method for protecting the integrity of the bottom of the container of a reactor in nuclear power plants and device for implementing the method

摘要

For protecting the integrity of the reactor container base in nuclear power plants in the case of serious accidents involving the melt-down of the reactor core and the escape of molten material, a method and device are provided, with operation in the following three stages: a) intercepting and regularly and three-dimensionally redistributing the molten material escaping from the reactor (16) over the surface of beams (25) arranged in a pile in a dry environment below the reactor pressure vessel (16), in the container cavity (15) which contains the reactor; b) initially cooling and resolidifying the molten material deposited in small-thickness layers on the beams and, after this resolidification, c) finally cooling with a cooling fluid fed from a tank (17) in order to flood the cavity (15) containing the pile of beams (25). In this manner in addition to safeguarding the integrity of the container base, steam explosions are prevented. IMAGE