Nuclear reactor facility integrated with passive air cooling system
AssigneeGE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas LLC
InventorsDerek Bass, Michael F. Dimitri, Tatjana B. Kirby, Luben I. Todorovski
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A nuclear reactor facility may include a reactor building, a reactor vessel housed within the reactor building, and an auxiliary cooling system integrated with the reactor building. The reactor building has a visible section above a ground level and a buried section below the ground level. The reactor vessel contains a fuel core and is housed within the buried section of the reactor building below the ground level. The auxiliary cooling system includes a plurality of ducts integrated with the reactor building and is configured to passively cool the reactor vessel via natural air circulation.
Claims23
A nuclear reactor facility comprising:
- a reactor building having a visible section above a ground level and a buried section below the ground level;
- a reactor vessel containing a fuel core and housed within the buried section of the reactor building below the ground level;
- and
- an auxiliary cooling system including a plurality of ducts integrated with the reactor building and configured to passively cool the reactor vessel via natural air circulation, the plurality of ducts of the auxiliary cooling system includes inlet ducts and outlet ducts the inlet ducts configured to direct cooling air into a cold plenum defined by an inner surface of a silo wall and an outer surface of a reactor pedestal,
- wherein a profile of the buried section is a straight cylinder defined by the silo wall.
A nuclear reactor facility comprising:
- a reactor building having a visible section above a ground level and a buried section below the ground level;
- a reactor vessel containing a fuel core and housed within the buried section of the reactor building below the ground level;
- and
- an auxiliary cooling system including a plurality of ducts integrated with the reactor building and configured to passively cool the reactor vessel via natural air circulation,
- wherein the reactor building defines a refueling access area and a head access area below the refueling access area,
- wherein the refueling access area includes a refueling access floor, and the head access area includes a head access floor below the refueling access floor, and
- wherein the refueling access floor defines an opening and includes a floor plug rotatably-mounted within the opening, the floor plug configured to permit access to the reactor vessel via a rotation of the floor plug.
A nuclear reactor facility comprising:
- a reactor building having a visible section above a ground level and a buried section below the ground level;
- a reactor vessel containing a fuel core and housed within the buried section of the reactor building below the ground level;
- and
- an auxiliary cooling system including a plurality of ducts integrated with the reactor building and configured to passively cool the reactor vessel via natural air circulation,
- wherein the reactor building defines a refueling access area and a head access area below the refueling access area,
- wherein the refueling access area includes a refueling access floor, and the head access area includes a head access floor below the refueling access floor,
- wherein the reactor building includes radial floor beams embedded in at least one of the refueling access floor or the head access floor,
- wherein each of the plurality of ducts of the auxiliary cooling system extends between an adjacent pair of the radial floor beams, and
- wherein each of the plurality of ducts of the auxiliary cooling system has a trapezoidal cross-section and is oriented to correspond to a truncated wedge-shaped space defined by adjacent radial floor beams.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.