ABSTRACT
Nuclear reactors rely on the laws of thermodynamics to function properly, and nuclear power plants rely on these same laws to convert thermal energy into electric power. This chapter discusses the thermodynamic properties of reactor coolants and shows how their thermodynamic properties are related to these state variables. The thermodynamic properties of water and steam are tabulated in a set of famous thermodynamic property tables called the steam tables. In classical thermodynamics, pressure–temperature diagrams are used to show the different molecular states a material can possess, and P–T diagrams are used to study materials that have solid, liquid, and vapor phases. The properties of two-phase mixtures can be found using another thermodynamic property called the quality of the mixture. Finding the entropy of a two-phase mixture is similar to finding the value of other thermodynamic properties. The ability of a material to store heat is related to another important thermodynamic property called the specific heat.
