Even when shut down after a period of normal use, a large commercial nuclear rea

Question

Even when shut down after a period of normal use, a large commercial nuclear reactor produces heat at the rate of 150 MW by the radioactive decay of fission products. This causes a rapid increase in temperature if the cooling system fails.

(a) Calculate the rate of temperature increase in degrees Celsius per second (°C/s), if the mass of the reactor core is 1.60 105 kg and has an average specific heat of 0.0800 kcal/kg·°C

(b) How long would it take to obtain a temperature increase of 2000°C? (The initial rate of temperature increase would be greater than calculated here, because the heat is concentrated in a smaller mass, but later, the temperature increase would slow because the 5 105 kg steel containment vessel would begin to be heated, too.

Explanation / Answer

Even when shut down after a period of normal use, a large commercial nuclear rea

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