Graphite moderated reactor

"Graphite Reactor" directs here. For the Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, see X-10 Graphite Reactor.

There are several types of graphite moderated nuclear reactors that have been used in commercial electricity generation:

• Gas-cooled reactors
  • Magnox
  • Advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR)
• Water-cooled reactors
  • RBMK
• High temperature gas-cooled reactors (past)
  • Dragon reactor
  • AVR
  • Peach Bottom Nuclear Generating Station, Unit 1
  • THTR-300
  • Fort St. Vrain Generating Station
• High temperature gas-cooled reactors (in development or construction)
  • Pebble bed reactor
  • Prismatic fuel reactor
  • UHTREX Ultra High Temperature Reactor Experiment

History

The first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1, a graphite-moderated device that produced a microscopic amount of heat, was constructed by a team led by Enrico Fermi in 1942. The construction and testing of this reactor (an "atomic pile") was part of the Manhattan Project. This work led to the construction of the X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which was the first nuclear reactor designed and built for continuous operation, and began operation in 1943.

The nuclear reactor in the Chernobyl disaster was an RBMK graphite-moderated reactor.