Patent ID: 9305668
Filing Date: 2016-04-05
CPC Classification: G21C,Y02E

Claim Text:
1. A reactor pressure vessel comprising: a reactor pressure vessel cylindrical wall portion; a lower head closing off a bottom of the cylindrical wall portion; a core barrel substantially coaxially disposed within the cylindrical wall portion and defining a coolant downcomer annulus between the core barrel and the cylindrical wall portion; a lower core support plate capping a bottom of the core barrel; and a cylindrical flow skirt disposed below the lower core support plate in the lower head, the cylindrical flow skirt having a vertical wall with a plurality of holes extending therethrough and an upper edge, the cylindrical flow skirt being supported from spaced support locations around the lower head with a circumferential distance between at least some of the support locations being different than the circumferential distance between other of the support locations and the upper edge being proximate the lower core support plate so that a majority of coolant flow entering the reactor pressure vessel and traveling down the annulus passes through the holes in the vertical wall of the cylindrical flow skirt before passing through the lower core support plate.