Development of moisture separator for large nuclear steam turbine

In Japan, the capacity of nuclear power plants is increasing year by year, and now those of over 1,000 MWe are about to emerge. Under the situation, Hitachi, Ltd. previously developed a corrugated-plate type moisture separator for a 500 MWe nuclear steam turbine, and it is in successful operation at present. Following on this, a similar, but horizontal, corrugated-plate type moisture separator, compact in size, has been developed for a 1,000 MWe class nuclear steam turbine. Of those theoretical analyses and proving tests leading to this development, the following matters are described: waterdrop characteristics of moist steam, moisture separation performance, and safety of corrugated plates. (Mori, K.)