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US 10,497,479 B2Granted
Nuclear reactor configured to have molten fuel pass through plural heat exchangers before returning to core
AssigneeTerraPower, LLC
InventorsRyan Abbott, Anselmo T. Cisneros, Jr., Mark R. Werner
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Abstract
This disclosure describes various configurations and components of a molten fuel fast or thermal nuclear reactor in which one or more primary heat exchangers are located above the reactor core of the nuclear reactor.
Claims10
A molten fuel nuclear reactor comprising:
- a reactor vessel defining a reactor core configured to contain molten nuclear fuel;
- a first heat exchanger arranged above and in fluid communication with the reactor core to receive nuclear fuel from the reactor core;
- a second heat exchanger arranged above the reactor core and in fluid communication with both the first heat exchanger and the reactor core to receive nuclear fuel from the first heat exchanger and deliver nuclear fuel to the reactor core,
- wherein nuclear fuel delivered to the reactor core is at a lower temperature than nuclear fuel received by the first heat exchanger;
- and
- a containment vessel surrounding the reactor vessel, the first heat exchanger, and the second heat exchanger;
- wherein the first heat exchanger includes a shell-and-tube heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger includes a separate shell-and-tube heat exchanger.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.