Passively-cooled spent nuclear fuel pool system
AssigneeSmr Inventec, LLC
InventorsKrishna P. Singh, Joseph Gerald Leo Rajkumar
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A passively-cooled spent nuclear fuel pool system comprising a spent nuclear fuel pool having a body of liquid water having a surface level. Spent nuclear fuel is submerged in the body of liquid water. The spent fuel heats the body of liquid water and produces water vapor. A lid covering the spent nuclear fuel pool to form a hermetically sealed vapor space between the surface level of the body of liquid water and the lid. A passive heat exchange sub-system fluidly comprising at least one riser conduit and at least one downcomer conduct is coupled to the vapor space. The passive heat exchange sub-system is configured to move water vapor and condensed water vapor via a thermosiphon flow.
Claims18
A passively-cooled spent nuclear fuel pool system comprising:
- a spent nuclear fuel pool comprising:
- a body of liquid water having a surface level, at least one spent nuclear fuel rod submerged in the body of liquid water which heats the body of liquid water to produce water vapor;
- a lid covering the spent nuclear fuel pool to form a hermetically sealed vapor space between the surface level of the body of liquid water and the lid, the water vapor accumulating within the vapor space;
- a heat sink;
- and
- a passive heat exchange sub-system fluidly coupled to the spent nuclear fuel pool to form a closed-loop fluid flow circuit with the spent nuclear fuel pool, the passive heat exchange sub-system comprising:
- a riser conduit having an inlet located within the vapor space and configured to receive the water vapor from the vapor space, the riser conduit thermally isolated from the heat sink;
- and
- a downcomer conduit fluidly coupled to the riser conduit and configured to receive the water vapor from the riser conduit, the downcomer conduit thermally coupled to the heat sink to remove thermal energy from the water vapor to cool and condense the water vapor in the downcomer conduit, the downcomer conduit configured to return the condensed water vapor to the spent nuclear fuel pool, thereby facilitating a thermosiphon flow of the water vapor and the condensed water vapor through the closed-loop fluid flow circuit.
A passively-cooled spent nuclear fuel pool system comprising:
- a spent nuclear fuel pool comprising:
- a body of liquid water having a surface level, at least one spent nuclear fuel rod submerged in the body of liquid water which heats the body of liquid water to produce water vapor;
- and
- a lid covering the spent nuclear fuel pool to form a vapor space between the surface level of the body of liquid water and the lid, the water vapor accumulating within the vapor space;
- a heat sink;
- and
- a passive heat exchange sub-system fluidly coupled to the vapor space, the passive heat exchange sub-system comprising:
- a riser conduit having an inlet located within the vapor space to receive the water vapor from the vapor space, the riser conduit configured to maintain the water vapor in a vapor state;
- and
- a downcomer conduit configured to:
- (i) receive the water vapor from the riser conduit;
- (ii) remove thermal energy from the water vapor to transition the water vapor into condensed water vapor;
- and (ii) return the condensed water vapor to the spent nuclear fuel pool.
A passively-cooled spent nuclear fuel pool system comprising:
- a spent nuclear fuel pool comprising:
- a body of liquid water having a surface level, at least one spent nuclear fuel rod submerged in the body of liquid water which heats the body of liquid water to produce water vapor;
- a lid covering the spent nuclear fuel pool to form a vapor space between the surface level of the body of liquid water and the lid, the water vapor accumulating within the vapor space;
- a heat sink;
- and
- a passive heat exchange sub-system fluidly coupled to the spent nuclear fuel pool to form a closed-loop fluid flow circuit, the passive heat exchange sub-system configured to:
- (i) receive the water vapor from the vapor space;
- (ii) remove thermal energy from the water vapor to cool and condense the water vapor;
- (iii) return the condensed water vapor to the spent nuclear fuel pool;
- and (iv) facilitating a thermosiphon flow of the water vapor and the condensed water vapor through the closed-loop fluid flow circuit via natural convection.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.