and some will bounce around in the surrounding water. This slows the neutrons down, and some of them will bounce back into the fuel to be absorbed for more fission reactions.

Let's say 1,000 fission reactions occur. If the result is that 800 neutrons from those fission reactions are absorbed by other uranium-235 atoms, you'll have 800 more fission reactions. The reactor is sub-critical as the reaction will not be self-sustaining.

If 1,000 fissions cause 1,200 neutrons to be absorbed and react, you'll have 1,200 resulting fission reactions. The reactor is super-critical as the number of fissions will increase.

If 1,000 fissions occur and the result is that 1,000 neutrons are absorbed and cause 1,000 more fission reactions, the reactor is critical. "The reactor is critical" means the number of fission reactions is self-sustaining and neither increasing nor decreasing.

How can we affect how many neutrons bounce back into the fuel? We can change the density of the water. It makes sense if you thing about it. The denser the water, the more likely neutrons will hit a water molecule and head back into the fuel.

How can we change the density of the water? We change the temperature of the water. If the water is colder, it is denser and the more likely neutrons will bounce back into the fuel.

How do we change the temperature of the water? We pull more/less heat of out it by using more/less steam.

Putting this all together, as steam demand goes up, more heat is pulled out of the water. This causes colder water to enter the reactor. Colder water will reflect more neutrons. More neutrons means more fission. More fission means more heat. More heat means warmer water and this will attenuate the increase in fission until an equilibrium is reached.

If you're creating too much power, the coolant temperature will increase and the power output will lower. If you're creating too little power, the coolant temperature will decrease and the power output will rise. That's why water is a great coolant/moderator: its negative temperature coefficient of reactivity.

user:	niekze
created:	August 10, 2022
karma:	112