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公开(公告)号:US20230024749A1
公开(公告)日:2023-01-26
申请号:US17863346
申请日:2022-07-12
申请人: TerraPower, LLC
摘要: A method of handling spent nuclear fuel assemblies immerses the spent nuclear fuel assemblies in water in a relatively short time period when compared to traditional methods. A spent nuclear fuel assembly is removed from a nuclear reactor core, inserted into a sodium removal machine having a receiver, a cleaning vessel, and an elevator. A cleaning fluid is applied to the cleaning vessel and fuel assembly, and the fuel assembly is flushed with water while in the cleaning vessel. The cleaning vessel is at least partially submerged in the spent fuel pool during cleaning to provide passive heat removal. The cleaning vessel is lowered by an elevator into the spent fuel pool. The fuel assembly may then be loaded into a rack and/or a cask for long-term storage.
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公开(公告)号:US20220363995A1
公开(公告)日:2022-11-17
申请号:US17874832
申请日:2022-07-27
申请人: TerraPower, LLc
摘要: Embodiments of methods for improving mesophase pitch for carbon fiber production using supercritical carbon dioxide are described. The methods improve the relative amount and quality of mesophase pitch in feedstocks, such as coal tar, already having at least some mesophase pitch. One particular method includes performing a sCO2/toluene extraction on the coal tar to obtain a toluene insoluble fraction of the coal tar; mixing the toluene insoluble fraction with sCO2 to obtain a sCO2/toluene insoluble fraction mixture; and extruding the sCO2/toluene insoluble fraction mixture, thereby separating the sCO2 from the toluene insoluble fraction to obtain fibers of mesophase pitch.
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公开(公告)号:US20220310281A1
公开(公告)日:2022-09-29
申请号:US17533264
申请日:2021-11-23
申请人: TerraPower, LLC
摘要: Targetry coupled separation refers to enhancing the production of a predetermined radiation product through the selection of a target (including selection of the target material and the material's physical structure) and separation chemistry in order to optimize the recovery of the predetermined radiation product. This disclosure describes systems and methods for creating (through irradiation) and removing one or more desired radioisotopes from a target and further describes systems and methods that allow the same target to undergo multiple irradiations and separation operations without damage to the target. In contrast with the prior art that requires complete dissolution or destruction of a target before recovery of any irradiation products, the repeated reuse of the same physical target allowed by targetry coupled separation represents a significant increase in efficiency and decrease in cost over the prior art.
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公开(公告)号:US20220301729A1
公开(公告)日:2022-09-22
申请号:US17743169
申请日:2022-05-12
申请人: TerraPower, LLc
发明人: Anselmo T. Cisneros, JR. , Christopher J. Johns , Brian C. Kelleher , Kevin Kramer , Jeffery F. Latkowski , Jon D. McWhirter
IPC分类号: G21C1/32 , G21C1/22 , G21C15/243 , G21C1/03 , G21C15/02
摘要: Configurations of molten fuel salt reactors are described that allow for active cooling of the containment vessel of the reactor by the primary coolant. Furthermore, naturally circulating reactor configurations are described in which the reactor cores are substantially frustum-shaped so that the thermal center of the reactor core is below the outlet of the primary heat exchangers. Heat exchanger configurations are described in which welded components are distanced from the reactor core to reduce the damage caused by neutron flux from the reactor. Radial loop reactor configurations are also described.
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公开(公告)号:US11434429B2
公开(公告)日:2022-09-06
申请号:US16532334
申请日:2019-08-05
申请人: TerraPower, LLC
摘要: Embodiments of methods for improving mesophase pitch for carbon fiber production using supercritical carbon dioxide are described. The methods improve the relative amount and quality of mesophase pitch in feedstocks, such as coal tar, already having at least some mesophase pitch. One particular method includes performing a sCO2/toluene extraction on the coal tar to obtain a toluene insoluble fraction of the coal tar; mixing the toluene insoluble fraction with sCO2 to obtain a sCO2/toluene insoluble fraction mixture; and extruding the sCO2/toluene insoluble fraction mixture, thereby separating the sCO2 from the toluene insoluble fraction to obtain fibers of mesophase pitch.
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公开(公告)号:US11289210B2
公开(公告)日:2022-03-29
申请号:US16167381
申请日:2018-10-22
申请人: TerraPower, LLC
摘要: Disclosed embodiments include fuel ducts, fuel assemblies, methods of making fuel ducts, methods of making a fuel assembly, and methods of using a fuel assembly. An inner hollow structure has a first geometry and an outer hollow structure has a second geometry different from the first geometry. The first hollow structure is configured to expand in at least one dimension under stress and cause the first hollow structure to contact the second hollow structure. The second hollow structure distributes at least a portion of the stress of the first hollow structure.
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公开(公告)号:US20220005619A1
公开(公告)日:2022-01-06
申请号:US17388824
申请日:2021-07-29
申请人: TerraPower, LLC
发明人: Anselmo T. Cisneros, JR. , Phillip Berg , Michael T. Blatnik , Michael J. Edwards , Gregory T. Markham , Daniel J. Walter
摘要: A simple nuclear reactor in which most of the reflector material is outside of the reactor vessel is described. The reactor vessel is a cylinder that contains all of the fuel salt and a displacement component, which may be a reflector, in the upper section of the reactor vessel. Other than the displacement component, the reflector elements including a radial reflector and a bottom reflector are located outside the vessel. The salt flows around the outside surface of the displacement component through a downcomer heat exchange duct defined by the exterior of the displacement component and the interior surface of the reactor vessel. This design reduces the overall size of the reactor vessel for a given volume of salt relative to designs with internal radial or bottom reflectors.
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公开(公告)号:US20210343431A1
公开(公告)日:2021-11-04
申请号:US17368576
申请日:2021-07-06
申请人: TerraPower, LLC
摘要: A reflector assembly for a molten chloride fast reactor (MCFR) includes a support structure with a substantially cylindrical base plate, a substantially cylindrical top plate, and a plurality of circumferentially spaced ribs extending between the base plate and the top plate. The support structure is configured to encapsulate a reactor core for containing nuclear fuel. The MCFR also includes a plurality of tube members disposed within the support structure and extending axially between the top plate and the bottom plate. The plurality of tube members are configured to hold at least one reflector material to reflect fission born neutrons back to a center of the reactor core.
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公开(公告)号:US11133114B2
公开(公告)日:2021-09-28
申请号:US16865854
申请日:2020-05-04
申请人: TerraPower LLC
发明人: Micah J. Hackett , Greg A. Vetterick , Cheng Xu
IPC分类号: G21C3/07 , C22C38/32 , C22C38/28 , C22C38/26 , C22C38/24 , C22C38/22 , C22C38/02 , C22C38/00 , B32B1/02 , B32B15/01 , B23K20/02 , C23C30/00 , C23C24/10 , C23C28/02 , C22C27/02 , B21B21/00 , B21C23/22 , B23K103/18
摘要: This disclosure describes various configurations and components for bimetallic and trimetallic claddings for use as a wall element separating nuclear material from an external environment. The cladding materials are suitable for use as cladding for nuclear fuel elements, particularly for fuel elements that will be exposed to sodium or other coolants or environments with a propensity to react with the nuclear fuel.
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公开(公告)号:US20210210224A1
公开(公告)日:2021-07-08
申请号:US17076309
申请日:2020-10-21
申请人: TerraPower, LLC
IPC分类号: G21C7/28 , G21C3/54 , G21C1/02 , G21C7/22 , G21C1/22 , G21C15/28 , G21C1/32 , G21C7/27 , G21C11/06 , G21C15/02
摘要: Configurations of molten fuel salt reactors are described that utilize neutron-reflecting coolants or a combination of primary salt coolants and secondary neutron-reflecting coolants. Further configurations are described that circulate liquid neutron-reflecting material around a reactor core to control the neutronics of the reactor. Furthermore, configurations which use the circulating neutron-reflecting material to actively cool the containment vessel are also described. A further configuration is described that utilizes a core barrel between a reactor core volume of molten fuel salt and a reflector volume, in which the reflector volume contains a plurality of individual reflector elements separated by an interstitial space filled with molten fuel salt.
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