Molten core retention and solidification apparatus

摘要

A fluid cooled heat exchanger molten core retention and solidification apparatus (10) is a vertically oriented array of tube assemblies located beneath a reactor vessel. Water under forced circulation flows through inlet tube (18) into an inlet plenum (20) beneath the heat exchanger (10) up through the inner vertical tube (22), down through the annular space between the outside of the inner tube (22) and the inside of the outer tube (24) into an outlet plenum (28), then through tube (30) to a heat exchanger outside containment building (16) where heat is released. The array of vertical tube assemblies provides heat transfer surface within a few centimeters of all molten material and sufficient volume between the exterior surface of outer vertical tubes (24) to accommodate all expected molten material in the event of a meltdown of the core of the nuclear reactor.