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Containment vessel drain system

  • US 9,881,704 B2
  • Filed: 01/28/2015
  • Issued: 01/30/2018
  • Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2015
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A system to drain a containment vessel, the system comprising:

  • a reactor vessel, contained within the containment vessel, to contain a nuclear reactor;

    a liquid to at least partially fill the containment vessel and to at least partially surround the reactor vessel about a region between the containment vessel and the reactor vessel;

    a drain inlet located in a lower portion of the containment vessel, below a surface of the liquid;

    an inlet located in an upper portion of the containment vessel;

    a source of pressurized gas to insert pressurized gas into the containment vessel through the inlet to force the liquid into the drain inlet;

    a fluid separation device, operatively connected to the drain inlet, to separate the liquid from the pressurized gas that enters the drain inlet after a surface of the liquid falls below the drain inlet in response to the pressurized gas, wherein the fluid separation device comprises a fluid separation tank at least partially filled with a volume of the liquid to maintain the volume of the liquid within the fluid separation tank by discharging the liquid from the fluid separation tank at approximately a same flow rate that the liquid is forced into the drain inlet; and

    an acoustic damping device to diminish one or more acoustic properties of the pressurized gas discharged through an air vent.

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