• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
  • Podcast
  • Archives
  • Links

Atomic Insights

Atomic energy technology, politics, and perceptions from a nuclear energy insider who served as a US nuclear submarine engineer officer

Water Cooled Reactors

Visual inspection of massive damage at North Anna nuclear plant (look closely)

September 20, 2011 By Rod Adams

CBS TV 6, one of the television stations closest to the North Anna nuclear power station was allowed to take a tour to see the massive damage caused by one of the largest earthquakes that has ever occurred in the US east of the Mississippi River. Caution – the video you are about to see […]

Filed Under: Nuclear regulations, Politics of Nuclear Energy, Water Cooled Reactors

Some of world’s finest people doing one of world’s most important jobs

September 9, 2011 By Rod Adams 11 Comments

I’ll admit my bias – my father spent his whole career in the business of making electricity. I learned very early in life just how important that job is. Some of the unsung heroes that I have celebrated over the years include the linemen who restored our electricity nearly two weeks after Hurricane Hugo decimated […]

Filed Under: Reactors, Technical History Stories, Water Cooled Reactors

Smaller nuclear reactors allow decentralized power – some critics not pleased

July 30, 2011 By Rod Adams

Even a broken clock is right twice a day. That is one of the sayings that I remember whenever I read works about energy by people like Amory Lovins or Ralph Nader and find myself agreeing with something they have written. (I rarely agree with either of them, but that does not mean that I […]

Filed Under: Army Nuclear Program, Small Nuclear Power Plants, Water Cooled Reactors

The Atomic Show #057 – Boiling Water Reactors

April 25, 2007 By Rod Adams 4 Comments

Shane and Rod discuss boiling water reactors, one of the two types of established light water reactors. There are two main types of light water reactors, pressurized water reactors (PWR) and boiling water reactors (BWR). They share some characteristics, but also have a number of differences. There are plenty of sources of information on the […]

Filed Under: Atomic history, Boiling Water, Podcast, Water Cooled Reactors

Protection for Fuel Elements: Ensuring Saftey

December 1, 1995 By Rod Adams

Once Rickover’s team selected water as their primary reactor coolant, other material criteria became readily apparent. Though pure water at room temperature is a relatively benign environment, water at high temperatures is quite corrosive. Because radioactive fission products can be dangerous to human health, prudent reactor designers must devise methods to ensure that the fission […]

Filed Under: Atomic Insights Dec 1995, Water Cooled Reactors

Controlling Power: Temperature and Rods

December 1, 1995 By Rod Adams

Pressurized water reactors turned out to be extremely stable power producers. Because of the fact that water is used to moderate the energy level of neutrons, making them more effective in causing fission, the concentration of water in the core is an important part of determining the reactivity of the core. Temperature control An increase […]

Filed Under: Atomic Insights Dec 1995, Water Cooled Reactors

Technical Hurdles: One Step at a Time

December 1, 1995 By Rod Adams

Though water was chosen partially because it was a familiar fluid for power engineers, the choice almost doomed the nuclear submarine program. Laboratory testing of the pumps, bearings, valves, and piping demonstrated to Rickover’s team that the simple, familiar fluid was not so simple at high temperatures and pressures, particularly when exposed to neutron radiation. […]

Filed Under: Atomic Insights Dec 1995, Water Cooled Reactors

Pressurized Water: Best Choice for the 1950s Subs

December 1, 1995 By Rod Adams

When Rickover first began studying nuclear technology, he found a program in severe disarray. The Army’s Manhattan Project had accomplished its mission of completing a workable bomb before the end of the war. Many of the key scientists and engineers had left the program, eager to leave the security restrictions and poor working conditions behind. […]

Filed Under: Atomic Insights Dec 1995, Water Cooled Reactors

Nuclear Research Ship: Japanese Learn Nuclear Techniques at Sea

July 1, 1995 By Rod Adams

The Japanese nuclear ship Mutsu is designed not for show, but for research. She is currently being used by the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) as a test bed to validate computer models of the behavior of pressurized water reactors in an ocean environment. The Mutsu has a 10,000 shaft horsepower nuclear engine. The […]

Filed Under: Atomic Insights July 1995, Nuclear Ships, Water Cooled Reactors

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2

Primary Sidebar

Search Atomic Insights

The Atomic Show

Atomic Insights

Follow Atomic Insights

Recent Posts

Why did the US Atomic Energy Commission kill Daniels Pile in 1947?

How did an oil shale investor hamstring his atomic energy competition? (Ancient but impactful smoking gun)

Improved atomic energy offers a pathway that Princeton’s Net Zero America failed to acknowledge

Adams Engines™: Design Concepts

Will heavy nitrogen become a widely used fission reactor coolant?

  • Home
  • About Atomic Insights
  • Atomic Show
  • Contact
  • Links

Search Atomic Insights

Archives

Copyright © 2021 · Atomic Insights

Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy