Core catcher
A core catcher or core catcher is a device for melting core material ( corium ) at a core melt in a nuclear reactor to absorb permanently and cool. Through it by the melting of the corium to downwardly through the containment vessel (containment) and the foundation plate of the reactor building and thus a contamination can be prevented groundwater. It consists of a special concrete-ceramic mixture and a special construction for cooling the core material with water. High heat resistance (> 2500 degrees Celsius corium temperature possible) is the design goal. Possible alternative materials with the highest melting point (e.g. carbon, at 3642 degrees Celsius) are conceivable. Further modifications are desirable with regard to the necessary Corium disposal.
Core catchers are used, among other things, in reactors of the EPR type , rapid sodium-cooled reactor 300 ( SNR-300 ) and the water-water-energy reactor 1000/428 (WWER-1000/428). Furthermore, it is to be used in the KERENA boiling water reactor (formerly SWR-1000) and the ATMEA1 pressurized water reactor . The core catcher of the EPR, for example, has an area of 170 m² and a weight of 500 t.
In nuclear power plants of the type AES-91 from Atomstroiexport , with reactors of the type WWER-1000/428, core catchers are used as standard for the first time, but they are only located directly under the reactor vessel, i.e. H. do not allow spreading and thus better cooling of the melt mass. At the beginning of 2011 , the two reactors at the Chinese Tianwan nuclear power plant were the only active reactors in the world with such a device.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Siempelkamp: Core-Catcher - cooling structures
- ^ IAEA document: Status of Fast Breeder Reactor Development in Germany
- ↑ a b Areva information brochure: EPR - order no .: G-61-V1-07-GER
- ↑ AtomStroyExport News ( Memento of the original from October 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)
- ↑ SWR 1000 reactor to be known as KERENA. News letter. AREVA, March 11, 2009, accessed March 27, 2011 .
- ↑ Safety. ATMEA1 reactor. ATMEA, accessed March 27, 2011 .
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from March 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Power Nuclear Power in Russia (English)
