Sealing Performance

Improved seal technology can reduce downtime and increase reactor coolant pump performance.

There are 263 pressurized water reactors (PWR) and 45 pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWR) operating today, comprising almost 70 percent of all the reactors in the world. Reactor coolant pumps (RCP) cool reactors and power steam generators at these PWR power stations, constantly circulating large volumes of high-temperature, high-pressure water. Accordingly, RCPs constitute one of the most severe applications of mechanical end-face shaft seals.

With increased demand for electricity, nuclear power plants have little room for downtime due to maintenance. Engineers are investigating system improvements to maximize the time between RCP seal overhauls while technological advances in RCP seal technology have improved the productivity and operability of PWR power stations.

"Sealing Performance" -- May 2009 Nuclear Power International 481 KB pdf