INTRINSICALLY SAFE NUCLEAR REACTOR

摘要

An improved nuclear fission reactor of the liquid metal cooled type including a core configuration allowing for only two operational states, “Power” or “Rest”. The flow of the primary cooling fluid suspends the core in the “Power” state, with sufficient flow to remove the heat to an intermediate heat exchanger during normal operation. This invention utilizes the force of gravity to shut down the reactor after any loss of coolant flow, either a controlled reactor shut down or a “LOCA” event, as the core is controlled via dispersion of fuel elements. Electromagnetic pumps incorporating automatic safety electrical cut-offs are employed to shutdown the primary cooling system to disassemble the core to the “Rest” configuration due to a loss of secondary coolant or loss of ultimate heat sink. This invention is a hybrid pool-loop pressurized high-temperature or unpressurized reactor unique in its use of a minimum number of components, utilizing no moving mechanical parts, no rotating seals, optimized piping, and no control rods. Thus defining an elegantly simple intrinsically safe nuclear reactor.

主权项

1. A liquid metal cooled nuclear fission reactor core, in which the heat created by nuclear fission is utilized to generate thermal energy, comprising:
a plurality of nuclear fuel elements in the form of spheres that are of a higher density than the density of the reactor's hot primary cooling fluid, an improvement comprising of a means to hydraulically shuffle the core at the start of each power cycle; a lower core chamber surrounded by neutron absorbers and geometrically shaped so as to hold said fuel spheres in a configuration that will not support fission; an upper core chamber surrounded by neutron reflectors and geometrically shaped so as to hold said fuel spheres in a configuration that will support fission, the improvement comprising of: (a) a method to control the operation of the reactor while upwards primary coolant hydraulic flow maintains said core, (b) making said core automatically self-deactivating in the event of any loss in primary coolant flow causing the constant force of gravity to assure the safe shutdown of said core, and (c) wherein no control rods are provided within said core.