Abstract
The magnetic-jack type CRDM withdraws or inserts a control rod assembly from/to the reactor core to control the core reactivity. The CRDM housings form not only the path of the electromagnetic field but also the pressure boundary of a nuclear reactor, and a periodic in-service inspection should be carried out if there are welded or flange jointed parts on the pressure boundary. The in-service inspection is a time-consuming process during the reactor refueling, and moreover it is difficult to perform the inspection over the reactor head. A magnetic motor housing is applied for the current SMART CRDM and has several welding joints, however a nonmagnetic motor housing with fewer or no welding joints may improve the operational efficiency of the nuclear reactor by avoiding or simplifying the in-service inspection process. Prior to the development, the magnetic field transfer efficiency of the nonmagnetic housing was required to be assessed. It was verified and optimized by the electromagnetic analysis of the lifting force estimation. Magnetic flux rings were adopted to improve the efficiency. In this paper, the design and optimization process of a nonmagnetic motor housing with the magnetic flux rings for the SMART CRDM are introduced and the analyses results are discussed.
