Passive heat removal from reactor safety vessel - includes splitting heat-entraining air flow in interspace into 2 streams, so that only smaller stream passes through filter, reducing filter area requirement

摘要

Passive heat removal from the concrete-housed safety vessel of a nuclear reactor involves initial heat transfer through the steel safety vessel by conduction and radiation and then upward transfer by means of air and natural convection in the interspace between the safety vessel and the concrete housing for filtration and release to atmos. through a housing opening. The novelty is that the heat-entraining air flow in the interspace is split into two streams, only the inner smaller stream directed at the safety vessel being passed through the filter, while outer larger stream is released without filtering. A nuclear reactor containment for carrying out the process is also claimed. ADVANTAGE - Satisfactory heat removal is achieved without the need for an excessively large filter surface area.