What is the principle of breeder reactor?
principles of operation using fast breeder reactors employed liquid-metal fast breeder reactors, which convert uranium-238 into the fissionable isotope plutonium-239 by means of artificial radioactive decay. The plutonium-239 is then bombarded with high-speed neutrons.
What is an example of breeder reactor?
The most promising type of breeder reactor is the Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor (LMFBR), which operates by using liquid sodium as its coolant, and breeds plutonium from uranium-238.
What are breeder reactor used for?
Breeder reactors are designed to generate nuclear fuel at the same time as producing energy for electricity production. This is possible because a small number of isotopes will capture neutrons produced in a reactor, starting a reaction that leads to a new, heavy fissile isotope.
Why are they called breeder reactors?
Reactors can be designed to maximize plutonium production, and in some cases they actually produce more fuel than they consume. These reactors are called breeder reactors.
Which material is used in fast breeder reactor?
uranium-238
Fast reactors more deliberately use the uranium-238 as well as the fissile U-235 isotope used in most reactors. If they are designed to produce more plutonium than the uranium and plutonium they consume, they are called fast breeder reactors (FBRs).
What are breeder reactors disadvantages?
Disadvantages of Fast Breeder Reactor It requires enriched uranium as fuel. 2. The neutron flux is high at the center of the core. 3.
What are some advantages of breeder reactors?
A breeder reactor creates 30% more fuel than it consumes. After an initial introduction of enriched uranium, the reactor only needs infrequent addition of stable uranium, which is then converted into the fuel. It can generate much more energy than traditional coal power plants.
Are breeder reactors renewable?
Nuclear fission involving breeder reactors, a reactor which breeds more fissile fuel than they consume and thereby has a breeding ratio for fissile fuel higher than 1 thus has a stronger case for being considered a renewable resource than conventional fission reactors.
Which coolant is used in fast breeder reactor?
sodium
A liquid metal fast breeder reactor is so named because during conversion of the fertile material into fissile material use is made of high-energy (“fast”) neutrons and the coolant employed is sodium, which remains in the liquid state (“liquid metal”) at the prevailing high working temperatures.
Which fuel is used in fast breeder reactor?
What are the disadvantages of breeder reactors?
Breeder reactors use highly enriched fuels, which pose the danger of critical accidents. They also work at a very high temperature and a fast pace. Plutonium persists for a long time in the environment, with a half-life of 24,000 years, and is highly toxic, causing lung cancer even if a small amount is inhaled.
Why sodium is used in fast breeder reactor?
Sodium is used as a coolant in breeder reactors be- cause of its excellent thermal and nuclear properties. Sodium has high thermal conductivity, a reasonable spe- cific heat, low neutron moderation and absorption, and a relatively high boiling point.