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chronoboy1985 t1_jc3scp2 wrote

Reply to comment by Hiddencamper in Why were the control rods in the reactor featured in the HBO series 'Chernobyl' (2019) tipped with graphite? by Figorama

What would the fundamentally correct way to design the reactor if the RBMK was backwards?

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Hiddencamper t1_jc4gdls wrote

I would have preferred to make it a pressurized water reactor similar to a CANDU. Or minimize boiling in the fueled region similar to the ESBWR. The issue is you are voiding your coolant in the reactor. If you never let it boil you don’t have the strong positive void coefficient (and you can design around loss of pressure transients like the CANDU design). Then it doesn’t matter as much if rods go in the top or the bottom.

Honestly the CANDU design is a far better answer. You still have some positive void coefficient but you can design around it.

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