Device for suspending a structure

Abstract

A device for suspending a core cover from a sealing slab of a fast neutron nuclear reactor of the type comprising a vertically axed vessel structure filled with liquid metal, closed by the slab and containing the reactor core. The device comprises an upper row and a lower row of superimposed, generally flat, planar, metal plates enabling the rows to be joined to the slab and to the core cover, each row of plates defining a closed convex envelope. The plates are flexible in a direction radial relative to the envelope, while being rigid in a direction circumferential with respect to the envelope. The two rows of flexible plates are interconnected by a lattice of rigid bars in an 'X' or 'V' form. The upper row plates have upper edges rigidly fixed in position relative to the slab and lower edges rigidly fixed in position relative to the lattice. The lower row plates have upper edges rigidly fixed in position relative to the lattice and lower edges rigidly fixed in position relative to the core cover.