Control rod
Control rods are used in
Operating principle
Control rods are inserted into the
The number of control rods inserted, and the distance to which they are inserted, strongly influence the
A new reactor is assembled with its control rods fully inserted. Control rods are partially removed from the core to allow the nuclear chain reaction to start up and increase to the desired power level. Neutron flux can be measured, and is roughly proportional to reaction rate and power level. To increase power output, some control rods are pulled out a small distance for a while. To decrease power output, some control rods are pushed in a small distance for a while. Several other factors affect the reactivity; to compensate for them, an automatic control system adjusts the control rods small amounts in or out, as-needed in some reactors. Each control rod influences some part of the reactor more than others; calculated adjustments to fuel distribution can be made to maintain similar reaction rates and temperatures in different parts of the core.
Typical
Materials
Chemical elements with usefully high neutron capture cross-sections include silver, indium, and cadmium. Other candidate elements include boron, cobalt, hafnium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium.[1] Alloys or compounds may also be used, such as high-boron steel,[a] silver-indium-cadmium alloy, boron carbide, zirconium diboride, titanium diboride, hafnium diboride, gadolinium nitrate,[b] gadolinium titanate, dysprosium titanate, and boron carbide–europium hexaboride composite.[2]
The material choice is influenced by the neutron energy in the reactor, their resistance to neutron-induced swelling, and the required mechanical and lifespan properties. The rods may have the form of tubes filled with neutron-absorbing pellets or powder. The tubes can be made of stainless steel or other "neutron window" materials such as zirconium, chromium, silicon carbide, or cubic 11
B15
N (cubic boron nitride).[3]
The burnup of "
Some rare-earth elements are excellent neutron absorbers and are more common than silver (reserves of about 500,000t). For example, ytterbium (reserves about one M tons) and yttrium, 400 times more common, with middle capturing values, can be found and used together without separation inside minerals like xenotime (Yb) (Yb0.40Y0.27Lu0.12Er0.12Dy0.05Tm0.04Ho0.01)PO4,[4] or keiviite (Yb) (Yb1.43Lu0.23Er0.17Tm0.08Y0.05Dy0.03Ho0.02)2Si2O7, lowering the cost.[5] Xenon is also a strong neutron absorber as a gas, and can be used for controlling and (emergency) stopping helium-cooled reactors, but does not function in cases of pressure loss, or as a burning protection gas together with argon around the vessel part especially in case of core catching reactors or if filled with sodium or lithium. Fission-produced xenon can be used after waiting for caesium to precipitate, when practically no radioactivity is left. Cobalt-59 is also used as an absorber for winning of cobalt-60 for use as a gamma ray source. Control rods can also be constructed as thick turnable rods with a tungsten reflector and absorber side turned to stop by a spring in less than one second.
Silver-indium-cadmium alloys, generally 80% Ag, 15% In, and 5% Cd, are a common control rod material for
Boron is another common neutron absorber. Due to the different cross sections of 10B and 11B, materials containing boron enriched in 10B by
Hafnium diboride is another such material. It can be used alone or in a sintered mixture of hafnium and boron carbide powders.[11]
Many other compounds of rare-earth elements can be used, such as samarium with boron-like
Additional means of reactivity regulation
Other means of controlling reactivity include (for PWR) a soluble neutron absorber (
Safety
In most reactor designs, as a
Criticality accident prevention
Mismanagement or control rod failure have often been blamed for
In carbon dioxide-cooled reactors such as the AGR, if the solid control rods fail to arrest the nuclear reaction, nitrogen gas can be injected into the primary coolant cycle. This is because nitrogen has a larger absorption cross-section for neutrons than carbon or oxygen; hence, the core then becomes less reactive.
As the neutron energy increases, the neutron cross section of most isotopes decreases. The boron isotope 10B is responsible for the majority of the neutron absorption. Boron-containing materials can also be used as neutron shielding, to reduce the activation of material close to a reactor core.
See also
- Nuclear power
- Nuclear reactor
- Nuclear safety
- Wigner effect
Notes
- ^ limited to use only in research reactors due to increased swelling from helium and lithium due to neutron absorption of boron in the (n, alpha) reaction
- ^ injected into D2O moderator of Advanced CANDU reactor
References
- ^ ytterbium (n.gamma) data with Japanese or Russian database
- ^ Sairam K, Vishwanadh B, Sonber JK, et al. Competition between densification and microstructure development during spark plasma sintering of B4C–Eu2O3. J Am Ceram Soc. 2017;00:1–11. https://doi.org/10.1111/jace.15376
- ^ Anthony Monterrosa; Anagha Iyengar; Alan Huynh; Chanddeep Madaan (2012). "Boron Use and Control in PWRs and FHRs" (PDF).
- ^ Harvey M. Buck, Mark A. Cooper, Petr Cerny, Joel D. Grice, Frank C. Hawthorne: Xenotime-(Yb), YbPO4,a new mineral species from the Shatford Lake pegmatite group, southeastern Manitoba, Canada. In: Canadian Mineralogist. 1999, 37, S. 1303–1306 (Abstract in American Mineralogist, S. 1324; PDF
- ^ A. V. Voloshin, Ya. A. Pakhomovsky, F. N. Tyusheva: Keiviite Yb2Si2O7, A new ytterbium silicate from amazonitic pegmatites of the Kola Peninsula. In: Mineralog. Zhurnal. 1983, 5-5, S. 94–99 (Abstract in American Mineralogist, S. 1191; PDF; 853 kB).
- ^ Bowsher, B. R.; Jenkins, R. A.; Nichols, A. L.; Rowe, N. A.; Simpson, J. a. H. (1986-01-01). Silver-indium-cadmium control rod behaviour during a severe reactor accident (Technical report). UKAEA Atomic Energy Establishment.
- ^ "CONTROL MATERIALS". web.mit.edu. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
- ^ "Control Materials". Web.mit.edu. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
- ^ "Hafnium alloys as neutron absorbers". Free Patents Online. Archived from the original on October 12, 2008. Retrieved September 25, 2008.
- ^ "Dysprosium (Z=66)". Everything-Science.com web forum. Retrieved September 25, 2008.
- ^ "Method for making neutron absorber material". Free Patents Online. Retrieved September 25, 2008.
- ^ "Infrarotabsorbierende Druckfarben - Dokument DE102008049595A1". Patent-de.com. 2008-09-30. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
- ^ "Sigma Plots". Nndc.bnl.gov. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
- ^ "Sigma Periodic Table Browse". Nndc.bnl.gov. 2007-01-25. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
- ^ "Enriched boric acid for pressurized water reactors" (PDF). EaglePicher Corporation. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 29, 2007. Retrieved September 25, 2008.
External links
Further reading
- Powers, D.A. (August 1, 1985). Behavior of control rods during core degradation: pressurization of silver-indium-cadmium control rods (Technical report). OSTI 6332291.
- Petti, D.A. (March 1, 1987). Silver-indium-cadmium control rod behavior and aerosol formation in severe reactor accidents (Technical report). Office of Scientific and Technical Information, United States Department of Energy. OSTI 6380030.
- Steinbrueck, M.; Stegmaier, U. (May 6, 2010). "Experiments on silver-indium-cadmium control rod failure during severe accident sequences". Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Retrieved May 29, 2017.