A Water Level-Initiated Decay Energy Cooling System

A new passive safety system to remove reactor decay heat (energy) from water-cooled reactors has been developed. It consists of (a) a natural-circulation heat transfer subsystem to remove heat from the reactor coolant and dump it into the atmosphere and (b) a subsystem that triggers the heat transfer subsystem based on low water levels. The initiating mechanism relies on the difference in the physical properties of steam and liquid water. A preliminary description and performance analysis of the water level-initiated decay energy cooling system are provided.