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AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsRobert L. Cowan, II, Gerald M. Gordon, Robert J. Law, Beth A. McAllister
Estimating the term…
A passive catalytic ammonia converter operating in the water/steam mixture exiting the core of a boiling water reactor. The catalytic ammonia converter is made of catalytic material arranged and situated such that substantially all of the water/steam mixture entering the water/steam separator device flows over the surface of the catalytic material. The catalytic surfaces react ammonia and/or NO with O.sub.2 or H.sub.2 O.sub.2 in the water/steam mixture to form nitrite or nitrate. The passive catalytic ammonia converter is constructed to ensure that the pressure drop of the reactor water across the device is very small. The catalytic ammonia converter can include a plurality of stainless steel flow-through housings packed with catalytic ammonia converter material, which could take the form of tangled wire or strips, crimped ribbon, porous sintered metal composite or any other structure having a high surface area-to-volume ratio.
In a nuclear reactor comprising a core of nuclear fuel elements, a downcomer annulus between a pressure vessel and said core, means for feeding feedwater into said pressure vessel, means for forcing said feedwater to flow through said core to cool said fuel elements, and means for separating steam and water phases in the mixture exiting said core, said water phase flowing from said steam/water separating means to said downcomer annulus, the improvement wherein catalytic ammonia conversion means are arranged upstream of said steam/water separating means and downstream of said fuel elements, said catalytic ammonia conversion means comprising catalytic material arranged in an open structure disposed so that substantially all of the water/steam mixture entering said steam/water separating means flows therethrough, and said catalytic material having a surface area-to-volume ratio sufficiently high enough to catalyze the conversion of ammonia and/or NO in said water/steam mixture into nitrite or nitrate.
A nuclear reactor comprising a core of nuclear fuel elements, a downcomer annulus between a pressure vessel and said core, means for feeding feedwater into said pressure vessel, means for forcing said feedwater to flow through said core to cool said fuel elements, means for separating steam and water phases in the mixture exiting said core, said water phase flowing from said steam/water separating means to said downcomer annulus, and means for catalyzing the conversion of ammonia and/or NO in said water/steam mixture into nitrite or nitrate, wherein said means for catalyzing ammonia conversion are arranged upstream of said steam/water separating means and downstream of said fuel elements and comprise catalytic material arranged in an open structure disposed so that substantially all of the water/steam mixture flows therethrough before entering said steam/water separating means.
A method for reducing the amount of .sup.16 N isotope in the steam exiting a nuclear reactor, comprising the step of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.