page_title: Steam generator (nuclear power)
section_title: Types
hierarchical_section_title: Steam generator (nuclear power) / Types
caption_attribution_description: English: This Babcock &amp; Wilcox nuclear steam generator moved in a special train (restricted to 20 mph) via the Penn Central Railroad and Southern Railway from Barberton, Ohio to a Duke Energy site in Oconee, S.C. This generator weights 1,140,000 lbs and is a record shipment for the PC at that time.
context_page_description: Steam generators are heat exchangers used to convert water into steam from heat produced in a nuclear reactor core. They are used in pressurized water reactors between the primary and secondary coolant loops.
  In typical PWR designs, the primary coolant is high-purity water, kept under high pressure so it cannot boil. This primary coolant is pumped through the reactor core where it absorbs heat from the fuel rods. It then passes through the steam generator, where it transfers its heat to lower-pressure water which is allowed to boil.
context_section_description: Westinghouse and Combustion Engineering designs have vertical U-tubes with inverted tubes for the primary water. Canadian, Japanese, French, and German PWR suppliers use the vertical configuration as well. Russian VVER reactor designs use horizontal steam generators, which have the tubes mounted horizontally. Babcock & Wilcox  plants (e.g., Three Mile Island) have smaller steam generators that force water through the top of the OTSGs (once-through steam generators; counter-flow to the feedwater) and out the bottom to be recirculated by the reactor coolant pumps. The horizontal design has proven to be less susceptible to degradation than the vertical U-tube design.
caption: This Babcock & Wilcox nuclear steam generator moved in a special train (restricted to 20 mph) via the Penn Central Railroad and Southern Railway from Barberton, Ohio to a Duke Energy site in Oconee, S.C.  This generator weights 1,140,000 lbs and is a record shipment for the Railroad at that time (1970).
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