Nuclear reactors
AssigneeUnited Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
InventorGeorge Oliver Jackson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A nuclear reactor cooled by a freezable liquid has a vessel for containing said liquid and comprising a structure shaped as a container, and cooling means in the region of the surface of said structure for effecting freezing of said liquid coolant at and for a finite distance from said surface for providing a layer of frozen coolant on and supported by said surface for containing said liquid coolant. In a specific example, where the reactor is sodium-cooled, the said structure is a metal-lined concrete vault, cooling is effected by closed cooling loops containing NaK, the loops extending over the lined surface of the concrete vault with outward and reverse pipe runs of each loop separated by thermal insulation, and air is flowed through cooling pipes embedded in the concrete behind the metal lining.
Claims7
A nuclear reactor comprising a concrete shielding vessel with a steel lining, containing a freezable liquid metal coolant comprising the element sodium, a solid nuclear reactor core, a primary heat exchanger and a pump means all submerged in the coolant, the pump means being provided for circulating the coolant liquid within the vessel, cooling pipes within the vessel adjacent the inner surface of said vessel for effecting the freezing of the liquid coolant at the inner surface of the vessel, said cooling pipes containing a liquid metal cooling fluid, an interior wall adjacent the said inner surface, said interior wall comprising a frozen layer of the liquid coolant on and supported by the cooling pipes and the inner surface of the vessel, the said frozen layer interior wall being thin relative to the overall cross-section of the vessel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.