Physical Transformation AtlasPTA
System · system-pathway:pressurized-water-reactor-steam-plant · commercial

Pressurised-water reactor steam plant

PWR primary heat delivery (primary-heat-loop)Steam Rankine plant (secondary-steam-cycle)

A commercial pressurised-water reactor — fission heats pressurised primary water, a steam generator transfers that heat into a separate secondary circuit whose steam drives the turbine-generator; the primary member's useful heat is consumed internally and only the secondary's electricity leaves the system.

what a system is
Two or more linear pathways, each keeping its own route and checks, joined by a documented residual stream. The eight physics checks are not run over the system; it is not clear merely because its members are — every handoff must also be demonstrated.
handoffs
1 recorded · weakest status demonstrated
members' core checks
PWR primary heat delivery: 1 core check unresolved · Steam Rankine plant: 1 core check unresolved — unresolved describes the atlas's evidence coverage of a member route, never a doubt about a plant that runs.
knowledge level
K8 · commercial technology

Members and their routes' checks

  1. 1
    PWR primary heat deliveryprimary-heat-loopcommercial
    TYPED ✓ENERGY ✓AVAILABILITY ✓THERMO BOUND —DIMENSIONAL —BOUNDARY ✓REGIME ✓COVERAGE —· 1 core unresolved
  2. 2
    Steam Rankine plantsecondary-steam-cyclecommercial
    TYPED ✓ENERGY ✓AVAILABILITY ✓THERMO BOUND ?DIMENSIONAL —BOUNDARY ✓REGIME ✓COVERAGE ✓· 1 core unresolved

Handoffs between members

  1. 1
    PWR primary heat delivery → Steam Rankine planttransferred heatdemonstrated
    thermal energy leaves the first member and establishes Temperature gradient, the disequilibrium the second member's route starts from — through PWR steam generator.
    • pressurised water in the primary coolant loop carries the heat to the steam generator; inside the steam generator, heat from the primary loop vaporises the water in a separate secondary loop, producing the steam the steamline directs to the main turbine
    carrier null on purpose: the primary coolant never crosses the boundary — energy crosses the steam generator's tube walls while the two fluids stay isolated
    refs [1]

Outputs

secondary-steam-cycle
Electrical work · adds into the system output

Sources

  1. [1]
    U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Pressurized Water Reactors — how a typical commercial PWR works (2025)
    nrc.gov · www.nrc.gov/reactors/power/pwrs · record

Cite this system

Physical Transformation Atlas (2026). system system-pathway:pressurized-water-reactor-steam-plant: Pressurised-water reactor steam plant. Dataset revision rbfbfcbb70e57 (hash of the canonical data). https://physical-transformation-atlas.wldud5192.workers.dev/system/pressurized-water-reactor-steam-plant

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