Flow Analysis for Single and Multi-Nozzle Jet Pump

Jet pumps, driven by a Primary-Loop Recirculation (PLR) Pump, have been widely used in Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) plants to recirculate the reactor core coolant. A jet pump consists of a driving nozzle, a bell-mouth, a throat and a diffuser. The improvement of the jet pump efficiency for BWR plants brings an economic advantage because it reduces the operating power cost of the PLR pump. In order to improve the efficiency of the BWR jet pump, a 1/5 scale jet pump test loop for BWR plant was used and intensive tests were conducted focusing on the types of driving nozzles and shapes of the throat. These test data were used for CFD flow analysis code verification. The analytical data showed good agreement with the test results. After the analytical model verification, improvement of jet pump efficiency was conducted. It was shown by the CFD analysis that the peak efficiency of the improved jet pump will be 36% with the tapered throat.