[harry]

dunno about actual run-of-the-mill daily cycle but I've seen the reactor at K-State run a couple-dollar pulse. It looked about like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgNwtepP-6M

For the day to day operation it just looked like a big pool of distilled water with a ton of pipes running around in it.

[eliasmacpherson]

The Cherenkov radiation in that video is worth a watch if you haven't seen it before. Apparently the water contains the radiation. The effect is from the electrons passing through the water faster than the speed of light could be in the water.