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US 4,106,984 AGranted
Rotating safety drum nuclear reactor
OwnerRichard T. Schneiderinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A gas cooled nuclear fission reactor employing spherical fuel elements which are held in a critical assembly configuration by centrifugal forces. This is accomplished by inserting the spherical fuel elements in a rotating drum of a shape suitable to ensure that a nuclear critical configuration of the total entity of fuel elements can only be achieved if the centrifugal forces are present. This has the effect that in case of a loss of load, a loss of coolant or other adverse occurences, the critical part of the reactor will disassemble itself, by gravitational forces exclusively, into a non-critical configuration.
Claims9
A nuclear reactor, comprising:
- a rotatable drum;
- means for rotating said drum about its longitudinal axis when said reactor is operative thereby inducing centrifugal forces within said drum;
- a plurality of solid fuel elements disposable within said drum, said fuel elements moving to a desired configuration about said longitudinal axis upon the application of said centrifugal forces thereby forming a central cavity within said drum;
- means for loading said fuel elements within said drum;
- a plurality of control rods insertable within said cavity and proximate said longitudinal axis, said control rods being spaced such that the distance between adjacent rods is less than the diameter of a fuel element;
- means for partially inserting said control rods into said cavity when said reactor is operative and for fully inserting said control rods into said cavity when said reactor is not operative in order to retain said fuel elements between the walls of said drum and said control rods;
- whereby when said reactor is operative and said control rods are not fully inserted, said fuel elements are held fixed along the walls of said drum by said centrifugal forces and form a critical mass within said desired configuration, and when said reactor is not operative and said control rods are fully inserted, said fuel elements are retained within said drum in a subcritical condition.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.