Connections inside a PWR
Choose material, heat, or neutrons to see how that part of the system connects.
What changes as the fuel moves?
Chemical form, isotope composition, and physical arrangement change before fuel reaches a reactor. After use, the material still needs cooling and management. Recovery, where used, is a separate processing route.
Follow the fuel cycleSource: NRC · Fuel-cycle stages
How does the energy get out?
Heat passes from fuel to coolant, then across steam-generator tube walls into another water circuit. Steam drives the turbine. A material’s conductivity is only one part of that transport problem.
Work through the copper questionSource: NRC · PWR circuits
Why does the surrounding material matter?
Fuel, water, and absorbers change the neutron environment. Slowing and absorbing neutrons are different processes. Temperature, composition, and geometry affect the balance inside the core.
Look at the materials and feedbackSource: DOE · Reactor physics
Questions across the system
What has to happen before material becomes fuel?
Fuel-cycle primer
Why move a coolant instead of using a solid?
Inside a PWR · the copper question
What do fuel, water, and absorbers each do?
Inside a PWR · materials and feedback
What changes under heat, pressure, and neutron exposure?
Inside a PWR · material aging
Why remove fuel when useful material remains?
Used-fuel primer
What continues after the chain reaction stops?
Half-life primer