Commissariat a L'energie Atomique

Electricite De France - Service National

Patrick Jogand

Michel Aubert

Robert Artaud

Michel Sauvage

Richard Elbeze

Jean-Marie Berniolles

Jean-Pierre Cransac

A fast neutron nuclear reactor having a vessel filled with liquid metal and sealed in its upper part by a box slab having a central opening in which is placed a plug-cover-core overhanging the core of the reactor. The central opening is surmounted by a cell containing the handling and storage mechanism for the plug-cover-core and a mechanism for handling the assemblies. The latter can be moved on annular rails and can be collapsed against the wall of the cell, in order to permit the manipulation of the plug-cover-core. A radial passage connects the cell to a transfer station.

Fast neutron nuclear reactor equipped with a central handling cell and a

Heat exchanger of a nuclear reactor, whose vessel is sealed by a slab, the exchanger being of the type which has within a vertically axed outer ferrule a plurality of heat exchange modules with substantially straight tubes, each of the said modules having a secondary fluid inlet chamber and a secondary fluid outlet chamber and means for introducing and removing the primary fluid with respect to the exchange modules, wherein it comprises a base plate peripherally fixed to the said outer ferrule, means for supporting the outer ferrule by the slab, supporting ferrules for the modules, each ferrule traversing the base plate and being connected on the one hand to the upper end of the module and on the other to the said base plate, a plurality of pipes for the supply and removal of the secondary fluid sealingly traversing the base plate, a supply manifold and a discharge manifold for the secondary fluid positioned within the outer ferrule above the base plate, said manifolds being respectively connected to the supply and discharge pipes of the secondary fluid, means for supporting the manifolds and a plurality of biological protection plates positioned within the outer ferrule above the base plate and level with the slab, said protection plates being supported by the manifold supporting means and permitting the passage of the secondary fluid and discharge pipes.

Semi-modular heat exchanger for nuclear reactors

In a fast reactor constituted by an open-topped main vessel containing liquid metal coolant and an inner vessel mounted within the main vessel, a transverse skew wall forming an inner vessel extension is associated with a baffle which extends above the skew wall. A space formed between the baffle and the skew wall and containing a practically static volume constitutes a thermal shield between the hot liquid metal located within the inner vessel above the baffle and the cold liquid metal located between the inner vessel and the main vessel beneath the skew wall.

Liquid-metal cooled reactor with practically static intermediate zone

Fast neutron nuclear reactor comprising on the inside a main vessel having a vertical axis suspended by its upper open part on a thick protective slab which seals a cavity surrounding said vessel, a volume of a liquid cooling metal and also positioned within said main vessel an inner vessel having a cylindrical wall containing the core of the reactor submerged beneath the liquid metal level, the intermediate space between the main vessel and the inner vessel having heat exchangers and pumps which pass below the level of the liquid metal, wherein the upper end of the inner vessel is covered by an inverted annular bell cap and is placed under the internal pressure of a neutral gas in order to prevent in normal operation direct communication between the hot liquid metal within the inner vessel and the cold liquid metal in the annular space between the main vessel and the inner vessel, said bell cap covering an auxiliary exchanger which externally surrounds the inner vessel in such a way that if there is a fault in the reactor and after reducing the neutral gas pressure beneath the bell cap as a result of natural convection a circulation of the liquid metal takes place beneath the bell cap of the inner vessel towards the annular space and passes through the auxiliary exchanger.

Fast neutron nuclear reactor

A cylindrical inner vessel containing the reactor core is placed coaxially within a main vessel. Heat exchangers are disposed within the annular space formed between the two vessels, each heat exchanger being delimited by an outer shell and a coaxial inner shell which surrounds a central feed duct having a vertical axis. The upper end of the annular space communicates with a flared end portion of the central duct through a first circular window formed in the inner shell. The lower end of the annular space communicates with the region located between the inner vessel and the main vessel through a second circular window formed in the outer shell.

Growing community of inventors

Aix en Provence, France

Patrick Jogand