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To: DBrow
I didn't see in the article how they modulate reactivity.

It is constant. The uranium and the "moderators" are mixed together in the pebbles, kinda like ingredients in a cake. You can't see the eggs, but they are there................

9 posted on 05/19/2008 6:26:12 AM PDT by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: Red Badger
"It is constant. The uranium and the "moderators" are mixed together in the pebbles, kinda like ingredients in a cake. You can't see the eggs, but they are there............."

I doubt that. Certainly it is true that the neutron moderators are part of the fuel pebbles, but those are NOT the control elements (which is what I take him to be referring to). There still has to be some kind of reactivity control device, and those are most likely to be regular old "control rods" made of a neutron absorber. The precise design and arrangement will obviously be different from a standard LWR or PWR, but there will still be a control system in place

15 posted on 05/19/2008 6:47:23 AM PDT by Wonder Warthog (The Hog of Steel-NRA)
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