Spherical element deceleration method for pebble bed reactor and nuclear power plant

摘要

This invention relates to a nuclear power plant (10) having a nuclear reactor (11) of the pebble bed type, making use of spherical fuel and/or moderator elements, and an element handling system (20) having at least one sphere flow path (22) along which spheres are conveyed under the influence of a fluid stream. More particularly, the invention relates to a method of decelerating spheres before being discharged from a discharge end (24) the sphere flow path (22). The invention extends to an element handling system (20), to a decelerating assembly (26) for decelerating spherical elements before being discharged from a discharge end (24) of the sphere flow path (22) and to a decelerator fitting for use in decelerating spherical elements before being discharged from a discharge end (24) of the sphere flow path (22).