Loss-of-pressure-control Accident

Loss-of-pressure-control Accident

Most commercial types of nuclear reactor use a pressure vessel to maintain pressure in the reactor plant. This is necessary in a pressurized water reactor to prevent boiling in the core, which could lead to a nuclear meltdown. This is also necessary in other types of reactor plants to prevent moderators from having uncontrolled properties.

Pressure is controlled in a pressurized water reactor to ensure that the core itself does not reach its boiling point in which the water will turn into steam and rapidly decrease the heat being transferred from the fuel to the moderator. By a combination of heaters and spray valves, pressure is controlled in the pressurizer vessel which is connected to the reactor plant. Because the pressurizer vessel and the reactor plant are connected, the pressure of the steam space pressurizes the entire reactor plant to ensure the pressure is above that which would allow boiling in the reactor core. The pressurizer vessel itself may be maintained much hotter than the rest of the reactor plant to ensure pressure control, because in the liquid throughout the reactor plant, pressure applied at any point has an effect on the entire system, whereas the heat transfer is limited by ambient and other losses.