Operating Floor Confinement Pressure Boundary Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional boiling water nuclear plants lack sufficient pressure resistance, leading to potential accidental opening of blowout panels due to earthquakes or hydrogen detonation, resulting in the uncontrolled release of hydrogen and radioactive materials into the environment during refueling or severe accidents, which poses risks of exposure and land contamination.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of an operating floor confinement system that forms a pressure boundary with enhanced pressure resistance and leakage protection, eliminating blowout panels and incorporating an external venting system and filtered venting system to manage and release hydrogen and radioactive materials safely, preventing environmental contamination.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stress or pressure
If blowout panels are installed in the operating floor area sidewall to release pressure, then pressure relief function is improved, but pressure resistance and leakage protection deteriorate leading to uncontrolled release of hydrogen and radioactive materials
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes blowout panels from the operating floor area sidewall entirely. Instead, it creates a sealed operating floor confinement structure with controlled venting through the containment vessel, extracting the problematic pressure relief mechanism from its harmful location and replacing it with a safe, controlled alternative.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces the containment vessel as an intermediary structure between the operating floor confinement and the external environment. All pressure relief and gas release must pass through this intermediary, which provides filtered venting and prevents direct uncontrolled release to the environment.
2Ease of manufacture
If the operating floor area sidewall is made thinner to reduce construction cost and complexity, then ease of manufacture is improved, but pressure resistance deteriorates making the structure vulnerable to earthquakes and hydrogen detonation
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the containment system into two distinct segments: the operating floor confinement structure (which can have thinner walls) and the containment vessel (which provides the robust pressure resistance). This segmentation allows each part to be optimized independently for its specific function.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention provides beforehand cushioning by creating the operating floor confinement as a protective enclosure that prevents direct exposure to external hazards. The containment vessel head and suppression pool provide additional cushioning protection against earthquakes and hydrogen detonation before forces reach the thinner sidewall structure.
3Device complexity
If conventional containment structures are used without additional confinement, then device complexity is reduced, but the ability to prevent leakage of radioactive materials into the environment deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The invention implements a nested doll configuration where the operating floor confinement is nested within the containment vessel structure. The operating floor confinement includes its own sidewall and ceiling forming an enclosed space, which is nested inside the larger containment vessel that provides the outermost barrier against environmental release.
Data Source
AI summary
An operating floor confinement has an operating floor, a sidewall that surrounds the operating floor, a ceiling that is provided on an upper portion of the sidewall, a reactor well, a fuel pool, a dryer and separator pit, an equipment hatch that is provided on the sidewall, an air lock that is provided on the sidewall, and an isolation valve that is provided in a penetration line. The operating floor confinement forms a pressure boundary having pressure resistance and a leakage protection function. The operating floor confinement is separated from an equipment area of the reactor building and has no blowout panel.