Once started, the nuclear reaction generates copious amounts of heat. Too much heat could lead to several problems, so what are used to limit the amount of heat generated?Would it be the control rods, or the cooling towers?
Ultimately, power DEMAND, because you cannot generate more power, OR steam, than you can deliver. For Boiling Water Reactors (BWR), steam is generated directly into the reactor, which is then passed through the turbine. In normal operation, the position of the control rods is dictated by the steam's PRESSURE. For Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR), the water is heated under pressure and then passed through a heat exchanger to generate steam and passed through the turbine. In normal operation, the position of the control rods is dictated by the pressurized reactor water TEMPERATURE. questions? .
It would be the control rods and the moderators. These are dummy rods that are put in place of the nuclear fuel rods, in order to decrease the amount of heat production in the reactor core, from what it otherwise would be if all rods were active uranium reactors. These rods also serve the purpose of absorbing stray neutrons to prevent the chain fission reactions from growing out of control. The cooling tower is actually the least nuclear and the least power-planet-like of a nuclear power plant. That is to say, there are no nuclear reactions going on inside of it, and it isn't one of the devices of the Rankine cycle that converts the heat into work. There are at least two degrees of separation between the fluids in the reactor core and the fluids in the cooling tower. Rather, it is a device to provide a sink of heat to the condenser of the Rankine cycle. What the cooling tower is, is the method to reject heat to the background by replacing a water stream with an airstream and a much lower feedwater flowrate. The alternative to a cooling tower is a high flow rate of natural water.
