JP-7854992-B2 - Devices, systems, and methods for adjusting the output of a reactor core.

JP7854992B2JP 7854992 B2JP7854992 B2JP 7854992B2JP-7854992-B2

Inventors

アレシン、ユーリ
レビンスキー、アレックス

Assignees

ウエスチングハウス・エレクトリック・カンパニー・エルエルシー

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20211029
Priority Date: 20201029

Claims (20)

An adjustable core for a nuclear reactor, configured to be coupled to a reflector configured to contain reflective material, wherein the adjustable core is A plurality of reactivity control cells, wherein each of the plurality of reactivity control cells includes a reactivity control rod interface configured to accommodate a reactivity control rod containing a neutron-absorbing material, A plurality of unit cells, each of which unit cells includes a plurality of fuel channels configured to contain fuel, each of which unit cells includes a plurality of heat pipe channels, each of which heat pipe channels is configured to contain a heat pipe configured to transfer thermal energy away from the core, and the number of fuel channels among the plurality of fuel channels is greater than the number of heat pipe channels among the plurality of heat pipe channels, An adjustable core in which each of the plurality of unit cells is arranged radially adjacent to another unit cell among the plurality of unit cells, thereby defining the radial dimension of the adjustable core, the radial dimension of which corresponds to a predetermined output power of the adjustable core.
The adjustable core according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of unit cells is oriented at a predetermined pitch relative to radially adjacent unit cells among the plurality of unit cells, and the predetermined pitch corresponds to the predetermined output power of the adjustable core.
The adjustable core according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined pitch is 150 mm or more and 250 mm or less.
The adjustable core according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of unit cells is configured to be axially adjacent to another unit cell among the plurality of unit cells, thereby defining the length of the adjustable core, the length of which corresponds to a predetermined output power of the adjustable core.
The adjustable core according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of unit cells are configured to accommodate additional unit cells in the radial and axial directions, thereby changing the radial and axial dimensions of the adjustable core, and the predetermined output power of the adjustable core is further changed by changing the radial dimensions and length.
The adjustable core according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of unit cells is configured to be located at a predetermined distance from radially adjacent unit cells among the plurality of unit cells, and the predetermined distance is precisely configured such that, in the event of a failure of the first heat pipe, a second heat pipe radially adjacent to the first heat pipe compensates for the failure by transferring additional thermal energy away from the core.
The adjustable core according to claim 6, wherein the predetermined distance is 2 millimeters or less.
The adjustable core according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of heat pipe channels is substantially surrounded by at least a subset of the plurality of fuel channels.
The adjustable core according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of unit cells further comprises a moderator channel configured to house a moderator configured to slow down neutrons emitted by the fuel.
The adjustable core according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of unit cells and the plurality of reactivity control cells are integrally formed.
The adjustable core according to claim 1, wherein the fuel channel of each of the plurality of unit cells has a first diameter, and the heat pipe channel of each of the plurality of unit cells has a second diameter, the first diameter and the second diameter being selected such that heat generated in the plurality of fuel channels of the selected unit cell is removed by a plurality of heat pipes housed in the plurality of heat pipe channels of the selected unit cell.
The adjustable core according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of unit cells has a hexagonal configuration, and each of the plurality of unit cells is arranged such that the plurality of unit cells collectively have a hexagonal configuration.
An adjustable core assembly for a nuclear reactor, wherein the adjustable core is configured to be coupled to a reflector, and the adjustable core assembly is A plurality of reactivity control cells, wherein each of the plurality of reactivity control cells is configured to house a reactivity control rod containing a neutron-absorbing material, A plurality of unit cells, wherein each of the plurality of unit cells defines a radial dimension corresponding to the initial output power of the core, each unit cell of the plurality of unit cells includes a plurality of fuel channels configured to contain fuel configured to generate energy, each unit cell of the plurality of unit cells includes a plurality of heat pipe channels configured to contain a plurality of heat pipes configured to transfer thermal energy away from the core , and the number of fuel channels among the plurality of fuel channels is greater than the number of heat pipe channels among the plurality of heat pipe channels, An adjustable core assembly in which each of the plurality of unit cells is radially coupled to an adjacent unit cell among the plurality of unit cells, thereby changing the radial dimension, the changed radial dimension corresponding to the adjusted output power of the core, and the adjusted output power of the core is different from the initial output power of the core.
The adjustable core assembly according to claim 13, wherein each of the plurality of unit cells is oriented at a predetermined pitch relative to radially adjacent unit cells among the plurality of unit cells.
The adjustable core assembly according to claim 13, wherein each of the plurality of unit cells is configured to be located at a predetermined distance from radially adjacent unit cells among the plurality of unit cells, and the predetermined distance is precisely configured such that, in the event of a failure of the first heat pipe, a second heat pipe radially adjacent to the first heat pipe compensates for the failure by transferring additional thermal energy away from the core.
The adjustable core assembly according to claim 15, wherein the predetermined distance is 2 millimeters or less.
A method for adjusting the output power of a reactor core, wherein the core comprises a plurality of unit cells, each unit cell of the plurality of unit cells is configured to contain fuel configured to generate energy, each unit cell of the plurality of unit cells is configured to contain a plurality of heat pipes configured to transfer thermal energy away from the core, the initial number of unit cells in the plurality of unit cells corresponds to the initial output power of the core, and the method is: The amount of fuel is determined at least in part based on the desired power output of the core corresponding to the intended use of the reactor, Determining the number of heat pipes based at least partly on predetermined requirements of the core based at least partly on the intended use of the reactor, The process includes determining the number of unit cells based at least in part on the determined amount of fuel corresponding to the desired output power and the determined number of heat pipes corresponding to the predetermined requirements, Each unit cell includes a plurality of fuel channels and a plurality of heat pipe channels, wherein the number of fuel channels among the plurality of fuel channels is greater than the number of heat pipe channels among the plurality of heat pipe channels. The method further includes mechanically changing the plurality of unit cells such that the initial number of unit cells is the number of unit cells determined, thereby changing the core such that the initial output power of the core is the desired output power of the core.
The core further comprises a plurality of reactivity control cells configured to house reactivity control rods containing neutron-absorbing material, and the method is Determining the number of reactivity control rods based at least in part on the desired output power of the core and a second predetermined requirement of the core that is at least in part on the intended use of the reactor, The number of reactivity control cells is determined, at least in part, based on the number of reactivity control rods determined above. The method according to claim 17, further comprising mechanically distributing the determined number of reactivity control cells across the entire plurality of unit cells.
Determining the gap between adjacent unit cells among the plurality of unit cells, at least in part, based on the thermal requirements of the core corresponding to the intended use of the reactor, The method according to claim 17, further comprising mechanically changing the plurality of unit cells such that the distance between adjacent unit cells is less than or equal to the determined gap between adjacent unit cells.
The method according to claim 17, further comprising mechanically changing the plurality of unit cells by mechanically combining additional unit cells with existing unit cells of the plurality of unit cells, thereby increasing the initial number of unit cells.

Description

Cross-reference of related applications This application claims the advantages of U.S. Nonprovisional Patent Application No. 17/084,365, filed on 29 October 2020, with the title of the invention being "DEVICES, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS FOR ADJUSTING THE OUTPUT OF A REACTOR CORE," the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Government Contract: This invention was developed with government support under contract DE-NE0008853, granted by the U.S. Department of Energy. The government has certain rights to this invention. This disclosure generally relates to nuclear power generation, and more specifically, to improved devices configured to regulate the output of a reactor core. The following summary is provided to facilitate understanding of some of the innovative features specific to the embodiments disclosed herein and is not intended to be a complete description. A complete understanding of the various embodiments can be obtained by considering the entirety of the specification, claims, and abstract. In various embodiments, adjustable cores for nuclear reactors are disclosed. The adjustable core may include: a plurality of reactivity control cells, each of which includes a reactivity control rod interface configured to accommodate reactivity control rods containing neutron-absorbing material; and a plurality of unit cells, each of which includes a plurality of fuel channels configured to accommodate fuel, and each of which includes a plurality of heat pipe channels configured to accommodate heat pipes configured to transfer thermal energy away from the core, wherein each unit cell is arranged radially adjacent to another unit cell of the plurality of unit cells, thereby defining the radial dimension of the adjustable core, the radial dimension corresponding to a predetermined output power of the adjustable core. In various embodiments, adjustable core assemblies for nuclear reactors are disclosed. The adjustable core assembly comprises: a plurality of reactivity control cells, each of which is configured to house a reactivity control rod containing a neutron-absorbing material; and a plurality of unit cells, each of which defines a radial dimension corresponding to the initial power output of the core, each of which is configured to house fuel configured to generate energy, and each of which is configured to house a heat pipe configured to transfer thermal energy away from the core, wherein each of the unit cells is configured to be radially coupled to an adjacent unit cell of the plurality, thereby changing the radial dimension, the changed radial dimension corresponding to the adjusted power output of the core, and the adjusted power output of the core differs from the initial power output of the core. In various embodiments, a method for adjusting the output power of a reactor core is provided, wherein the core comprises a plurality of unit cells, each unit cell configured to contain fuel configured to generate energy, each unit cell configured to contain heat pipes configured to transfer thermal energy away from the core, the initial number of unit cells in the plurality of unit cells corresponds to the initial output power of the core, and the method includes: determining the amount of fuel based at least in part on a desired output power of the core corresponding to the intended use of the reactor; determining the number of heat pipes based at least in part on predetermined requirements of the core based at least in part on the intended use of the reactor; determining the number of unit cells based at least in part on the determined number of heat pipes corresponding to the amount of fuel corresponding to the desired output power and predetermined requirements; and mechanically changing the plurality of unit cells so that the initial number of unit cells becomes the determined number of unit cells, thereby changing the core so that the initial output power of the core becomes the desired output power of the core. These and other objects, features, and characteristics of the present invention will become more apparent by considering the following description and the appended claims (all of which form part of this specification) with reference to the appended drawings, in which similar reference numerals indicate corresponding parts in various figures, along with the methods and functions of the relevant elements and their combination with manufacturing components and economics. However, it should be expressly understood that the drawings are for illustrative and explanatory purposes only and are not intended to define any limitations of the present invention. Various features of the embodiments described herein are described in detail in the appended claims. However, with respect to both the organization and the method of operation, various embodiments, along with their advantages, can be understood in accordance with the following description made in conjunction with the fo