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Chapter 3 Systems of PWR Nuclear Power Plants

Reactor Vessel

[Source] "Improvement and Enhancement of Nuclear Reactor Technology”

Figure 3.12.1 Schematic view of apwr steam generators

(2) Enhancement of safety

The emergency core cooling system (ECCS) which supplies emergency core cooling in a case of loss of coolant accident (LOCA) is provided with 4 trains to strengthen the redundancy and independence and enhance the reliability. Moreover the system configuration is simplified by employing advanced accumulators which have the combined functions of accumulators and the low pressure coolant injection system used for current PWRs. A refueling water storage pit is installed inside the reactor containment vessel; this eliminates switching from the injection phase to the recirculation phase of the ECCS.

  1. Enhancement of reliability

The APWR makes use of the operation experiences with PWRs by adopting improved designs of major equipment, such as the reactor pressure vessel, core internals, steam generators and primary coolant pumps, in order to improve their reliability.

  1. Improvement of operability

In order to make the APWR operation safer and easier, its main control board adopts a compact console-type design with touch operation and monitoring on the same single screen. Additionally,

plant control is automated and the control and protection system, which ensures plant safety at the time of abnormal conditions, employs digital systems with micro-processors.

  1. Reduction of radiation exposure

Based on the many past operation experiences, several measures are planned to reduce occupational radiation exposure for the APWR. 90wt% enriched boron-10, which is neutron absorber existing in natural boron, is employed for the boric acid dissolvent in the primary coolant to control reactivity of reactor core. The design improves water control of the primary coolant and reduces radiation sources. Cleanup water flow rate is also increased. These improvements reduce radiation dose of the plant personnel.

  1. Plant Design

The principal designs of the APWR are described next

(l)Fuel assemblies

Conventional PWRs (4-loop) have 193 fuel assemblies. The APWR core consists of 257 fuel assemblies to correspond to the increased power output. The APWR fuel assemblies are based on the 17x17 array which has had many operating experiences in conventional PWRs. The APWR assemblies are longer by about 2 feet to accommodate the lower plenum and the extended fuel rods to increase margin for fuel design.

The maximum burn-up of the fuel assembly is 55,000MWd/ton.

(2)Reactor vessel

The reactor vessel is about 13m high which is the same as conventional PWRs (4-loop), but the inside diameter is enlarged to about 5.2m from about 4.4m of the conventional PWR to accommodate the increased 257 fuel assemblies.

Besides, from the experiences with conventional PWRs, the following improvements are employed. As a countermeasure against stress corrosion cracking (SCC) of the control rod drive mechanism (CRDM) housing base part, etc. on the reactor vessel head, the bypass flow from the reactor vessel primary coolant inlet to the reactor vessel upper

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NSRA, Japan