Passively-Cooled Spent Nuclear Fuel Pool System

Primary Inventor: Krishna P. Singh
Contributing Inventor(s): Joseph Rajkumar
Date of Publication: June 4, 2018
Status: Granted
Jurisdiction: US
Assignee: SMR Inventec, LLC
Equipment Type: HI-COOL
Docket Number:听HOL-069
Application Number: 15/996,868
Publication Number:听US 2018/0277264 A1

See also: US 9,916,910 B2

Prior Publication Data:

Foreign Patent Documents:

Related U.S. Publication Data:

  • Continuation-in-part of application No. 14/620,465, filed on February 12, 2015, which was a continuation-in-part of application No. PCT/US13/54973, filed on August 14, 2013, application No. 14/713, 093, filed on May 15, 2015, which is a continuation-in-part of application No. 14/403,082, filed as application No. PCT/US2013/042070 on May 21, 2013, now Patent No. 9,786,393.
  • Provisional application No. 61/993,857, filed on May 15, 2014, provisional application No. 61/683,030, filed on August 14, 2012, provisional application No. 61/649,593, filed on May 21, 2012.
  • Continued in part by application No. 14/713,093, filed on May 15, 2015, and published as US 2015/0287483 A1.

Abstract: A passively-cooled spent nuclear fuel pool system and method therefor. In one embodiment, the invention can be a passively-cooled spent nuclear fuel pool system comprising: spent nuclear fuel pool comprising a body of liquid water having a surface level at least one spent nuclear fuel rod submerged in the body of liquid water that heats the body of liquid water; a lid covering the spent nuclear fuel pool to create a hermetically sealed vapor space between the surface level of the body of liquid water and the lid; and a passive heat exchange sub-system fluidly coupled to the vapor space, the passive heat exchange sub-system configured to: (1) receive water vapor from the vapor space; (2) remove thermal energy from the received water vapor, thereby condensing the water vapor to form a condensed water vapor; and (3) return the condensed water vapor to the body of liquid water.