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US 4,681,728 AGranted
Nuclear reactor
AssigneeWestinghouse Electric Corp.
InventorsLuciano Veronesi, Franklin D. Obermeyer, James R. Chrise
Life of this patent
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AssigneeWestinghouse Electric Corp.
InventorsLuciano Veronesi, Franklin D. Obermeyer, James R. Chrise
Estimating the term…
A nuclear reactor including, in the upper internals, a guide structure capable of effectively accommodating and guiding without binding the large number of neutron-absorber rods included in modern reactors of improved efficiency. The neutron-absorber rods include control rods, gray rods, and water-displacement rods. All rods are suspended in clusters from spiders or vanes. The upper internals of the reactor includes cruciform guides for the control-rod and gray-rod clusters. Each of these guides is composed of a plurality of vertical guide sections of transverse cruciform cross section. Plates extending throughout the cross-section of the reactor are supported between each pair of successive guide sections. The plates are perforated, the perforations in each plate being patterned to pass the water-displacement rod clusters. The plates are oriented so that the patterned perforations are aligned to serve as guides for the water-displacement rod clusters. The plates are of very large diameter and, as perforated, would not be self-supporting unless they were very thick. To overcome this drawback, each plate is formed of separate plate sections which are, when assembled nested together, like the parts of a "jig-saw puzzle".
A nuclear reactor including a core having a plurality of fuel assemblies, upper internals, and neutron-flux adjusting rods and means for moving said neutron-flux adjusting rods between said fuel assemblies and said upper internals, said upper internals including guide means for guiding said neutron-flux adjusting rods, said guide means including a plurality of columnar guides for guiding certain of said neutron-flux adjusting rods, each said columnar guide of said plurality including a plurality of coextensive generally vertical guide sections aligned to receive said certain neutron-flux adjusting rods, said guide means also including a plurality of generally horizontal plate sections connected to said guide sections and positioned generally vertically along said upper internals, each said plate section being nested in the manner of a "jig-saw" puzzle and being secured to, adjacent plate sections at the generally vertical level of said each plate section to form an integrated composite plate at each said level extending laterally substantially throughout the upper internals, each said plate section having perforations patterned to pass others of said neutron-flux adjusting rods, said plate sections being oriented each at its generally vertical level with their perforations for said others of said neutron-flux adjusting rods aligned so that said composite plates serve as guides for said others of said neutron-flux adjusting rods.
For use as part of a nuclear reactor having a large number of neutron-flux adjusting rods and having guide means for guiding said neutron-flux adjusting rods including a plurality of columnar guides for guiding certain of said neutron-flux adjusting rods, each said columnar guide including a plurality of hollow guide sections and said guide means also having plate sections supported by said guide sections serving as guides for others of said neutron-flux adjusting rods, each said plate being formed of a plurality of plate sections of different shapes nested together in the manner of a "jig-saw puzzle", a structural unit including a set of a plurality of plate sections of the same shape and a plurality of hollow guide sections, said guide sections of said plurality being aligned and each plate section of said set being secured to or between adjacent guide sections, the area of each plate section of said plurality bounded by the edges of the guide section to which, or the guide sections between which, said each plate section is secured being perforated and the said perforations of the said plate sections being aligned and being shaped to pass said certain neutron-flux adjusting rods so that each said certain neutron-flux adjusting rod may be passed through the aligned guide sections substantially throughout their combined length.
A nuclear reactor including a core having a plurality of fuel assemblies, a plenum above said core, neutron-flux adjusting rods, and means, connected to said neutron-flux adjusting rods, for moving said neutron-flux adjusting rods between said plenum and said core, the said reactor also including guide means for said neutron-flux adjusting rods within said plenum, said guide means including a plurality of generally vertical columnar guides for guiding certain of said neutron-flux adjusting rods, each said columnar guide including a set of coextensive columnar guide sections, the guide sections of each set being arrayed in a generally vertical array, the said guide means also including a plurality of generally horizontal plate sections connected to said guide sections of each said set, said plate sections being spaced generally vertically along said plenum, plate sections connected to corresponding guide sections of different sets being positioned at the same vertical level and being nested with adjacent plate sections at said same nested level in the number of a "jig-saw" puzzle to form an integrated composite plate at said level, said composite plate extending substantially throughout said plenum, each said plate section having perforations patterned to pass others of said neutron-flux adjusting rods, said plate sections being oriented, each at its vertical level with the perforations for said others of said neutron-flux adjusting rods aligned so that said composite plates serve as guides for said others of said neutron-flux adjusting rods.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.