skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO NUCLEAR REACTORS

Patent ·
OSTI ID:4685036

A gas cooled nuclear reactor comprises a reactor core within a pressure vessel and lower and upper reflector portions, respectively, spaced from the lower and upper ends of the vertically arranged fuel elements. The cooling gas enters the reactor near the vessel bottom via several ducts, rises within the interspace between the vessel wall and a lateral reflector portion surrounding the core, fiows downwards from the space above the core top in heat exchanging relationship with the fuel elements, and finally leaves the reactor over lower exit header spaces and exit ducts, the latter suitably concentrically disposed within the entrance ducts. According to a preferred embodiment the core is subdivided by a series of dividing walls so as to forra a lattice of parallel reactor channels of rectangalar cross section in which the fuel elements are disposed. The fissile material within the fuel elements is mixed with a solid moderator so as to avoid the necessity of cladding. Preferably the fuel elements are suspended on a support structure above the reactor top. (IIB)

Research Organization:
Originating Research Org. not identified
NSA Number:
NSA-17-042295
OSTI ID:
4685036
Report Number(s):
FR 1310838
Resource Relation:
Patent File Date: 1960 Dec 01; Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-63
Country of Publication:
France
Language:
English