Dis0closed herein is a direct
pool cooling type passive safety grade
decay heat removal method and
system for removing core
decay heat in a
pool type
liquid metal reactor when a normal heat removal
system breaks down. In the
liquid metal reactor comprising a reactor vessel, the interior of which is partitioned into a hot
pool above a core and a
cold pool around the core so that liquid level difference between the hot pool and the
cold pool is maintained by a primary pumping head under normal steady-state conditions, is disposed at least one circular
vertical tube in such a manner that the
sodium in the circular
vertical tube is maintained with the same liquid level as the liquid level of the
sodium in the
cold pool. In the circular
vertical tube is disposed a
sodium-sodium
heat exchanger, which is connected to a sodium-air
heat exchanger mounted above a reactor building via a heat removing sodium loop, in such a manner that it is placed at the position higher than a liquid level of the sodium in the cold pool under the normal steady-state conditions. Under transient conditions, for example, when the normal heat removal
system breaks down, the primary pump is automatically tripped, and accordingly the liquid level of the cold pool rises with the result that the liquid level difference between the hot pool and the cold pool is eliminated. Consequently, the sodium-sodium
heat exchanger makes direct contact with the hot sodium so that core
decay heat is discharged into a final
heat sink, for example, the
atmosphere. In this way, the decay heat removal system of the present invention is operated on the basis of a completely passive concept with improved
operational reliability. Heat loss incurred by the decay heat removal system is minimized under normal steady-state conditions, whereby economical efficiency is maximized. The decay heat removal system of the present invention can effectively remove core decay heat under transient conditions. Moreover, the decay heat removal system of the present invention provides an additional heat removal capacity obtained by the passive vessel cooling system, whereby the decay heat removal system of the present invention can be easily applied to a large thermal rated
liquid metal reactor.