THEHGCR-1, A DESIGN STUDY OF A NUCLEAR POWER STATION EMPLOYING A HIGH-TEMPERATURE GAS-COOLED REACTOR WITH GRAPHITE-UO2 FUEL ELEMENTS

摘要

The preliminary design of a 3095-Mw (thermal), helium-cooled, graphite-moderated reactor, employing grdphite-UO2 fuel elements has been investigated. At design conditions, 1500°F reactor outlet gas would be circulated to eight steam generators to produce 1050°F, 1450-psi steam which would be converted to electrical power in eight 157-Mw (electrical) turbine-generators. The over-all efficiency, of this nuclear power, station" is 36.5%. The significant activities released from the unclad graphite-UO2 fuel appear to be less than 0.2% of those produced and would be equivalent to 0.002 curie/cm3 in the primary helium circuit. The maintenance problems associated with this contamination level are discussed. A cost analysis indicates that the capital cost of this nuclear station per electrical kilowatt would" be around $220, and that the production cost of electrical power would be 7.8 mills/kwhr.