It is a nuclear reactor without reflector, consisting only from fuel and moderator.
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Homogeneous reactor- the reactor where one phase exist for both the reactants. Hetrogenous reactor - the reactors where more than one phase exist among the reactants gas-liquid-solid.
An Ark reactor as currently describe in comic is very much like a Nuclear Fuel Cell. Possibly convert energy from Nuclear reaction to power. Possibly a plasma nuclear fusion reactor. I believe in the future it could be made. See the link and compare the similarity of fusion reactor and Ark reactor.
Water is used in nuclear REACTORS both as the heat energy carrier and as a coolant to prevent overheating. Proper cooling is required or the reactor will overheat, causing a meltdown. This is not the same as a nuclear explosion since all that will happen is the extreme heat will melt or destroy the reactor or its containment, but due to the design of reactors it is impossible to have a nuclear explosion similar to nuclear weaponry in a reactor. A notable reactor meltdown was Chernobyl where the nuclear reaction was allowed to generate too much excess heat and the heat caused melting of reactor components and eventually a steam explosion (water vapour explosion) due to overheating. The main concern for a reactor meltdown is not the immediate destruction of everything in a certain radius but the spraying of highly radioactive materials found only in a reactor over a large radius since this radioactive waste cannot be cleaned effectively and will render the surroundings uninhabitable for decades.
A breeder reactor generates (in a way) new fuel, sometimes more fuel than it uses, by converting non-fissionable isotopes into fissionable isotopes, through neutron capture.
It did explode, but this was due to a surge in steam pressure which blew off the top of the reactor, it was not a nuclear explosion as in a nuclear weapon.