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US 2018/0322965 A1Published application
Pressurized water reactor with upper vessel section providing both pressure and flow control
AssigneeBWXT mPower, Inc.
InventorScott J. Shargots
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A pressurized water reactor (PWR) includes a vertical cylindrical pressure vessel having a lower portion containing a nuclear reactor core and a vessel head defining an integral pressurizer. A reactor coolant pump (RCP) mounted on the vessel head includes an impeller inside the pressure vessel, a pump motor outside the pressure vessel, and a vertical drive shaft connecting the motor and impeller. The drive shaft does not pass through the integral pressurizer. The drive shaft passes through a vessel penetration of the pressure vessel that is at least large enough for the impeller to pass through.
Claims7
A method comprising:
- installing a reactor coolant pump comprising a pump motor, a driveshaft, an impeller, and a mounting flange on a pressurized water reactor (PWR) comprising a pressure vessel and a nuclear reactor core disposed in the pressure vessel, the installing including:
- pre-assembling the pump motor, the driveshaft, the impeller, and the mounting flange outside of the pressure vessel to form a pump assembly as a unit disposed outside of the pressure vessel in which the pump motor is connected with the impeller by the driveshaft,
- inserting the impeller and the driveshaft of the pump assembly through an opening of the pressure vessel while the pump motor remains outside of the pressure vessel, and
- securing the flange of the pump assembly to an outside of the pressure vessel to mount the pump assembly on the pressure vessel,
- wherein the inserting and securing mounts the pump assembly on the pressure vessel with the drive shaft of the pump assembly oriented vertically.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.