Some peculiarities of the WGR-50 high temperature reactor

The basic design features of a high-temperature helium cooled, graphite-moderated WGR-50 type reactor are considered. Spherical fuel elements are suggested to be used in the reactor core. The fuel elements are arranged as a pebble bed continuously passing across the core. The excess reactivity is compensated by spherical absorbers. The control and protection system elements are introduced immediately into the spherical element pebble bed. The basic specifications of the reactor obtained from neutron-physical and thermohydraulic computations are given. The reactors are shown to possess a comparatively low pressure, high thermal efficiency, high nuclear safety, high thermal capacity of the core, reliability in operation