Chinese Innovative Patent Technologies for the Reactor Pressure Vessel

There is a huge and rapid growing demand for energy in China. The developing of new energy, including nuclear energy, is an important way to solve China’s energy and environment problems. Currently, Nuclear power is playing a more and more important role in China, especially in the coastal areas where the economy is developing rapidly. The main nuclear reactor equipment is the key guarantee to nuclear safety, such as the reactor pressure vessel. With the continuous development of science and technology, the reactor pressure vessel uses more and more of advanced design methods, high performance materials and industrial-proven technologies. As an airtight container who is directly exposed to the great operating pressure of reactor, the reactor pressure vessel plays a crucial role to the safety of reactor. In the paper, by retrieving Chinese Intellectual Property Office patent libraries, 12 Chinese innovative patents for the reactor pressure vessel are introduced, containing four kinds of main technologies: closure, body, nozzle safe end and other technologies. The patent results could lead the corresponding advice to the design of the equipment effectively, to the system arrangement reasonably, and further to the reference for designing a safe nuclear power plants. The paper is to exchange the latest technological progress of reactor pressure vessel, in order to promote technological innovation in the nuclear power field.