Abstract
With the development of nuclear energy and the need for environmental protection, some advanced small reactors have gradually entered the public’s field of vision. The passive natural circulation is an important part of the inherent safety feature for advanced small reactors. Based on the limitations of the site environment, the large heat exchange area of the air cooler, and the high cost of equipment construction for the air-cooled waste heat removal scheme of a small reactor, this paper studies the water-cooled passive residual heat removal scheme and analyzes the water-cooled water cooling by establishing a system natural circulation hydraulic calculation model. From the aspects of equipment scale, construction cost, and operation & maintenance cost, etc., the advantages and disadvantages of several schemes were analyzed.
This study shows that the water-cooled passive waste heat removal scheme can extract the core heat under accident conditions; it can reduce the equipment volume, and reduce the cost. Finally, suggestions are put forward for the follow-up improvement direction, and further research and realization of steam-water two-phase condensation heat transfer are made to improve heat exchange efficiency, reduce equipment scale, and improve the economy, which can provide a reference for the follow-up small reactor research and development.
