HYDROGEN COMBUSTION MITIGATION CONCEPTS FOR NUCLEAR-REACTOR CONTAINMENT BUILDINGS

During certain postulated loss-of-coolant accidents in nuclear reactor s, the formation of hydrogen and its subsequent release into the react or containment buildings could pose combustion threat to the integrity of the containment and essential equipment. It is therefore important to consider implementing methods that mitigate combustion or eliminat e it. Several concepts of mitigating hydrogen combustion are considere d in this article: mitigation by dilution or inertization; deliberate ignition, or deliberate ignition combined with venting to adjacent com partments; mitigation by controlled combustion wherein the combustible mixture is passed through a combustor, and hydrogen removal by cataly tic recombination. This article emphasizes the research and developmen t work carried out by the authors on some of the mitigation concepts.