VPBER-600 CONCEPTUAL FEATURES AND SAFETY ANALYSIS RESULTS

This article describes a Russian approach to designing an enhanced-saf ety pressurized-water reactor. The basic design philosophy rests on th e concept of self-actuating passive systems without the need for activ e human intervention. An emergency decay heat-removal system independe nt of normal operating systems and functioning passively is described as well as provisions for ensuring the safely of the system in the eve nt of any accidents resulting in a loss of integrity of the cooling sy stem. The system is designed to have negative reactivity coefficients in all operating regimes and provides passive protection against malfu nction by any systems capable of adding reactivity to the reactor. The design uses a guard vessel enclosing the reactor and the primary cool ant loop.