TVEL is ... A detailed analysis

The article tells about what TVEL is, why it is needed, where it is used, how it is created and whether there are reactors that do not use TVEL.

Atomic age

Probably the nuclear power industry is the youngest. Only at the end of the XIX century, scientists were able to partially understand what radioactivity, radioactive decay and what substances have these properties. And many of this knowledge cost lives, since the harmful effect of radiation on living organisms for a long time remained unknown.

Much later radioactive materials were used both in civilian life and military. Currently, all developed countries have their nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants, which allow them to receive a large amount of energy regardless of fossil fuels or natural resources, such as water (hydroelectric power plants).

TVEL is ...

But in order to build an atomic reactor for the production of electricity or other purposes, first you need to make the appropriate fuel, because natural uranium though has radioactivity, but its energy is not enough. Therefore, most types of reactors use fuel based on enriched uranium, and it, in turn, is loaded into special devices called TVEL. TVEL is a special device that is part of the nuclear reactor and contains nuclear fuel. Their construction and type of fuel, we will discuss in more detail.

Design

Depending on the type of reactor, some parameters of the fuel elements may vary, but their overall design and principle of the device are the same. Simply put, TVEL is a hollow tube made of zirconium alloy with some other metals, in which tablets of fuel from uranium dioxide are installed.

Fuel

Uranium is the most "running" radioactive material, based on it, many other isotopes are produced, used both in industry and in weapons. The extraction of it is not much different from the extraction of coal, but in its natural, natural state it is absolutely safe for people. So the stories about the uranium mines, where the imprisoned prisoners are sentenced to life , is nothing more than a myth. A person is more likely to die from lack of sunlight and hard work in the mine than from radiation sickness.

Obtaining uranium is very simple - explosions break the rock, after which it is delivered to the surface, where it is sorted and further processed. The process of uranium enrichment can be carried out in various ways, but in Russia it is done with the help of gas centrifuges. First, uranium is converted to a gaseous state, after which the gas in centrifuges is separated and the necessary isotopes separated by centrifugal force. After that, they are converted to uranium dioxide, compressed into tablets and loaded into TVEL. This is the most common way of producing fuel for fuel elements.

Application

The number of fuel elements in the reactor depends on its size, type and power. After manufacturing, they are loaded into the reactor, where a nuclear decay reaction begins, which results in a powerful release of a huge amount of heat, which serves as a source of energy. Also, the power of the reactor can be controlled by the number of fuel elements in the working area. From time to time, as they are used, they are replaced with new ones, with "fresh" uranium dioxide pellets. So now we know what TVEL means, how they are made and why they are needed. However, not all nuclear reactors need such elements, and these are RTGs.

RTGs

A radioisotope thermoelectric generator is a device that is similar in principle to atomic reactors, but their process is not based on a chain reaction of the decay of atoms, but on a thermal reaction. In simple terms, this is a large installation that produces a lot of heat with a radioactive substance, which in turn is converted directly into electricity. Unlike nuclear reactors, RTGs do not have moving parts, they are more reliable, compact and durable. But at the same time they have much less efficiency.

They were used mainly in those conditions where it is impossible to obtain energy in other ways, or these methods are very difficult. In the years of the USSR, RTGs were supplied with research and meteorological stations of the Far North, coastal lighthouses, sea buoys, etc.

At present, their service life has expired, but some of them are still in the original basing areas and are often not even protected. As a result of this, accidents occur, for example, several such units were attempted to disassemble and receive strong irradiation for non-ferrous metals, and in Georgia local residents used them as sources of heat and also underwent radiation sickness.

So now we know the device of fuel elements and dismantled their definition. TVEL are important parts of the reactor, work without which is impossible.