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Further, since the grid corners of the adjacent fuel assemblies could probably interfere with each other while removing (loading) from (into) the core during the refueling operation (c.f. Figure 3,3.22), design improvement of the grid corners to increase the sliding capability together with careful manipulation of the refueling crane have been adopted to prevent such grid corner interference,

  1. Reactor Coolant System

  1. Outline

  1. System summary

The reactor coolant system (RCS), also called the primary cooling system, transfers the heat generated in the reactor core to the SGs where steam is generated, and in turn the steam is sent to the secondary system to run the turbine generator. The RCS consists of the RV and the heat transfer loops connected to the RV, as well as the pressure control system components such as the pressurizer. Depending on the plant capacity, the RCS has two, three or four heat transfer loops. Starting from the RV, each loop is composed of the hot leg piping, SG, cross over piping, a RCR and cold leg piping, as well as the related instrumentation.

The pressure control system consists of a pressurizer and its equipment including safety and relief valves, spray valves, heaters and a pressurizer relief tank and their piping, valves and instrumentation. The pressurizer is connected to the hot leg of a reactor coolant loop using the pressurizer surge line piping. All of this equipment and the reactor coolant loops are contained in the reactor containment building. A conceptual flow diagram of the RCS of a typical four-loop plant is shown in Figure 3.4.1.

  1. System functions

The functions of the RCS are summarized in the following sub-sections.

  1. Reactor core cooling and heat transfer to the secondary system

Thermal energy generated in the core is carried from the reactor and transferred to the SGs by the reactor coolant flowing in the hot leg piping. In the

SGs, heat is transferred, in turn, to the secondary cooling system. Then, the reactor coolant is sent back to the RV by the RCPs through the cold leg piping.

Under normal operating conditions, the RCPs provide forced circulation of the coolant through the primary circuit. When all pumps are tripped due to the loss of offsite power, the configuration of the system (in which the SGs are installed at a higher level than the RV) permits the natural circulation of the coolant Hence, the residual heat in the reactor core is removed and no overheating is caused in the core region.

A flywheel installed on top of the shaft of the pump motor provides additional inertia to mitigate flow coast-down, preventing the core cooling capability of the coolant from rapidly decreasing.

  1. Reactivity control

Besides cooling the reactor core, the reactor coolant acts as a neutron moderator and reflector, and as a solvent for boric acid which is a neutron absorber used in the chemical shim control. The concentration of boric acid in the coolant is adjusted by the chemical and volume control system, which is discussed later.

  1. Radioactive material confinement

The pressure boundary of the RCS serves as one of the multiple barriers next to the fuel cladding to confine the radioactive FPs produced in the fuel, preventing them from being released to the environment.

  1. Pressure control

In order to maintain the core cooling capability mentioned in Section 3.4.1- (1), it is necessary to ensure that the coolant is always properly sub-cooled even at the reactor outlet where the coolant temperature reaches the highest value in the system. For this purpose, the coolant pressure is normally maintained at 157 MPa (gage) by the pressurizer. The pressurizer has electrical heaters to compensate for heat losses caused by heat transmission at the pressurizer vessel surfaces and the continuous small spray flow. This spray flow is a measure to keep the spray line temperature at a moderate level. The water and the steam in the pressurizer are thus kept at the saturation temperature for the operating pressure by the heaters.

NSRA, Japan