NUCLEAR REACTOR PLANT DESIGN

1472476 Nuclear reactor containments; handling reactor components NUCLEAR POWER CO (WHETSTONE) Ltd and TAYLOR WOODROW CONSTRUCTION Ltd 6 May 1975 [10 May 1974] 20906/74 Heading G6C A nuclear reactor installation (for example including (a) High Temperature Reactor) has an outer envelope 31 divided internally by a floor 18 24 into upper and lower sections the lower section being divided by a wall 23 into a first part housing the reactor pressure vessel 12 and a second part housing shielded enclosures including a spent fuel store 22 and a new fuel store that part 24 of the floor overlying the second part of the lower section together with the wall 23 and the outer envelope 31 constituting secondary containment means for the reactor and there being provided in the upper section handling means for transporting reactor components including nuclear fuel between the interior of the pressure vessel 12 and the shielded facilities through normally-closed access apertures in the pressure vessel and in the floor 18 24. Thus the outer envelope 31 affords protection for both the reactor and the shielded facilities provided in the second part of the lower section. The outer envelope 31 wall 23 floor section 24 and a foundation raft 14 are all integral; the pressure vessel 12 is supported on legs 13 above the raft 14. The handling means is constituted by a refuelling machine 19 a gantry 20 and a crane 21 carried on the gantry. The crane 21 is able to move the machine 19 between positions overlying the reactor core 11 and the fuel stores as well as transport heat exchange-circulator sets 28. The latter can be removed from or brought into the outer envelope via a chamber 27. Beneath the spent fuel store 22 is a chamber 26 enclosing a spent fuel discharge machine 25. Subterranean passages (40 42 Fig. 2 not shown) extend between loading and discharge bays (37, 38) and the new and spent fuel stores. An earthwork 32 surrounds that part of the outer envelope which is above ground level 33 and up to the level of the internal floor 18, 24.