Hydraulic control for rod drive for water-cooled nuclear reactors,

Abstract

A hydraulic control rod drive for a water-cooled nuclear reactor includes a control valve assembly outside the reactor pressure vessel for influencing the fluid quantity on the pressure side of a fluid pump assembly for adjusting control rods in raising and lowering directions and to maintain a control rod position. A control valve assembly includes the following control branches for actuating each of the control rods: a holding branch connected between a pressure line and a pressure side of a piston/cylinder system, a first fluid throttle and a bypass fluid throttle upstream thereof relative to a drop of the first fluid throttle for discharging into a drain, the first fluid throttle and the bypass fluid throttle having throttle cross sections allowing a fluid flow therethrough sufficient to hold a given control rod in a given position with the fluid pump assembly running; a raising branch connected to the holding branch upstream and downstream of the first fluid throttle, and a series circuit having a raising valve assembly and a second fluid throttle; and a lowering branch connected to the holding branch downstream of the first fluid throttle relative to the drop of the first fluid throttle and discharging into a cooling water reservoir, and a series circuit of a lowering valve and a third fluid throttle. A device is also provided for automatically opening the lowering valve in the lowering branch if the raising valve in the raising branch sticks in an open position.