Nuclear reactor heat removal (original) (raw)

The removal of heat from nuclear reactors is an essential step in the generation of energy from nuclear reactions. In nuclear engineering there are a number of empirical or semi-empirical relations used for quantifying the process of removing heat from a nuclear reactor core so that the reactor operates in the projected temperature interval that depends on the materials used in the construction of the reactor. The effectiveness of removal of heat from the reactor core depends on many factors, including the cooling agents used and the type of reactor. Common liquid coolants for nuclear reactors include: deionized water (with boric acid as a chemical shim during early burnup), heavy water, the lighter alkaline metals (such as sodium and lithium), lead or lead-based eutectic alloys like lead-