Controlling the Nuclear Reaction

It takes elaborate technology and design to get a nuclear chain reaction going. At the
same time, the rate of fission cannot get too high. If more than 1 neutron per fission
initiates another fission event, the temperature will gradually rise. The energy release is
never fast enough for the reactor to explode like a bomb (one advantage of using
thermal neutrons), but if the reaction grows out of control, it may quickly destroy the
reactor.

[Figure 1]
Nuclear Power Station

Control is maintained by control rods of a material such as the metal cadmium, which
has a high absorption cross section for neutrons. The rods are automatically pushed
deeper into the reactor to reduce the rate of fission, or pulled out to maintain or increase
it.

Delayed neutrons allow for the control. About 98% of the neutrons released in fission
are prompt neutrons, released very quickly, faster than the reaction time of automatic
control machinery. However, 2% are delayed neutrons, which provide a very narrow
margin for reactivity control. Reactors need to stay on the 2% margin between a fizzle
and runaway fission. It is a very small margin, and because of its narrowness, any
power reactor has multiple independent safety devices
In case of an emergency, an emergency shutdown (a "scram") automatically pushes or
drops the rods in all the way, as well as extra rods for emergency use, usually
withdrawn. The chain reaction then stops immediately, but not the radioactive decay of
fission fragments. The energy these release is much less than that of the fission
process, but in the hours after shutdown enough heat is still produced to melt or
damage parts of the reactor ("nuclear meltdown") so the flow of cooling water must be
maintained.

On 28 March 1979 the power reactor at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania encountered
a problem and shut down automatically, but because operators misinterpreted the
behavior of the reactor and shut down safety controls that provide cooling in an
emergency, it suffered a partial meltdown. In the United States and in most countries,
reactors are enclosed in a thick concrete containment building so that even if
meltdown occurred and contaminated fission products escaped the reactor (not the
case at Three Mile Island), they are kept from spreading.

Operator error was also the cause of a reactor accident at Chernobyl on 25 April 1986.
One of the reactors in a power station supplying Kiev, the capital of the Ukraine, went
"prompt critical", with its chain reaction sustained by the uncontrollable prompt
neutrons alone. It had a graphite core, and the sudden heat release blew off the top of
its enclosure. The core then caught fire, generating a smoke plume laced with
radioactive fission products, contaminating a wide area around the station, which was
evacuated (and remains so), and also spreading radioactive contamination over parts of
Europe.

Breeder Reactors
Chain reactions are possible because a fission releases more than one new neutron.
The fact that the number is typically 2.3 makes possible a breeder reactor, in which
each fission not only provides a neutron to continue the chain, but also an extra neutron
to be captured by ordinary 238U, turning it into plutonium to replace the used-up fuel.
Such a reactor could, in principle, use almost all its uranium as fuel. Thorium 232T could
similarly be used to "breed" 233U, another possible nuclear fuel; India in particular is
interested in such a process, as it has large thorium deposits.
The first commercial power reactor, a relatively small one, started operating in 1957
near Shippingport, outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It originally used a conventional
fuel cycle based on 235U and slowed-down ("thermal") neutrons. In 1977 it was however
restructured to successfully "breed" thorium
into 233U, http://www.phy6.org/stargaze/Sthorium.htm. Power generation ended in 1982,
after a run of 25 years, and the reactor was successfully decomissioned and buried in a
distant site in Washington State
Breeder reactors based on uranium are difficult to design and maintain, because the
conversion of 238U to plutonium is more efficient with fast neutrons (also used in nuclear
bombs). They cannot be cooled by water (which slows down neutrons) but operate at
high temperatures and are cooled by a metal above its melting point, e.g. liquid sodium.
Some such "fast breeders" were built and ran successfully, but so far very few have
been used for power generation.
Tidbits
The uranium mines of Gabon, Africa, have been supplying the French power system
with nuclear fuel. In 1972, it was discovered that some uranium deposits from Oklo,
Gabon, were slightly depleted in 235U and contained an unusual variety of isotopes that
might have come from nuclear fission. It is believed that about 1.5 billion years ago,
when the concentration of 235U was higher (its half-life is about 0.8 billion years), a
natural fission process was sustained in some of the deposits for a long time (#14). It
was caused by water leaking into the deposit and forming a natural moderator. The
process was probably cyclical—heat generated by fission would drive out the water and
stop the reaction until fresh water entered again.