Other forms: reactors
A reactor is the vessel in which a nuclear reaction is controlled. A nuclear reactor, reactor core, shut down the reactor.
The reaction is kept steady by control rods that absorb neutrons, and by a moderator that slows them; pull the rods out and the rate rises, push them in and it falls. The core sits inside heavy shielding and a containment building. Note that a chemical reactor is any vessel where a reaction is run deliberately, and that the word simply means a thing that reacts.
1nounreactorThe vessel in which a nuclear reaction is controlled.
“The nuclear reactor provides electricity for the whole region.”
2nounchemicalA vessel in which a chemical reaction is run.
“In the factory, the ingredients are heated together in a large steel reactor.”
reactor is a controlled vessel.
From react + -or.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA