Integrated system of nuclear reactor and heat exchanger

The invention concerns PWRs in which the heat exchanger is associated with a pressure vessel containing the core and from which it can be selectively detached. This structural configuration applies to electric power generating uses based on land or on board ships. An existing reactor of this kind is fitted with a heat exchanger in which the tubes are 'U' shaped. This particular design of heat exchangers requires that the ends of the curved tubes be solidly maintained in a tube plate of great thickness, hence difficult to handle and to fabricate and requiring unconventional fine control systems for the control rods and awkward coolant pump arrangements. These complications limit the thermal power of the system to level below 100 megawatts. On the contrary, the object of this invention is to provide a one-piece PWR reactor capable of reaching power levels of 1500 thermal megawatts at least. For this, a pressure vessel is provided in the cylindrical assembly with not only a transversal separation on a plane located between the reactor and the heat exchanger but also a cover selectively detachable which supports the fine control gear of the control rods. Removing the cover exposes a part of the heat exchanger for easy inspection and maintenance. Further, the heat exchanger can be removed totally from the pressure vessel containing the core by detaching the cylindrical part, which composes the heat exchanger section, from the part that holds the reactor core on a level with the transversal separation