INHERENTLY SAFE CONTAINMENTS FOR NUCLEAR-POWER-PLANTS

Nuclear energy cannot be avoided in the near future. To regain public acceptance the safety of nuclear power plants has to be increased. Con sequently, feasibility studies have been carried out for a containment proposal for future pressurized water reactors which will keep people unharmed even in the case of severe nuclear accidents under the assum ption ''all that can go wrong, will go wrong''. The main features of t he design concept are a core melt cooling and retention device, a pass ively acting cooling system to remove the decay heat and a double-wall containment which is able to withstand high static and dynamic intern al pressures due to hydrogen detonation. Internal structures are desig ned to resist extreme loadings resulting from various accident scenari os including in-vessel steam explosion and vessel failure under high s ystem pressure.