Bi-disperse pebble-bed nuclear reactor
OwnerMartin Bazantinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A guide ring is positioned in the reactor core vessel of a pebble-bed nuclear reactor to segregate fuel pebbles and reflector pebbles fed into the vessel through respective conduits. The reflector pebbles pass through the guide ring and form a reflector column, while the fuel pebbles pass outside the guide ring and form an annular fuel column surrounding the reflector column. The guide ring controls the size and shape of the reflector column and controls mixing of the two types of pebbles. Furthermore, the fuel pebbles can have a substantially larger diameter than the reflector pebbles. Accordingly, the fuel-pebble column will have more void space, and cooling gas will consequently flow preferentially through the fuel-pebble column.
Claims29
A pebble-bed nuclear reactor comprising:
- a reactor core vessel having input conduits at one end of the vessel through which the fuel pebbles and reflector pebbles can be fed into the vessel and having an output conduit at an opposite end of the vessel through which the fuel pebbles and reflector pebbles can be removed from the vessel, the reactor core vessel defining a passage sized and configured to allow the flow of fuel pebbles and reflector pebbles from the input conduits to the output conduit;
- a column of radioactive fuel pebbles containing fissionable radioactive material within the reactor core vessel;
- and
- a column of reflector pebbles that consist essentially of non-fissionable material, and the reflector pebbles having a diameter that is less than 90% of the diameter of the radioactive fuel pebbles,
- wherein the column of fuel pebbles (a) includes a free surface below at least a first of the input conduits and (b) extends downward from its free surface beneath the first input conduit toward the output conduit, and
- wherein the column of reflector pebbles (a) includes a free surface below at least a second of the input conduits, (b) extends downward from its free surface beneath the second input conduit toward the output conduit, and (c) forms a barrier-free interface with the column of reflector pebbles along a vertical axis through a volume between the input conduits and the output conduit.
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A method for operating a pebble-bed nuclear reactor comprising:
- feeding at least one column of radioactive fuel pebbles containing fissionable radioactive material through a reactor core vessel;
- feeding at least one column of reflector pebbles through the reactor core vessel, the reflector pebbles being substantially free of fissionable radioactive material and the reflector-pebble column having substantially less void space between the pebbles through which gas can flow than has the fuel-pebble column, and wherein reflector pebbles at a periphery of the reflector-pebble column contact fuel pebbles at a periphery of the fuel-pebble conduit within the reactor core vessel;
- and
- flowing cooling gas through the reactor core vessel, the cooling gas flowing through the fuel-pebble column at a velocity that is higher than the velocity at which the cooling gas flows through the reflector-pebble column.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.