Removing heat from a nuclear reactor by having molten fuel pass through plural heat exchangers before returning to core

A method for removing heat from a molten fuel nuclear reactor having a reactor core containing high temperature liquid nuclear fuel, the method comprising:

• delivering lower temperature nuclear fuel into the reactor core, thereby
• displacing some high temperature nuclear fuel from the reactor core upward into a first heat exchanger and
• displacing some nuclear fuel downward in a second heat exchanger,
• wherein the first heat exchanger is arranged above and in fluid communication with the reactor core to receive nuclear fuel from the reactor core,
• wherein the second heat exchanger is 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 to deliver nuclear fuel to the reactor core,
• wherein the first heat exchanger comprises a shell-and-tube heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger comprises a separate shell-and-tube heat exchanger;
• and
• routing coolant through the first and second heat exchangers, thereby
• transferring heat from the high temperature nuclear fuel to the coolant and
• converting the displaced high temperature nuclear fuel into the lower temperature nuclear fuel.