Dynamic response of a multi-point mooring cylindrical floating nuclear power platform carrying a small-scale reactor

Abstract

An offshore floating nuclear power platform (FNPP) can provide stable energy and freshwater for remote islands. Compared with the ship-shaped FNPP, the cylindrical FNPP is suitable for small-scale lead-cooled reactors owing to its compactness and stability. Recently, there have been many studies on cylindrical FNPPs with a pressurized water reactor (PWR), however, the PWR's size limits the compact design of the FNPPs. Therefore, we designed a multipoint mooring cylindrical FNPP carrying a lead-cooled small-scale reactor (20 MWe). First, we performed a rolling decay test on a typical cylindrical FNPP model and obtained the damping coefficient by calibrating the corresponding simulation model. We then built a new cylindrical FNPP model with four mooring modes to study the configuration of the mooring line system using the simplified method and linear theory. Finally, we compared the transient response and mooring characteristics of the cylindrical FNPP when subjected to different directions of wind, waves, and currents. The results indicate that the mooring mode where the mooring line is divided into four groups is the optimal choice, with a maximum displacement of 16.79 m and a maximum roll angle of 7.24°. The safety factors of the mooring lines satisfy the requirements of the code.