Pressurized water reactor plant

In a pressurized water reactor plant including a reactor vessel, a reactor coolant pump having an inlet and an outlet, a coolant pipe connecting an outlet of the reactor vessel to the coolant pump inlet, a horizontal steam generator having U-shaped heat transfer tubes and an inlet and an outlet, a coolant pipe connecting the coolant pump outlet to the steam generator inlet, and a coolant pipe connecting the steam generator outlet to an inlet of the reactor vessel, so that coolant water is pumped by the coolant pump from the reactor vessel through the steam generator heat transfer tubes and returned from the steam generator to the reactor vessel, the improvement wherein:

• said reactor vessel comprises a nuclear core formed therein having an uppermost end;
• said reactor coolant pump, said steam generator and said coolant pipes are positioned at an elevation higher than said uppermost end of said nuclear core;
• and
• said steam generator comprises a horizontally extending shell, a tube bundle of U-shaped heat transfer tubes supported and extending horizontally in said shell and having straight tube portions and a U-shaped portion, a moisture separator in said shell and disposed above said tube bundle, a vertical partition plate disposed transversely in said shell and dividing the interior of said shell into a U-shaped tube region and a straight tube region, and a drain pipe extending from said moisture separator to said U-shaped tube region for draining impurities from said moisture separator to said U-shaped tube region.