STEAM FORMING NEUTRONIC REACTOR AND METHOD OF OPERATING IT

Patent · Fri Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1958

OSTI ID:4804381

The reactor is liquid moderated and cooled by a steamforming coolant and is designed to produce steam from the coolant directly within the active portion of the reactor while avoiding the formation of bubbles in the liquid mod erator. This reactor achieves inherent stability as a result of increased neutron leakage and increased resonance absorption in the U/sup 238/ fuel with the formation of bubbles. The invention produces certain conditions under which the formation of vapor bubbles as a result of a neutron flux excursion form the injection of a reactivity increment into the reactor will operate to nullify the reactivity increment within a sufficiently short period of time to prevent unsafe operating reactor conditions from developing. This is obtained by disposing a plurality of fuel elements within a mass of steam-forming coolant in the core with the ratio of the volume of steam coolant to the volume of fissionable isotopes being within the range yielding a multiplication factor greater than unity and a negative reactivity to core void coefficient at the boiling temperature of the coolant.

• Research Organization: Originating Research Org. not identified
• NSA Number: NSA-16-006142
• OSTI ID: 4804381
• Report Number(s): AU 230559
• Country of Publication: Australia
• Language: English

Related Subjects

BOILING
BUBBLES
CONFIGURATION
CONTROL
COOLANT LOOPS
COOLANTS
DENSITY
EVAPORATION
EXCURSIONS
FUEL ELEMENTS
HEAT TRANSFER
HIGH TEMPERATURE
LIQUIDS
MODERATORS
MULTIPLICATION FACTORS
NEUTRON FLUX
PATENT
PLANNING
PRODUCTION
REACTIVITY
REACTOR CORE
REACTOR SAFETY
REACTOR TECHNOLOGY
REACTORS
RESONANCE ESCAPE PROBABILITY
SHUTDOWN
SLOWDOWN
STABILITY
STEAM
TEMPERATURE
URANIUM 238
VOID COEFFICIENT
VOLUME
ZONES