gas-cooled reactor
- noun
- Specialized
- In several countries, the gas-cooled reactor is being developed to meet increasing energy demands.
Examples
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NuScale and mPower are light-water reactors, while the NGNP is a gas-cooled reactor.
Academic text (2011) -
Researchers are exploring the benefits of the gas-cooled reactor in terms of safety and efficiency.
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Various types of gas-cooled reactors are now being pursued in several countries, including China.
Academic text (2007) -
Like the gas-cooled reactors, LMRs operate at a higher temperature than LWRs, and thus are more efficient.
Academic text (2011) -
For gas-cooled reactors, the costs were much higher due to the greater amount of radioactive materials involved, reaching $2600/kWe for some UK Magnox reactors.
Blog text (5) -
Currently, he is working on thermal hydraulics on a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor, one of the Generation-IV reactor concepts.
Academic text (2002) -
The gas-cooled reactor uses carbon dioxide to transfer heat away from the reactor core efficiently.
Synonyms
A machine that uses a controlled nuclear reaction to make energy or new elements
A machine that makes heat and electricity by splitting atoms in a controlled way
A machine that makes nuclear energy by splitting atoms in a controlled chain reaction
How Cooled
- Specialized
- Specialized
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
gas-cooled + reactor
The phrase is fully compositional: 'gas-cooled' means cooled by gas and 'reactor' is a device that produces power, so a B1 learner who knows these words can infer 'a reactor cooled by gas'. The modifier + noun pattern (past-participle adjective + noun) is a regular, cross-linguistic construction, making the meaning predictable despite the technical domain.
Etymology
Gas-cooled reactor is a name for a reactor that uses gas to cool its hot core. Imagine a hot machine with cold gas flowing around it to 'take the heat away', and that image explains why it means 'a reactor cooled by gas'.