Physics:Light water graphite reactor

From HandWiki

The light water graphite reactor (LWGR) is a design of nuclear reactor that uses purified graphite as a neutron moderator and light water (H2O) as a liquid coolant. Due to the superior moderating properties of graphite, natural uranium can be used as a fuel, avoiding enrichment.

The design was developed during the Manhattan Project, in a horizontal layout, first used in the 1944 B Reactor, also the world's first large-scale reactor. The Project's Hanford Site constructed nine LWGRs in total for plutonium production, used throughout the Cold War.[1] The Soviet Union subsequently developed a vertical design for use in military plutonium production reactors, constructed at Mayak, the Siberian Chemical Combine in Seversk, and the Mining and Chemical Combine in Zhelenogorsk.[2] China's nuclear weapons program also developed two military plutonium production LWGRs.[3] Reactors used for plutonium production in the nuclear weapons programs of the United Kingdom, France, and North Korea used gas-cooled reactors (GCRs) moderated by graphite, while those used by Israel, India, and Pakistan were believed to be heavy water reactors (HWRs).Template:Citeneed

The Soviet Union also developed civilian power prototypes eventually into the RBMK design, the only widespread use of LWGRs for commercial nuclear power plants.[4] RBMKs use slightly enriched uranium (<2% 235U).

Selected examples of LWGRs
Reactor Country Criticality date Initial power

(MWth)

Notes Refs.
B Reactor  United States 26 September 1944 250 First LWGR, twin D and F reactors built under Manhattan Project [1]
A-1  Soviet Union 10 June 1948 100 First Soviet plutonium production reactor; in Mayak [2]
AM-1  Soviet Union 6 May 1954 30 First LWGR to generate electricity [5]
AMB-100  Soviet Union 1 September 1963 286 SCWR test? [6]
N Reactor  United States 8 December 1963 4000 Also Hanford Site, shutdown following Chernobyl disaster [1]
AMB-200  Soviet Union 10 October 1967 530 SCWR test? [7]
Chernobyl Reactor 4  Soviet Union 26 November 1983 3200 Reactor exploded in 1986, worst nuclear accident in history [8]
Jiuquan reactor  China 1966 ~250 China's first plutonium production reactor, military use [3]
Guangyan reactor  China 1973 ~250 Third Front facility, military use [3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Plutonium: The First 50 Years". 1994-09-30. https://sgp.fas.org/othergov/doe/pu50yc.html. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Rhodes, Richard (1995). Dark Sun. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. p. 276. ISBN 978-0-684-80400-2. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Zhang, Hui (2011-04-25). "China's HEU and Plutonium Production and Stocks". Science & Global Security 19 (1): 68–89. doi:10.1080/08929882.2011.566469. ISSN 0892-9882. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08929882.2011.566469. Retrieved 2025-06-17. 
  4. ↑ Panov, Aleksei; Trapeznikov, Alexander; Trapeznikova, Vera; Korzhavin, Alexander (2022). "Influence of operation of thermal and fast reactors of the Beloyarsk NPP on the radioecological situation in the cooling pond. Part 1: Surface water and bottom sediments". Nuclear Engineering and Technology (Elsevier BV) 54 (8): 3034–3042. doi:10.1016/j.net.2022.03.004. ISSN 1738-5733. 
  5. ↑ "APS 1 Obninsk". 1951-01-01. https://world-nuclear.org/nuclear-reactor-database/details/APS-1-Obninsk. 
  6. ↑ "Beloyarsk 1". 1958-06-01. https://world-nuclear.org/nuclear-reactor-database/details/Beloyarsk-1. 
  7. ↑ "Beloyarsk 2". 1962-01-01. https://world-nuclear.org/nuclear-reactor-database/details/Beloyarsk-2. 
  8. ↑ "Chernobyl 4". 1979-04-01. https://world-nuclear.org/nuclear-reactor-database/details/chernobyl-4. 

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