- 80 - Fuel management is specific to each reactor series. It is characterised in particular by: the nature of the fuel used and its initial fissile content; the maximum degree of fuel depletion at removal from the reactor, characterising the quantity of energy extracted per ton of material (expressed in GWd/t); the duration of an operating cycle; the number of new fuel assemblies loaded at each reactor refuelling shutdown (generally 1/3 or 1/4 of the total number of assemblies); the reactor operating mode, to characterise the stresses to which the fuel is subjected The diagram below illustrates a fuel assembly for a pressurised water reactor: The primary system and secondary systems The primary system and the secondary systems are used to transport the energy given off by the core in the form of heat to the turbine generator set which produces electricity, without the water in contact with the core ever leaving the containment.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NjQ0NzU=