Method and apparatus for improving the performance of air-cooled systems in nuclear reactors

摘要

The present invention relates to an improved radioactive decay heat removal system for removing heat from the inert gas filled gap space between a reactor vessel and a confinement vessel of a liquid metal cooled reactor. A plurality of cooling conduits in flow communication with the inert gas filling gap space are combined to provide multiple flow paths for the inert gas and circulate to a heat exchanger that generates heat from the inert gas, thereby introducing natural convection flow into the inert gas. do. The inert gas eventually absorbs heat directly from the reactor vessel by natural convective heat transfer.