Commissariat a L'energie Atomique

Alusuisse France S.a.

Didier Costes

Gilles Aubert

Andre Gouzy

Raymond Berger

Claude Chevrier

Pierre Caunes

Gilles Barras

Maurice B De Cachard

Alain Collet

Guy Dupuy

Handling pool for nuclear fuel, located above the vessel of a pressurized water-nuclear reactor, characterized in that it has, around the vessel cover and the mechanisms surmounting it, a bulkhead, which is generally cylindrical of revolution and is tightly and detachably fixed to the pool bottom. This arrangement makes it possible to keep the pool filled with water outside the bulkhead during reactor operation, so that within the safety enclosure there is a large water reserve on the core, which facilitates its reflooding if there is a fracture to the primary circuit. The still full pool can be used for storing spent fuel.

Handling pool and safety water reserve for pressurized water-cooled

The invention relates to a nuclear reactor cooled by a liquid metal comprising a vessel (12) containing the reactor core (24), a vessel shaft (18) and a sealing slab (14). The bottom (12a) of the vessel rests on the bottom (52) of the vessel shaft via supports (54) defining between the said two bottoms a space (56) in which circulates a cooling fluid such as air. A skirt (74) surrounds vessel (12) and rests on the vessel shaft bottom (52) for supporting slab (14). Application to the construction of simpler and less expensive fast neutron reactors than those hitherto known.

Nuclear reactor cooled by a liquid metal

Device for the post-accident cooling of the confinement enclosure of a pressurized water nuclear reactor, wherein it comprises in series a turbine supplied by the hot, humid air contained in the enclosure, a condenser in which the air from the turbine is dried and cooled by thermal contact with an external cooling fluid, and a compressor actuated by the turbine, and which returns the dried air into the enclosure.

Cooling device

The invention relates to a fast neutron nuclear reactor in which the primary pumps and exchangers are suspended on the rigid slab sealing the vessel containing the reactor core. The slab has in its thickness housings of reduced dimensions in which are confined the heads of the exchangers and the primary pumps. The flywheels of the pumps and part of the pipes of the secondary circuits are also contained in the housings. Other housings can be provided in the slab, particularly for the handling of fuels. Application to the improvement of the safety and reliability of fast neutron reactors is taught.

Liquid metal-cooled nuclear reactor

The invention relates to a rigid structure plate heat exchanger. The plates of this exchanger comprise a central exchange area and two parallel borders which, when stacked, form two distributor blocks. For one of each pair of spaces distribution takes place in a particular block by issuing directly on to the face of the stack, while for the other space in the pair it takes place by issuing on to a line of passages obtained by facing perforations throughout the stack. The perforations are elongated in the flow direction of the fluids from one distributor block to the other. The borders of the plates are staggered on either side of the plane of the central area. One of the borders is in planar contact with the border of the upper plate. The other border is in contact with the border of the lower plate leading to a so-called concertina structure closing alternate spaces in each distributor block.

Plate heat exchanger

A confinement enclosure, notably for a nuclear reactor, of the type consisting of reinforced, possibly prestressed concrete, comprising in the body of the wall a drainage network consisting of tubular channels provided in the concrete, wherein the tubular channels of the drainage network, which may be grouped in sub-groups, are connected to a system of filters located inside the enclosure.

Confinement enclosure, notably for a nuclear reactor

The auxiliary lid permits temporary closure of the reactor core shroud during charge/discharge operations after removal of the closure head of a pressurized water or boiling water reactor. The auxiliary lid has an outer closure plug mounted for rotational motion on the top edge of the reactor core shroud. An inner closure plug which carries a vertical guide channel is rotatably mounted on the outer closure plug in eccentric relation thereto so as to place the guide channel above each fuel element as a result of displacement of both closure plugs in rotational motion.

Removable auxiliary lid for handling the fuel elements of a nuclear

Closure elements uniformly spaced at the periphery of a concrete plug are each applied at one end against the top face of the plug and at the other end against the corbel of a prestressed concrete pressure vessel. Each closure element is constituted by a hydraulic jack whose closed extremity is coupled to a first articulated bearing shoe. Adjustable mechanical means within the jack body maintain this latter in contact with an annular shoulder of the jack piston in all relative positions, the emergent extremity of the piston being coupled to a second articulated bearing shoe.

Device for closing a pressure vessel

The reactor comprises a vertical concrete pressure vessel, a bell-housing having an open lower end and disposed coaxially with the interior of the pressure vessel so as to delimit therewith a space filled with gas under prssure for the thermal insulation of the internal vessel wall, a pressurizing device for putting the coolant under pressure within the bell-housing and comprising a volume of control gas in contact with a large free surface of coolant in order that an appreciable variation in volume of liquid displaced within the coolant circuit inside the bell-housing should correspond to a small variation in pressure of the control gas.

Nuclear reactor of pressurized liquid coolant type

The core of a light-water reactor which is enclosed in a prestressed concrete pressure vessel and held within a diffuser basket is supported by a device consisting of a cylindrical shell which surrounds the basket and is rigidly fixed to a plurality of frusto-conical skirts having concurrent axes and located substantially at right angles to the axis of the reactor core. The small base of each skirt is rigidly fixed to the shell and the large base is anchored in openings formed in the reactor vessel for the penetration of coolant inlet and outlet pipes. The top portion of the shell is secured to the top portion of the diffuser basket, a flat surface being formed on the shell at the point of connection with each frusto-conical skirt so as to ensure rigid suspension while permitting of thermal expansion.

Device for supporting a nuclear reactor core

A duct for the circulation of a hot fluid under pressure and formed in a cold structure of concrete is lined with rigid heat-insulating material such as pumice concrete. A corrugated lining membrane is applied in close contact with the heat-insulating material by means of radial members which are disposed in uniformly spaced relation and anchored in the cold structure.EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Growing community of inventors

Paris, France

Didier Costes