This came about because I was looking for articles connected to the pebble bed reactor, and it seemed to me that people might be similarly looking for BWRs or the like.
And previously, looking at floating nuclear power stations, it was obvious that some other authors hadn't read the other articles on the subject already in Wikipedia. So our navigation could use some improvement. Hopefully this will help.
Worksheet for categorizing reactors by type
editThe principle way of categorizing nuclear reactors is (and always has been from the very earliest days) by their moderator type. Choice of moderator material is one of the most important factors in determining a reactor's characteristics.
The are five possible moderators: hydrogen, deuterium, carbon, beryllium and nothing (the fast reactor). Each has its pros and cons. Combinations are possible, and various compounds can be used to hold them... organic moderators have for example been proposed, which could use either carbon or hydrogen moderation or both.
In practice, there are four moderators in use: light water, heavy water, graphite and nothing. Beryllium oxide has also been used in many theoretical studies and at least one prototype.
Other categories
editPerhaps a Category:uncompleted nuclear reactors would be useful, to collect together articles on reactors which got at least as far as site selection and significant site works, but which never achieved criticality. There were a significant number of these in the second half of the 20th century.
- Done that! Still need to add several more reactors to it.
Category:prematurely closed nuclear reactors would be more controversial, but might also be useful. But it's a bit harder to decide exactly what to include. Definite candidates would include:
- Barsebäck nuclear power plant.
- Trojan nuclear power plant.
- Rancho Seco.
- Two of the four formerly operating in Italy (unfortunately there's no category for Italian nukes, I assume because they have all closed).
Possible candidates:
Stubs to create
editItaly
editMontalto di Castro nuclear power station
- Done. Still need stubs for the other four Italian nukes. List of nuclear reactors#Italy and List of nuclear power plants of Europe and CIS#Italy both link to the articles on the localities.
See http://www.uic.com.au/nip101.htm
Spain
editArticles for the three NPPs at which the Spanish phase-out left unfinished reactors: Lemoniz I and II (Iberdrola) Valdecaballeros I and II (Sevillana) and Trillo II (Union Fenosa).
See:
- http://www10.antenna.nl/wise/index.html?http://www10.antenna.nl/wise/archive.html July 21, 1995 Spanish banks to assume nuclear dept
- http://www.nucleartourist.com/world/spain.htm
- http://www.din.upm.es/centrales/generacion.html (in Spanish) lists the three generations, with links to individual station articles