A Sodium-Graphite Reactor Steam-Electric Station for 75 Megawatts Net Generation (open access)

A Sodium-Graphite Reactor Steam-Electric Station for 75 Megawatts Net Generation

The major design features, nuclear characteristics and performance data for a nuclear fueled central station power plant of 75,000 kw net capacity are presented. The heat source is a Na cooled graphite moderated reactor. The design of the reactor takes full advantage of the experience gained to date on the Sodium Reactor Experiment (SRE); the plant described here is a straightforward extension of the smaller experimental SRE, which is now under construction. The fuel elements are made up of rod clusters and the moderator is in the form of Zr canned graphite elements. The performance of the reactor has been based on conservative temperatures and coolant flow velocities which result in a plant with "built-in reserve." Thus, as experience is gained and anticipated improvements in reactor fuel elements and construction materials are proven, the performance of the plant can be increased accordingly. Two reactor designs are described, one for operation with slightly enriched U fuel elements and the other for operation with Th--U fuel elements. The associated heat exchangers, pumps, steam, and electrical generating equipment are identical for either reactor design. An analysis of turbine cycles describes the particular cycle chosen for initial operation and discusses a method by which …
Date: March 22, 1955
Creator: Weisner, E. F. & Sybert, W. M.
System: The UNT Digital Library