Bilibino Nuclear power plant in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, houses the world's smallest commercial nuclear reactor. It is equipped with four EGP-6 light water graphite reactors (LWGR) with gross power capacity of 12MWe each.
Here the world's 10 smallest commercial nuclear reactors, either in operation or under construction.
It depends on critical mass. For uranium-235, at normal density, at 100% enrichment, a perfect sphere would be critical mass at about 52 kg, or about 17 cm diameter. For plutonium-239, it would be about 10 kg, or about 9.9 cm diameter.
Problem is, that if you are right at critical mass, then the first event would take the reactor subcritical, because that first event would consume fuel, reducing mass, and reducing criticality. Its an interesting problem, and I can't get any more detailed than that, because information beyond this is classified, and I don't have access to it.
For the cooling system of the power plant
More of an explanation is needed to give a good answer. It is possible for a line reactor to overheat due to harmonics. What voltage? What is the sub layout? When does this appear to occur? How old is the reactor (perhaps it is actually failing, so the harmonics are just pushing it over the edge)? How big is the reactor? Is there a capacitor bank nearby? Capacitance of the line? Length of the line? When is it switched on/off? How strong is the source bus that it is being switched to (is it turned on and the line is energized locally, or from the remote end)? etc., etc. If possible, a better forum for such a question may be Eng-tips, although there are people here that may be able to give some good insights.
By Reactor I assume you mean a thermonuclear reactor. Most thermonuclear reactors use Boron rods to absorb radiation. This prevents the chain reaction in the reactor (where uranium nuclei split, each split nuclei further colliding and splitting more nuclei). They steam systems (that drive the turbines) are usually heated by gas or water. That is what the big towers are - cooling towers. The water is pumped to the top of the tower, and allowed to fall under gravity. this provides contact with the air and has a similar effect to sweating. If gas cooling is used, large radiators (like those on a fridge) use convection currents to move heat away from the reactor.
The main difference is specilization. I am a chemical engineer myself, and we have the option of specializing in a wide variety of degrees, such as genetic engineering. Note that chemical engineering is a very broad field dealing with polymers, metallurgy, biology, environmental chemistry, and the list goes on. Genetic engineering, in short, is really a specialization of chemical engineering to specifically biological chemistry.
A reactor is composed of a coil of wire. A transformer is at least two coils, wrapped around a core. The core provides a path for the magnetic flux, which results in strong magnetic coupling between the coils. This allows a voltage applied to one coil to be induced in the second coil. With this in mind, some differences are: -Function - a reactor can be used in filters, to control system voltage (pull extra VARs off the bulk electric grid), and to isolate circuits from a noisy ground, among other things. A transformer can be used to step voltage or current up or down, and to isolate circuits from eachother, among other uses. -Size - Reactors are inherently smaller than transformers. You likely have some reactors in your computer monitor that look very much like resistors. Transformers are much more obvious. Utility size reactors can be as big as utility transformers, though. -Terminations - A reactor is a two - terminal device. A transformer will have at least three, and likely many more terminals. -Cost - Reactors are cheaper - last time I purchased for a small signal design project I spent as little as 20 cents (US) per reactor. The last small transformer I purchased was $6.00. When you start getting into larger sized equipment, the difference becomes less extreme.
You can see a list of nuclear plants in New York state in the link below
it's the size of a pea.
About 1 or 2 centimeters taller than the smallest type of a Coke can.
It is about the size of your pinkie finger nail.
Sizes vary for commercial nuclear reactors, an approximate size would be about 15 feet in diameter by 50 feet tall
the size of a gold ball.
It was 1000 megawatt electric (RBMK-1000)
I didnt measure when I had it in hand but I would guess 12cm diameter, and maybe 80 cm long, for a magnox reactor anyway
One big event that happened in 1961 was the inauguration of John F. Kennedy. Also, in 1961, China uses its 1st nuclear reactor.
A reactor vessel in a boiling water reactor is approximately 300 tons.
Not directly, but as a comet approaches the sun, which is one big fusion reactor, the heat will cause the surface of the comet to vaporize, forming the comet's tail.
A single reactor plant including turbine hall, switchyard, etc will be about 400 meters square