Nuclear reactors

Abstract

A nuclear reactor containment vessel faced internally with a metal liner is provided with thermal insulation for the liner, comprising one or more layers of compressible material such as ceramic fiber, such as would be conventional in an advanced gas-cooled reactor and also a superposed layer of ceramic bricks or tiles in combination with retention means therefor, the retention means (comprising studs projecting from the liner, and bolts or nuts in threaded engagement with the studs) being themselves insulated from the vessel interior so that the coolant temperatures achieved in a High-Temperature Reactor or a Fast Reactor can be tolerated with the vessel. The layer(s) of compressible material is held under a degree of compression either by the ceramic bricks or tiles themselves or by cover plates held on the studs (in which case the bricks or tiles are preferably bedded on a yielding layer (for example of carbon fibers) rather than directly on the cover plates. Mutually adjacent bricks or tiles are jointed to one another by tongue-and-groove joints and/or lap joints. The bricks or tiles may be rectangular and of two kinds, with each of one kind disposed chessboard fashion between four of the other kind and a peripheral flange in one half of the thickness of each brick or tile of one kind forming lap joints with peripheral flanges in the other half of the thickness of the adjacent four bricks or tiles of the other kind.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.