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Sources and simplifications
  • One of the four coolant loops is drawn; the other three (each with its own steam generator and pump) are left out.
  • The containment is compressed and the turbine hall pulled close; the reactor vessel is drawn at true size (4.4 m inside), the steam generator shortened.
  • Fuel rods are drawn about four times thicker and far fewer than the 50,952 real ones; one control-rod cluster stands for all 53.
  • Power follows rod position through a smooth curve with a few seconds' lag. A real core's response depends on boron, xenon and temperature feedback, and operators don't run it on rods alone.
  • Coolant flow is held constant, so the core temperature rise scales with power, with cold-leg temperature fixed at 292.7 °C. Real plants follow a temperature program.
  • Electrical output is taken as proportional to thermal power. The turbine turns at constant synchronous speed whatever the load.
  • Cherenkov light is only seen in open pools, such as a reactor during refuelling. A sealed, operating PWR vessel is dark inside. The glow here shows the physics.

Sources:

Control-rod drive: drag it to move the rodsSection through containment, vessel and steam generatorPrimary loop coloured by temperature, secondary by steam and waterA pressurized water reactor, as a three.js scene. The reference Westinghouse four-loop plant makes 3411 MW of heat and 1150 MW of electricity, about 34% efficient [1]. The core holds 193 fuel assemblies, each a 17×17 lattice with 264 fuel rods, 50,952 in all [1]. 53 clusters of 24 absorber rods control it [1]. Water at 15.51 MPa (2250 psia) [1][2] cannot boil. It enters the core at 292.7 °C and leaves about 33.4 °C hotter at full power [1][2]. A pressurizer holds that pressure. The hot leg carries the water to a steam generator, where it heats a separate secondary loop through thousands of U-tubes. A pump returns it to the vessel. Each of the 4 loops has its own generator and pump [3]. The secondary water boils, and the steam drives the turbine and generator. It is condensed by cooling water whose heat leaves through the tower. Drag the control rods down and the power falls with a lag. With flow held constant, the core temperature rise falls with it. Cherenkov light, the blue glow of fast electrons in water [4], fades with power. The scene uses a concrete texture on the containment, cut-face hatching, a temperature ramp painted on the core, and flow, Cherenkov and steam shaders.