Nuclear reactors operating in conjunction with gas turbines

Abstract

Abstract A thermal power plant employing a gas cooled nuclear reactor comprising a closed cycle gas turbine plant having at least one compressor driven by at least one compressor turbine, at least one work turbine mechanically separate from the compressor turbine and coupled to an electrical generator, and at least one heat exchanger for heating the working fluid, the plant incorporating duct means for conveying the working fluid in a closed path through the compressor, through one side of a heat exchanger, through the nuclear reactor, through the compressor turbine, through the work turbine and thence through the other side of the heat exchanger before re-entering the compressor, the arrangement being that the compressor turbine and compressor are arranged vertically within a first cavity in a concrete pressure vessel, the heat exchanger is arranged in a second vertical cavity within the pressure vessel and the reactor core within a third vertical cavity, extending transversely across the vessel with respect to the other cavities, the four cavities being interconnected for the passage of working fluid through the gas turbine plant and reactor core.

Inventors

• 👤 John Thompson
• 👤 Roger Davison Vaughan

Bibliographic Details