Cold shutdown assembly for sodium cooled reactor
AssigneeWestinghouse Electric Corp.
InventorMario D. Carelli
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A tertiary shutdown system for a liquid metal reactor that eliminates the need for considering an ATWS in setting the thermal power limits of the reactor. The shutdown system includes a reservoir of neutron absorber material that is sealed by a valve that may actively dispense the absorber upon operator command, into a stagnant pool of sodium in the core that is confined to prevent the absorber material from entering the coolant flowing through the core. Additionally, the valve may be passively open to release the absorber material into the stagnant pool of sodium when the temperature at the valve exceeds a predetermined limit.
Claims14
A nuclear reactor comprising:
- a nuclear core;
- a plurality of fuel assemblies within the core;
- a primary shutdown system including a first neutron absorber material and a first activation system for activating the first neutron absorber material to absorb neutrons within the core among at least some of the fuel assemblies;
- a secondary shutdown system including a second neutron absorber material and a second activation system for activating the second neutron absorber material to absorb neutrons within the core among at least some of the fuel assemblies;
- a tertiary shutdown system including a third neutron absorber material and a third activation system for activating the third neutron absorber material to absorb neutrons within the core among at least some of the fuel assemblies, wherein when the third activation system is activated the third activation system is configured to insert the third neutron absorber material into the core with the third neutron absorber material substantially concentrated in the center of the core;
- and
- wherein the first, second and third activation systems are independent of each other and respectively employ differently designed activation mechanisms that operate on different principles to activate the corresponding first, second and third neutron absorber materials.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.