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US 2018/0019025 A1Published application
Vertically-segmented nuclear reactor
AssigneeTerraPower, LLC
InventorsRyan Abbott, Anselmo T. Cisneros, JR., Mark R. Werner
Life of this patent
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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.
Claims20
A molten fuel nuclear reactor comprising:
- a reactor vessel defining a reactor core containing nuclear fuel;
- a first heat exchanger above the reactor core that receives high temperature nuclear fuel from the reactor core;
- a second heat exchanger above the reactor core that receives nuclear fuel from the first heat exchanger and delivers lower temperature nuclear fuel to the reactor core;
- and
- a containment vessel surrounding the reactor vessel, the first heat exchanger, and the second heat exchanger.
2 more elements
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 low temperature nuclear fuel into the reactor core, thereby displacing some high temperature nuclear fuel from the reactor core upward through a first heat exchanger and downward through a second 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 low temperature nuclear fuel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.