Design of Metallic Containment for Nuclear Reactor

Abstract

Nuclear Power Plants are the key source of nuclear power generation industry. Equipment’s of nuclear power plant primarily tends to deal with highly radioactive environment, hence they require proper isolation to prevent human exposure. Safety being the primary concern in nuclear industry, serious measures are taken in the fulfillment of its prevalence. Several active and passive safety systems are implemented inside the nuclear power plant to assure satisfactory performance of entire plant. The Metallic Containment is a free standing cylindrical vessel with ellipsoidal upper and lower heads. It is surrounded by Seismic Category I reinforced concrete shield building. Metallic Containment mainly acts as boundary of enclosure separating and housing the system of Class I Nuclear Equipment’s and adding a layer of protection to the plant in case of leakage of radioactive steam or gas. Metallic Containment having diameter of 124.6719* feet and height of feet 209.973* is a very large vessel holding pressure differential, thermal transients, penetration loading etc. It is highly necessary to design the critical sections of vessel (cylindrical shell, ellipsoidal heads, stiffeners, equipment hatches, penetration assemblies etc.) such that it tends to withstand in design, service (operating) as well as test conditions. The work comprises of establishing and implementing procedure for the design of Metallic Containment by rules and analysis. The process is carried out according to the governing code of ASME BPVS Section III, Division I, Subsection NE, Class Metallic Containment Equipment’s and ASME BPVS Section III, Division I, Subsection NC, Class II Equipment’s. An automated Microsoft Excel profile is developed in background following the prescribed procedure leading to the required design output. Design by rules is carried out in reference to subsection NE-3130 And Design by analysis is carried out in reference to subsection NE-3200. Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and Design for Assembly (DFM) are taken care of and modelling of Metallic Containment is prepared in Parametric Creo 2.0 platform.