Nuclear Reactor Prefabricated Structure with Water Basin Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
The construction of large nuclear reactors is hindered by the need for extensive and costly dedicated construction sites, heavy investment, and complex logistics due to the size and weight of floating structures, limiting mass production and increasing construction time and costs.
Innovation Solution
A prefabricated structure for nuclear reactors is designed with a metallic containment enclosure immersed in a water basin serving as a cold source, featuring a double skin with internal and external metal skins, allowing for reduced size and weight, facilitating transportation and integration into civil engineering structures without requiring exceptional lifting means, and enabling local assembly of non-critical components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Weight of moving object
If a large floating structure is used to contain the nuclear reactor core, then the reactor can be transported to the operating site, but the size and weight of the structure make transportation extremely delicate and require exceptional handling equipment
Solution Approach 1:
The floating structure is divided into multiple modular prefabricated units that can be assembled at the operating site. Each module contains specific reactor components, allowing transportation of smaller, manageable sections rather than one massive structure, thereby eliminating the need for exceptional handling equipment.
Solution Approach 2:
The reactor core and primary systems are extracted from the large floating structure and placed into smaller modular units. The floating structure itself is reduced to仅提供 buoyancy and structural support, while the critical nuclear components are housed in separate, transportable modules that can be assembled on-site.
2Reliability
If a dedicated construction site is established for manufacturing and validating the floating structure, then the structure can be built and tested, but the construction site represents a major investment and creates a bottleneck preventing high production rate
Solution Approach 1:
The construction and validation process is segmented into modular manufacturing steps that can be performed in standard shipyards rather than a single dedicated facility. Each module can be manufactured and pre-tested independently, allowing parallel production across multiple locations, thereby eliminating the bottleneck of a single construction site.
Solution Approach 2:
Standard shipyards with existing dry docks and assembly capabilities are used to manufacture the modular units, rather than building a specialized construction site. This multi-uses existing infrastructure for multiple reactor projects simultaneously, reducing investment costs and enabling high production rates through parallel manufacturing.
3Reliability
If the containment structure is immersed in a water basin serving as a cold source, then the basin can provide cooling in accident situations, but the double skin structure requires integration into civil engineering structures
Solution Approach 1:
The water basin serving as a cold source is merged with the civil engineering foundation structure of the nuclear island. The basin becomes an integral part of the site infrastructure rather than a separate component, eliminating the need for complex integration while maintaining safety cooling capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The water basin serves multiple functions: it provides the cold source for safety cooling systems, acts as structural foundation support, and integrates with the civil engineering works. This multi-functionality reduces overall system complexity while maintaining all required safety functions.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables efficient and cost-effective construction of multiple nuclear reactors by reducing site-specific investments, simplifying on-site operations, and allowing for high production rates without the need for exceptional handling equipment, while ensuring safety and containment requirements are met.
Implementation Method 1
the basin being intended for the cooling of the enclosure in an accident situation and/or being intended to be a cold source supplying a safety cooling circuit
Implementation Method 2
the double skin having a watertight metallic inner skin delimiting the basin internally, an metallic outer skin defining the hull of the floating structure, and rigid fixings of the inner skin to the outer skin
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
The invention relates to an assembly (1) for the construction of a nuclear reactor, comprising: a vessel (3) intended to house a nuclear reactor core; and a prefabricated structure (2) having a shell allowing the prefabricated structure (2) to be used as a floating structure. According to the invention, the prefabricated structure (2) comprises at least: a basin (17) defining at least part of the shell of the prefabricated structure (2); and a sealed chamber (19) disposed inside the basin (17), the vessel (3) being placed inside the chamber (19). The basin (17) is provided in order to cool the chamber (19) under accident conditions and/or to serve as a cold source that supplies a safety cooling circuit (14) of the nuclear reactor.