{"id":354575,"date":"2026-01-22T16:12:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T10:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=354575"},"modified":"2026-01-22T16:12:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T10:42:00","slug":"light-water-reactors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/light-water-reactors\/","title":{"rendered":"Light Water Reactors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>News: <\/strong>India is accelerating indigenous Light Water Reactor development while opening the nuclear sector to private participation, focusing on exports, and implementing the SHANTI Act, 2025.<\/p>\n<h2>About Light Water Reactors<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_354576\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-354576\" style=\"width: 396px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-354576\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Source-Britannica-4.jpg?resize=396%2C263&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Light Water Reactors\" width=\"396\" height=\"263\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Source-Britannica-4.jpg?resize=300%2C199&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Source-Britannica-4.jpg?resize=1024%2C679&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Source-Britannica-4.jpg?resize=768%2C509&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Source-Britannica-4.jpg?w=1327&amp;ssl=1 1327w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 396px) 100vw, 396px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-354576\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; Britannica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>A Light Water Reactor is a <strong>thermal-neutron nuclear reactor<\/strong> that uses <strong>ordinary water as both coolant and neutron moderator<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>It <strong>uses solid fissile fuel<\/strong> and is the <strong>most common nuclear reactor<\/strong> type worldwide.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Primary Types of Light Water Reactors<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR)<\/strong> uses <strong>water under high pressure<\/strong> to <strong>prevent boiling<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Boiling Water Reactor (BWR)<\/strong> allows <strong>water to boil directly<\/strong> inside the <strong>reactor vessel<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Supercritical Water Reactor (SCWR)<\/strong> operates <strong>water above its critical temperature and pressure<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Key Characteristics<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Water Type:<\/strong> Light water means <strong>ordinary H\u2082O<\/strong> and is <strong>different<\/strong> from <strong>heavy water that contains deuterium<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Functional Role:<\/strong> Water <strong>carries heat produced during atomic fission<\/strong> and <strong>slows neutrons<\/strong> to sustain the nuclear reaction.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fuel Requirement:<\/strong> Light Water Reactors use <strong>enriched uranium<\/strong> as fuel to support the chain reaction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Design:<\/strong> These reactors have <strong>simpler design<\/strong> and <strong>engineering<\/strong> compared to heavy water reactors.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Economics:<\/strong> They <strong>benefit from economies of scale<\/strong> and generally <strong>involve lower construction cost.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Global presence:<\/strong> Light Water Reactors account for <strong>over 85 %<\/strong> of global civil nuclear reactor capacity.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Safety Feature:<\/strong> If <strong>overheating<\/strong> occurs, the <strong>boiling away of water naturally stops the nuclear reaction.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> For detailed information on <strong>SHANTI Bill, 2025<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/shanti-bill-2025\/\">read this article here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: India is accelerating indigenous Light Water Reactor development while opening the nuclear sector to private participation, focusing on exports, and implementing the SHANTI Act, 2025. About Light Water Reactors A Light Water Reactor is a thermal-neutron nuclear reactor that uses ordinary water as both coolant and neutron moderator. It uses solid fissile fuel and&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/light-water-reactors\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Light Water Reactors<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10393,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,3127,1738,12039],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-354575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-economy","category-science-and-technology-daily-factly-articles","category-knolls","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10393"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354575\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}