Heat Sink System Research Articles

Evaluation of decay heating in shutdown reactors

Heating from the decay of radioactive nuclides in shutdown reactors plays an important role in the safety evaluation of nuclear power plants. It also must be known in order to design spent fuel storage systems, shutdown reactor cooling systems and heat sink, reprocessing and nuclear waste disposal systems. Of these applications, the analysis of reactor accident scenarios has been the main impetus to develop more accurate methods of decay heat evaluation. It was recognized early in the 1970s that the knowledge was inadequate for safety requirements and that this placed an economic burden on nuclear power plants. Intensive research has been undertaken in the past few years and this has led to a much more precise knowledge of decay heat power in Light Water Reactors (LWR). With additional work this improvement can soon be extended to other reactors types. This paper reviews the background, recent research developments and the evolution of a major revision of the American Nuclear Society Standard for decay heat power in LWR.

Dry and Wet-Peaking Tower Cooling Systems For Power Plant Application

A new concept of power plant heat-sink system is presented which employs the combination of a conventional wet-tower and a conventional dry-tower. The purpose of this cooling system is to reduce wet cooling-tower makeup-water requirements in water-short areas. The dry tower operates all year around while the wet-peaking tower is used only above certain ambient dry-bulb temperatures. The two cooling circuits serve separate sections of a conventional, surface-type, steam condenser. Thermal performance analysis is presented for various combinations of cooling systems ranging from 100 percent wet to 100 percent dry. Annual makeup-water requirements are calculated for various sizes of towers located in 18 selected cities of the U.S.A. ranging from north to south and east to west.