Integral nuclear reactor-heat exchanger power plant

Claim 1

A NUCLEAR REACTOR HAVING A PRESSURE VESSEL, A REACTOR CORE IN SAID PRESSURE VESSEL, A HEAT EXCHANGER IN SAID PRESSURE VESSEL FOR HEAT EXCHANGE BETWEEN THE REACTOR COOLANT FLUID AND A SECOND FLUID, A BIOLOGICAL SHIELD IN SAID PRESSURE VESSEL SEPARATING SAID CORE AND HEAT EXCHANGER AND DEFINING WITH SAID VESSEL A CHAMBER FOR SAID HEAT EXCHANGER, AND A PLURALITY OF PASSAGES IN SAID BIOLOGICAL SHIELD FOR THE CIRCULATION OF SAID COOLANT FLUID BETWEEN SAID REACTOR CORE AND SAID HEAT EXCHANGER, WHEREIN SAID HEAT EXCHANGER COMPRISES AN INTERNAL CIRCUIT IN SAID CHAMBER FOR SAID SECOND FLUID, SAID INTERNAL CIRCUIT COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF SUBSTANTIALLY IDENTICAL ELONGATED TUBULAR UNITS, THE LENGTH AND CROSS SECTIONAL DIMENSIONS OF SAID UNITS BEING SMALL AS COMPARED TO THE LENGTH AND CROSS SECTIONAL DIMENSIONS OF SAID CHAMBER, DISMOUNTABLE FLUID-TIGHT COUPLING MEANS FOR REMOVABLY ASSEMBLING SAID UNITS IN END TO END RELATIONSHIP, A PLURALITY OF PARALLEL ADJACENT TUBULAR ROWS EACH FORMED BY A PLURALITY OF SAID UNITS IN END TO END RELATIONSHIP, COLLECTOR MEANS, MEANS FOR REMOVABLY CONNECTING EACH OF SAID ROWS IN PARALLEL RELATIONSHIP TO SAID COLLECTOR MEANS, THE LENGTH OF SAID ROWS AND THE LENGTH OF SAID CHAMBER BEING SO PROPORTIONED THAT A SPACE FREE OF SAID UNITS AND HAVING A LENGTH AT LEAST EQUAL TO THAT OF ONE OF SAID UNITS IS PROVIDED BETWEEN ONE END OF EACH OF SAID ROWS AND THE ADJACENT WALL OF SAID VESSEL.