Identify a true statement concerning a Pressurized Water Reactor:

Identify a true statement concerning a Pressurized Water Reactor:

• A. Steam in generated in a steam generator
• B. Pressurizer is used to prevent boiling in the reactor core
• C. N-16 is isolated to the containment building
• D. The reactor uses natural convection cooling

Answer: (A)

In a pressurized water reactor, the energy from the fuel heats the primary coolant inside a closed loop, and this loop is kept under high pressure so it does not boil. The heat is then transferred across a heat exchanger—the steam generator—to a secondary loop, where water boils to become steam that drives the turbine. So, steam is generated in the steam generator, which is the correct statement about how a PWR produces steam for its turbine. Boiling does not occur in the reactor core under normal operation because of that high-pressure primary circuit; the pressurizer helps maintain that pressure across the loop, but the key point is that energy transfer to steam happens in the steam generator, not in the core. The plant uses pumps to circulate coolant, not natural convection, and the other choices describe aspects that are not as accurate or specific to the way a PWR operates.

In a pressurized water reactor, the energy from the fuel heats the primary coolant inside a closed loop, and this loop is kept under high pressure so it does not boil. The heat is then transferred across a heat exchanger—the steam generator—to a secondary loop, where water boils to become steam that drives the turbine. So, steam is generated in the steam generator, which is the correct statement about how a PWR produces steam for its turbine.

Boiling does not occur in the reactor core under normal operation because of that high-pressure primary circuit; the pressurizer helps maintain that pressure across the loop, but the key point is that energy transfer to steam happens in the steam generator, not in the core. The plant uses pumps to circulate coolant, not natural convection, and the other choices describe aspects that are not as accurate or specific to the way a PWR operates.