METHOD FOR LOCALISING AND COOLING THE NUCLEAR REACTOR CORE MELT Russian patent published in 2022 - IPC G21C9/00 

FIELD: nuclear technology.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to a method for localising and cooling the nuclear reactor core melt and can be used to ensure the safety of nuclear power plants (NPPs) in the event of a serious accident. A wall/partition with a height corresponding to the minimum design level of cooling agent in the reactor shaft is pre-installed in the filter room with an annular gap relative to the wall of the reactor shaft, with at least one check valve in the lower part of said wall/partition for the flow of liquid from the filter room into said gap. The position of said wall/partition in the filter room is selected such as to ensure the conditions for the equality of the initial volume of liquid in the primary circuit of the NPP, in the pressure compensator, and in the hydraulic tanks of the emergency cooling system of the core. A shaped shield tilted towards said gap is placed over the gap. In the event of an accident, the liquid flowing from the primary circuit through a leak into the sealed shell is initially supplied, and the space defined by the wall/partition and the outer surface of the core catcher body on the outside is filled first, followed by filling the space in the filter room with the cooling agent outside of the wall/partition.

EFFECT: possibility of reducing the time interval between the accident and the provided heat transfer from the corium to the cooling agent.

1 cl, 3 dwg