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Chapter 21: Problem 63

Which type or types of nuclear reactors have these characteristics? (a) Does not use a secondary coolant (b) Creates more fissionable material than it consumes (c) Uses a gas, such as He or \(\mathrm{CO}_{2}\), as the primary coolant

Short Answer

Expert verified
The given characteristics do not correspond to a single reactor type. Gas-cooled reactors, such as advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGR) and high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGR), use a single coolant system with gases like CO₂ and He. However, they are not designed to create more fissionable material than they consume. On the other hand, breeder reactors like liquid-metal fast breeder reactors (LMFBR) and molten-salt breeder reactors (MSBR) create more fissionable material but do not use a gas as the primary coolant.

Step by step solution

01

Identifying reactor types with a single coolant system

To find reactors that do not use a secondary coolant, we can eliminate some reactor types. The most common reactors with a single coolant system are gas-cooled reactors and liquid-metal fast breeder reactors (LMFBRs).
02

Identifying reactors that create more fissionable material than consumed

Breeder reactors are designed to create more fissionable material than they consume. The two main types of breeder reactors are liquid-metal fast breeder reactors (LMFBRs) and molten-salt breeder reactors (MSBRs).
03

Identifying reactors using gas as primary coolant

Gas-cooled reactors are designed to use gases as the primary coolant. Main types of gas-cooled reactors include the advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGR) which use carbon dioxide (CO₂) as coolant, and the high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGR) which use helium (He) as coolant.
04

Compare and find reactors with all given characteristics

By comparing the results of steps 1, 2, and 3, we find that there is no single reactor type that has all the given characteristics.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

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