Multiple Choice Questions and Answers (MCQs) on Power Plant Engineering

01. Enriched uranium is required as a fuel in a nuclear reactor, if light water is used as moderator and coolant, because light water has

(A) High neutron absorption cross-section
(B) Low moderating efficiency
(C) High neutron scatter cross-section
(D) Low neutron absorption cross-section

Answer: Option B

02. The efficiency of a nuclear power plant in comparison to conventional and nuclear consideration is

(A) Higher cost of nuclear fuel
(B) High initial cost
(C) High heat rejection in condenser
(D) Lower temperature and pressure conditions

Answer: Option D

03. The control rods in the control system of nuclear reactors are used to

(A) Absorb excess neutrons
(B) Control fuel consumption
(C) Control temperature
(D) All of these

Answer: Option A

04. Electron volt is the unit of

(A) Atomic power
(B) Energy
(C) Voltage
(D) Radio activity

Answer: Option B

05. A moderator, in nuclear power plants, is a medium introduced into the fuel mass in order to

(A) Slow down the speed of fast moving neutrons
(B) Control the reaction
(C) Reduce the temperature
(D) Extracts heat from nuclear reaction

Answer: Option A

06. One gram of uranium will produce energy equivalent to approximately

(A) 1 tonne of high grade coal
(B) 4.5 tonnes of high grade coal
(C) 10 tonnes of high grade coal
(D) 100 tonnes of high grade coal

Answer: Option B

07. Which of the following type of pump is used in liquid metal cooled reactor for circulation of liquid metal

(A) Centrifugal
(B) Axial
(C) Reciprocation
(D) Electromagnetic

Answer: Option D

08. Where reactor operation is designed with fast neutrons such as in reactors using highly enriched fuel, the moderator used is

(A) Heavy water
(B) Graphite
(C) Carbon dioxide
(D) No moderator is needed

Answer: Option D

09. The nuclear energy is measured as

(A) MeV
(B) Curie
(C) Farads
(D) MW

Answer: Option A

10. Isotopes of same elements have

(A) Same atomic number and different masses
(B) Same chemical properties but different atomic numbers
(C) Different masses and different atomic numbers
(D) Different chemical properties and same atomic numbers

Answer: Option B

11. A boiling water reactor uses following as fuel

(A) Enriched uranium
(B) Plutonium
(C) Thorium
(D) U

Answer: Option A

12. Which of the following statement is correct regarding the features of a Breeder reactor?

(A) It produces more fuel than it consumes.
(B) It requires highly enriched fuel.
(C) It requires liquid sodium metal as moderator.
(D) All of the above

Answer: Option D

13. In nuclear fission each neutron that causes fission releases

(A) No new neutron
(B) At least one new neutron
(C) One new neutron
(D) More than one new neutron

Answer: Option D

14. Artificial radioactive isotopes find application in

(A) Power generation
(B) Nucleonic devices
(C) Nuclear fission
(D) Medical field

Answer: Option D

15. Each fission of U₂₃₅ produces on the average _________ fast neutrons as a product of reaction.

(A) 2.46
(B) 24.6
(C) 246
(D) 2460

Answer: Option A

16. The process by which a heavy nucleus is spitted into two light nuclei is known as

(A) Splitting
(B) Fission
(C) Fusion
(D) Disintegration

Answer: Option B

17. Which of the following is more appropriate for a moderator? One which

(A) Does not absorb neutrons
(B) Absorbs neutrons
(C) Accelerates neutrons
(D) Eats up neutrons

Answer: Option A

18. A nuclear reactor is said to be critical when the neutron population in the reactor core is

(A) Rapidly increasing leading to the point of explosion
(B) Decreasing from the specified value
(C) Reduced to zero
(D) Constant

Answer: Option D

19. The most commonly used moderator in nuclear plants is

(A) Heavy water
(B) Concrete and bricks
(C) Graphite and concrete
(D) Graphite

Answer: Option D

20. Reactors for propulsion applications are designed for

(A) Any form of uranium
(B) Natural uranium
(C) Enriched uranium
(D) Plutonium

Answer: Option C

21. The following present serious difficulty in designing reactor shield

(A) Alpha particles
(B) Beta particles
(C) Thermal neutrons
(D) Fast neutrons and gamma rays

Answer: Option D

22. Ferrite material is

(A) The most fissionable material
(B) The basic fuel for nuclear paints
(C) Basic raw material for nuclear plants
(D) The material which absorbs neutrons and undergoes spontaneous changes leading to the formation of fissionable material

Answer: Option D

23. Reflector in nuclear power plants _________ neutron leakage.

(A) Increases
(B) Decreases
(C) Have no effect on
(D) None of these

Answer: Option B

24. Effective moderators are those materials which contain

(A) Light weight atoms
(B) Heavy weight atoms
(C) Critical atoms
(D) Zero weight atoms

Answer: Option A

25. The fuel needed, with reflector in nuclear power plant, in order to generate sufficient neutrons to sustain a chain reaction, would be

(A) More
(B) Less
(C) Same
(D) Zero

Answer: Option B