Other

General Electric Company

Li C Hsu

Larry E Fennern

Perng-Fei Gou

Giancarlo Barbanti

Atambir Singh Rao

Gentry E Wade

Harold A Careway

A reactor building assembly includes a pressure vessel within a containment vessel surrounded in turn by first and second enclosures defining respective first and second chambers. A method of operation includes channeling fresh air downwardly by gravity through the second chamber and then channeling the fresh air laterally through the first enclosure adjacent to the bottom thereof and into the first chamber. The air is then channeled upwardly by natural buoyancy through the first chamber for cooling the first chamber and mixing with stale air therein. The stale air is then discharged from the first chamber upwardly through the top of the first enclosure to the environs. A building inlet is disposed at the second enclosure top for receiving the fresh air, a building outlet is disposed at the top of the first enclosure for discharging the stale air, and a transfer duct is disposed through the first enclosure adjacent to the bottom thereof for selectively joining in flow communication the first and second chambers for allowing natural convection circulation of the fresh air downwardly through the second chamber, laterally through the transfer duct, and upwardly through the first chamber.

Reactor building assembly and method of operation

A gravity driven cooling system pool is disposed at an elevated location with respect to the locations of nuclear fuel rods in a pressure vessel. In the event of a loss of coolant in the pressure vessel, steam pressure is initially reduced by venting the steam into the containment or a closed suppression pool containing a quantity of water under a large air space. The suppression pool condenses sufficient steam to lower the steam pressure in the pressure vessel so that water can flow by gravity from gravity driven cooling system pool to flood the fuel rods in the pressure vessel. An isolation condenser is submerged in a large supply of water elevated with respect to pressure vessel. Steam is admitted to the isolation condenser, or heat exchanger, where it is cooled by boiling the water surrounding it. This steam is vented to the atmosphere. A depressurization valve vents steam fro the pressure vessel into the containment to aid pressure reduction, and thus to aid the gravity flow of coolant. Later, as the pressure in the pressure vessel is reduced by heat removal in the isolation condenser, steam in the containment is permitted to flow from the containment, and into the depressurization valve and thence to the isolation condenser, or heat exchanger.

Containment heat removal system

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Saratoga, CA, United States of America

Li C Hsu