There are currently 34 Boiling Water Reactors (BWR) in the United States, which make

up roughly one-third of the 100 licensed nuclear reactors in the country. [1] A BWR is cooled with
the Recirculation System which also controls the power level of the core through the variable speed
recirculation pumps and serves as the paths for emergency makeup and chemical purification. [2]
The Recirculation System consists of two separate pumping loops where each has a recirculation
pump driven by a variable speed motor, 10 jet pumps, valves, piping, and instruments. [3] This work
discusses the features of the jet pump as well as its working-principles, strengths, flaws, and
solution to these flaws. [2]
The jet pumps were first introduced in BWR-3 and 4 between 1965-1966. [4] They are
located at the annular region between the core barrel and the outside reactor vessel and their main
purpose in a BWR is to increase the total flow rate of coolant into the core while minimizing the
external recirculation flow rate necessary to obtain the desired flow rate. [2,3] Since there are no
moving components in the jet pump, it increases coolant flow rate into the core by creating a jet
flow through a nozzle. Water is driven by the recirculation pump into the jet pump suction which
decreases the pressure around the jet pump suction, as stated by Bernoullis principle. The water
in the downcomer region which is subjected to a higher pressure is entrained and forced through
the jet pump at an increased flow rate. [3] After that, water from the downcomer region and the
recirculation pump is mixed in the mixer section before entering the diffuser which has an
increased flow area to decrease water velocity. [3] Jet pumps are proven to be effective to drive
water into the core as they provide roughly two-third of coolant flow into the core during normal
operation. [3]
Nevertheless, the jet pump is not without flaws. One of the major issues faced by the jet
pump is flow-induced vibration caused by the flow difference between two recirculation loops
when both recirculation pumps are being operated. [3] This results in flow reversal and oscillation
in the low flow loop which subsequently causes the jet pump and other components like the riser
braces to vibrate violently. [3] Consequently, the jet pump might be damaged due to fatigue. Several
methods are applied to minimize vibration in jet pumps, one of them is through procedural controls
where the flow rates of both recirculation pumps are required to be within 5% of each other when
the flow rate of water in the core is 70% or more than rated, and within 10% of each other when
less than 70%. [3] In addition, when starting an idle recirculation pump with another one already
operating, the pumping power of the latter is to be reduced by 50% to minimize vibration. [3]
Besides, extra features such as the slip joint clamp, slip joint labyrinth seal, and set screw
auxiliary wedges are added to the jet pumps to minimize vibration at different parts of the jet
pumps. [6] However, these added features have been proven to be insufficient to eliminate jet pump
vibration. [5,6] Nevertheless, efforts are being made by private corporations such as GE Hitachi
Nuclear Energy as well as nonprofit organizations like Electric Power Research Institute to tackle
this issue. [5,6,7]
On the other hand, for the purpose of improving safety and simplifying reactor design, the
latest designs of BWRs such as the Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) and the Economic
Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) have eliminated the jet pumps completely. [8]
[1] "Power Reactors," U.S. NRC, 28 June 2016. [Online]. Available:
https://www.nrc.gov/reactors/power.html. [Accessed 21 January 2017].

[2] "BWR reactor Recirculation Syste,," The Virtual Nuclear Tourist, 5 January 2006. [Online].
Available: http://www.nucleartourist.com/systems/recirc.htm. [Accessed 21 January 2017].

[3] M. Ragheb, "Nuclear Power Engineering," 13 Macth 2014. [Online]. Available:

http://www.mragheb.com/. [Accessed 21 January 2017].

[4] U. T. T. Center, "U.S. NRC BWR14 TECHNOLOGY MANUAL (R-104B)," [Online].

Available: https://www.nrc.gov. [Accessed 21 January 2017].

[5] B. Nelson, "A Solution for Aging BWR Plants: Jet Pump Anti-Vibration Solution," Nuclear
Plant Journal, p. 46, March-April 2013.

[6] B. Carter, "U.S. NRC," 25-26 May 2010. [Online]. Available:

https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1015/ML101590703.pdf. [Accessed 21 January 2017].

[7] J. Hosler, "Management of jet pump flow-induced vibration," January 2014. [Online].
Available: http://mydocs.epri.com/docs/portfolio/p2014/roadmaps/nuc_mat_04-jet-pump-
flow-induced-vibration.pdf. [Accessed 21 January 2017].

[8] G. E. Company, "The ESBWR Plant General Description," 2007.