Cooling system for suspending walls of reactor vessels - particularly liquid metal cooled fast neutron reactors

摘要

In a device for cooling the upwards extensions of the vessels of a fast neutron nuclear reactor, particularly a main vessel containing the reactor core and a volume of liquid metal coolant at high temperature and a safety vessel surrounding the main vessel, the two vessels being suspended from a rigid cover maintained at low temperature, a neutral gas circuit is provided in the annular space delimited by the two vessels and closed by an insulating structure extending parallel to the underside of the cover for cooling the wall of the main vessel, the wall of the safety vessel being cooled externally. A series of fans is mounted in the annular space for circulating the neutral gas. Prevents the thermosyphon effect arising from the heating of the neutral gas by the main vessel and the cooling by the cooled cover.