Auxiliary bearing design considerations for gas cooled reactors

The need to avoid contamination of the primary system, along with other perceived advantages, has led to the selection of electromagnetic bearings (EMBs) in most ongoing commercial-scale gas cooled reactor (GCR) designs. However, one implication of magnetic bearings is the requirement to provide backup support to mitigate the effects of failures or overload conditions. The demands on these auxiliary or 'catcher' bearings have been substantially escalated by the recent development of direct Brayton cycle GCR concepts. Conversely, there has been only limited directed research in the area of auxiliary bearings, particularly for vertically oriented turbomachines. This paper explores the current state-of-the-art for auxiliary bearings and the implications for current GCR designs. (author)