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10 5 30 No, 2184/66. TENT SPECIFICATION DRAWINGS ATTACHED ‘Applicaton made in Jopan (No. 30232) on 24 May, 1965. Complete Specification Published: 19 June, 1968, © Crown Copyright 1968, COMPLETE SPECIFICATION Fast Nuclear Reactor We, Hrracin Lp, a Corporation organized under’ the laws of” Japan, of 4, I-chome, ‘Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, ‘Tokyo, Japan, do hereby declare the invettion for which we pray that a patent may be granted t0 us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be partly described ia and by the following statement:— ‘This invention relates to fast nuclear reac- tors ‘With fast reactors, use of neutron modera- tors in the core structure is avoided as far a pow gad the nuclear reaction is gly ‘maintained by neutrons of high energy level ‘ordinarily exceeding 1 keV. “Also, with fast eactors, the enrichment required for the fissile material to maintain the critical condi- ‘ion is relatively high and such a reactor is generally formed of a fuel core consisting of ‘enriched urenium or plutonium and surround ed by a blanket consisting of a large amount of fertile material, With such fast reactors, use of the U"*—Put type fuel oye is advanta- ‘geous Because of the high availability of the fuel and the high breeding ratio obtainable with this cycle, ‘On the other band, with such fast reactors employing the U"*—Pue fuel cycle, the coolant void reactivity efect shows & marked tendency to become positive and particularly with large power reactors of the type the coolant void coefficient is apt to have a large positive value in the contral region ofthe core, A positive coolant void coeficient means that ‘the reactivity increases with decrease in amount of the coolsnt in the core and any large positive value of coolant void coefficient thus places the core in an extremely dangerous state, for example, in cases where the amount of coolant is rapidly seduced in « portion of the core. To avoid this danger, vasious attempts have previously been made; in one attempt the core structure has been made fiat in shape to in- crease neutron leakage to the exterior thereof, [Price 45.64] and in another an increased proportion of the coolant in the core has been used. A further attempt bas been to interpose some amount ‘of moderator in the core, All of the previous attempts, however, have involved different dis- advantages such as increase in critical mass, reduction in breeding ratio and complication of both the control mechanism and the core structure, According to the present invention there is provided 2 fast muclear reactor comprising a core operating primarily on the UU" ‘ype fuel cycle and a blanket of fertile material surrounding the core, the core being provided with at least one region operating on at least me of the Oe pan ge Tipe ae Theos type ‘es, whereby the coolant void re- acuity floc oer tht area of the cove Whee the coolant void reactivity effect tends to a positive value is smaller than it would be ifthe core were not provided with at least one of the said regions. Tn one form of the invention at least one of ‘the said regions is located at the centre of the core. Tn another form the core includes one of the said regions heving an annular cross-section, Such a region may be concentric withthe core and located intermediately between the centre and che periphery of the core. ‘The coolant for the reactors ofthe invention may conveniently be sodium and the core may be of a size of at least 1000 litres, ‘Reference is herein made to various type of fuel cycles. This term is intended to imply the mode of operation ofa particular fuel eyele rather than the basic constituents of the eyele. For instance, the U**—Pu*® type fuel cycle is a fuel oycle in which U* absorbs a neutron and is transformed into Pu*” whichis tum fis- sions and absorbs neutrons. The type of fuel used for such a fash be U"* en riched with Pu", The actual proportion of the constituents will of course depend upon 1.117.165 Date of Application and fling Complete Specification: 17 May, 1966, 5 o 6 B 85 2 4,117,165 ‘the core volume, the critical mess, the propor- ‘ion occupied by the fuel and the density of the fl Howser, if ped jcular core is specified the proportion of the constituents 5 may be readily calculated. Tlustrative embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 graphically illustrates the coolant 10. wid co-efficient in the core of fast reactors embodying the present invention amd those of the conventional type; Figure 2 is a diagrammatic cross-sectional ‘view of the core structure of a nuclear reactor 15. embodying the present invention; ‘Figure 3 is @ fragmentary longitudinal cross- sectional view of the core structure of another fast reactor embodying the present invention; and, 20 "Figure 4 is @ view similar to Figure 3, iMlustrating the core structure of a further embodiment of the present inventi ‘Waile giving a high breeding ratio, fast sears employing the Un! Pu fe cycle bit & sitive coolant void’ ¢o- ‘ffcient and thus involve an increased danger ‘a pointed out hereinbefore. in operation, ‘This feature of the fast reactor employing the US"—Puo* fuel cycle derives primarily coolant from the fact that the occurrence voids hardens the neutron spectram $0 as to: Tncrease the fast fission bonus of U"* while increasing the difference between the neutron emission of Pu and its neutron absorption, fnd which difference is conventionally ex- pressed by the formula v joy» where Fepresents the average number of neutrons ‘produced per nuclear fission, a; represents the Bision cross section, and , represents the neutron capture cross section. "The term “fast fission bonus” indicates the phenomena of the increase in the number of heutrons which occurs when materials such as ‘Ufsion oly by fst neuron having Kine tic energies of 1 MeV or more, there being an {nctease of one neutron by each fission ‘One practical example of this type of fast reactor exhibits characteristic values as shown fn Table 1 in comparison with data obtained ‘with reactors employing other types of fuel sae ra ae SS] mee | SE | ewe | Bo | Ta | EE eo Perf am wo fom | ow | ia | 20s wo jum | ve |x | as 3000 ‘Th —U"s 1584 1.00 0.0311 This ble includes data obiained with spherical cores having volumes of 1000 liters + and 3000 liters and formed of diferent types 55. of fuel. Each of the cores had a composition Including 20%, by volume, of fuel, 15%, by volume, of steel 9s structural material, and 55%, by volume, of coolant sodium, The sur- rounding blanket was 45 om. thick and in- Cluded 40%, by volume, of uranium (U**), 45%, by volume of steel, and 45%, by volume, 30 35 0 10 5 2» 6 e 1,117,165 of coolant sodium, The coolant void coefficient in the table corresponds to the reactivity change occuring with loss of 407, by volume, of sodium in the core, Incidentally, the per- cent indications in this specication represent volume percentages unless otherwise specified. ‘The distribution of the coolant void. co- efficient in global cores including U?"—Po™ ‘ype fuel and having volumes of 1000 liters and 3000 liters are graphically shown in Fig. 1 by curves A and A’, respectively. The coolant void coefficient, Ak, in ths figure corresponds to the reactivity change. occuting. at each radial distance, R, from the cote center when 407, of the coolant sodium Iying inthe incre- ‘mental range, AR, of one-tenth the core radius has become void ‘Such deficiencies relative tothe coolant void reactivity effect as observed from Table 1 and Fig. 1 of fast reactors employing the ‘UP'_pu* foc cycle can be effectively elimi nated by 2 core structure including a fuel com- bination of the conventional U"*—1 fuel anda fest one adonal fue of the type selected from the group of the other fuel types in Table 1. Some practical examples of the present in- vention will next be described, Exar 1, A fast reactor includes 2 metal-fueled spheri- cal core, 1000 litres in volume, and surround ed by @ blanket. The core consis of a fuel of the Th*U type placed in the core centre and occupying one-eighth of the entire a U="—Pu®* type occupying the rest of thecore. The blnket Goats oa fee mate pet cipally of U* and has a thickness of 45 cm, Steel is employed as the structural material of the core and blanket while sodium is employ- ced as coolant. The critical mass, breeding ratio and sodium void coeficient ofthis reactor have the values listed ia Table 2, Tame 2 Core Citial Sodium void volume, ‘mass, | Breeding | "coeficient, r Fuel pe ig ratio Ak yoo Pum pu | oe ara | ao 0.0108 Tum | yee 5g Total 532 ‘The composition of the core in this fast reactor includes 207, of fuel, 15% of steel as structural material, and 65%, ‘of coolant sodium and the composition of the blanket i= cludes 40% of fertile material, U"", 15% of structural steel, and 45%, of coolant sodium. ‘he sodium vd coefceat in Table 2 cor. responds to the reactivity change occutt when 407, of the sodiam inthe cote is Ine contrasted to the sodium void coef cient of 0.0001 obtained withthe1000— Tore consisting solely of U="—Pu*” fue, the fast reactor according to the present iavention can exhibit an improved sodium void coefficient of 0.0103, giving a satisfactory reactor safety $0 far as the coolant void reactivity effect is concerned. Further, though the breeding ratio of the reactor according to the invention is reduced, its critical mass is decreased by 10 kg. The curve B in Fig. 1 illustrates the dis- ‘bution of the coolant void coefficient fa the core of this embodiment. It will be clearly ‘observed by comparison with curve A. that the coolant void. coeficient of the reactor according to the invention is extremely redac- ed in value, exhibiting 2 positive value only in a very limited radical range. Moreover, it has been found chat substan- tially the same result can be obtained ‘with respect 0 the coolant void. coefcient, breed- ing ratio, critical mass, etc. by employing a diferent fuel combination which includes in place of the U"—Th*" type of fuel a fuel selected from the group of fuel types consist of Tae Pun Yee Uae tee and U"*—Pu® type fuel are arranged ia the core in the same position end in substantially the same proportion. Bxanrce 2 ‘Though, in the above example, a reactor relatively small in size tas been described Which has a core of 10004 volume, it is often desirable with large-sized reactor fuel cores to arrange the fuel other than the U™*—Pus type fuel in the core in divided or dispersed form in order to attain the objets of reducing the coolant void coeficient more effectively, reducing the proportion of the fuel other thas fe UP ies the ficl of the PU or ther type occupying the core cet, and a he so tine aig Soe. tion in breeding ratio of the reactor, Refering to Fig. 2, which ilustates the 30 35 0 9 95 10 50 55 4 1,117,165 ‘core structure of another fest reactor embody fng the present invention and having a core volume of 3000 liters, the core iustrated. is of spherical form including three regions 22, 2b, and 2c and is surrounded by a blanket 3 of 45-cm thickness. ‘Assuming that the spherical core bas a radius of 1.0, the central core region 2a forms f solid sphere having a radius of 0.3 and the {intermediate core region 2b is of shell form extending over the range of radial distance of from 0.3 to 0.7. The outer core region 2c is also of shell form, extending over the radial range of from 0.7 to 10. The central and outer core regions 2a end 2c are both formed. of the U"—Pu® type of fuel and the inter mediate one 2b is formed of the Thi#*—U™* type of fue As with the case of Example 1, ee Spon ince 20% of fc 15%, of structural steel and 65% of coolant sodium. Also, the blanket has the same com- position as that in Example 1. ‘The values. of the critical mass, breeding ratio and sodium void coefcient of the fast reactor described above are listed in Table 3. Tame 3 Core Critical Sodium void volume, mass, Breeding | cocflcient, 1 Fuel type ig ratio Ak us —pum | Pu? 858 3000 | Them—u | Ue 312 134 0.0068 Total 1170 “The distribution of che sodium void co- including as a principal fuel material a fuel eet te core is lustrated in Fig. 1 by of the type, otber than, U"*—Pu™*, for ex curve BY. As in the case of Example 1, itis beerved that the radial range giving 2 posi- {Gre coolant void coeficient is very limited. "Though in the above examples the core nas been shown in spherical form for clarity af description, 2 cylindrical form of ore is (0 fe selected in practice as amore practical form in such core, use is made of @ geometrical arrangement of pinike fuel cle~ ents, Each of the fuel elements includes @ pinelike fuel formed from en alloy, oxide oF Efbide misture of ful material Siti oy, UU, Teves, The Pum ‘or UU, nd a tubular fuel covering of an appropriate See or other material accommodating the fuel, ‘As a coolant, sodium is commonly used and recirculated around the fuel elements or fuel fase to cool the later. The blanket is also ff the. same construction as, that described Shove except that the proportion of the fertile material such as U* or Th? to the coolant FE increased, Also, various control rods are Insered in the core or part of the blanket and Pigrutron reflector, for example, graphite oF feryllium compound, is placed about the peuphery of the blanket “Two examples of such practical core struc- tore ae usted in Figs: 3 and 4 log tudinal cross. section. In each of the two figures, only the right-hand half section of the Gre seructure is shown fragmentarly, and feference numeral 4 indicates a core Fegion ample, the Th"—U"* type fuel, Reference ‘numeral 5 indicates another core region includ- ing U™—Pa®* as a principal fuel material and feferenoe numeral 6 a blanket region in- ding fertile materials such asTh™* and U™*. Reference 7 indicates. a neutron re- ‘ectors 8 a core vessel; 9 a radiation-shielding structure; and 103, 105, 10¢ respective fuel ements, The fuel elements are cach formed of 4 focl ot fertile material and a. tubular ‘covering therefor and a space is defined around fhe elements to allow passage of the coolant. Jn these core. structures, each fuel elements ‘he inchudes in ts center a fuel of the type Tee bee fe" camel, The type foe as the fuel material of the element, and include above and beneath the central fel the U"*—Pot™ type fuel or ferdle materials such as U™* and Th. The fuel elements 108 each inctude fuel material of the U="—-PU®” type in its center and the fertile materials above end beneath the fuel materiel. The fuel elements 10¢ include only fertle materials but not aay fuel material "The different types of fuel elements are pro- pecly arranged to form core regions 4, 5 and Blanket 6, as shown in Fig. 3 or 4. "The example shown in Fig. 3 includes & core region 4 of cylindrical form and a sur- founding core region 5 together forming a Heal core. The core shown in Fig. 4 {2 also cylindrical in form but includes a hol- Tow eslindrcal core region 4 and a core region 6 5 6 6 8 90 95 10 5 5 30 35 1716s 5 5 partly received in the region 4 and partly surrounding the latter, Though omitted in these figures, various accessory devioes are provided in each of the fast reactors, inclding means for interchange of the fuel elements, means for recirculating the coolant through the core and blanket, ‘means for converting the coolant heat into mechanical power, a control mechanism and drive means therefor. ‘The coolent can be recirculated in various ways. Tn one example shown in Fig. 3, cold coolant is first introduced to he fuel elements jn the blanket section from the exterior of the reactor casing through the core bottom as at A, The coolant introduced in this manner is rected to the core top, descends through the core, and is withdrawn as @ hot coolant through the core bottom, as indiated at B. Tn the above-described core constructions, the fuel arrangement in each of the fuel ele- ‘ments or their arrangement in the core may ‘be modifed in various ways, as required, For ‘example, the proportion of the fuel of the type cher than the U"*—Pu™" type in the entire fuel arrangement may be increased toward the axis of the core structure, or it may be modified by arranging the fuel of the type other than the U™*—Pu®* type in the core at a plurality of separate locations. As will be appreciated from the foregoing description, the fast reactor employing the UP\—Pu® type fuel and. including a. core comprising 2 compound fuel region sich asi ‘employed in the reactors of the present invene tion may provide a reduced coolant void co- ficient over the entire fuel core, ensuring & high degree of safety with a minimum of reduc- von in breeding ratio, In addition, the design of the core and control mechanism can be simplified toa substantial extent because of the safety ensured relative to the coolant used. It wil thus be apparent that he present iven- tion is highly valuable in industry. ‘wiiat we Chat iss 1. A fast muclear reactor comprising a core i primarily on the U**—Pu™ type fe and a blanket of fertile material sur- rounding the core, the core being provided ‘with at least one region operating on at least one, of the UU, eps Thee po, To ee ThE ‘ype fuel cycles, whereby the coolant void re- activity effect over that area of the core where ‘the coolant void reactivity effect tends to a positive value is smaller than it would be if ‘the core were not provided with at least one ‘of the said regions. 2, A fast miclear reactor as claimed in claim ‘having et least one of the said regions located a the centre of the core. 3. A fast nuclear reactor as claimed in claim 1 which includes at least one of the said regions having an annular cross-section dis- posed concentrically with the core and located intermediately between the centre and the periphery of the core, 4. A fast nuclear reactor as claimed in any ‘one of the preceding claims in which the coolant is sodium and the size of the core is at least 1000 litres. 5. A fast nuclear reactor constructed and seranged substantially as described herein with tefereace to and as shown by Figures 2, 3 oF 4 of the accompanying drawings. 6. A fast muclear reactor constructed and arranged substantially as described herein with reference to Examples 1 or 2. J. A. KEMP & CO, Chartered Patent Agents, 14, South Square, Gray's Inn, London, WG. Printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Ofice by the Courier Press, Leamington Spa, 1968. Published by the Pstent Office, 25 Southampton Buildings, Loadoa, W.C2, from whied ‘copies may be obtained 5 Cy 6 Coolant void coefficient, Ak x O5) 04 az a2 a al a2 Qs Lv 02 04° 06 Radial distance (assuming rom core Cente, R FIG. 1 08 40 core radius of 10 ) 1EETS ‘bo SS i Ds ©) Qi, LL I,117165 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION 2 SHEETS Ths droning a reproduction of Be Shand an eced sae SHEETS 1&2 “oe a4 a6 a5 70 ‘Flodial distance (assuming core radius of 10)

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