LAYOUT OF A PRESSURIZED WATER-REACTOR CONTAINMENT DESIGNED TO CARRY THE LOAD DURING A CORE MELTDOWN ACCIDENT

Long-term research work at the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Centre has shown that the containment of the advanced Siemens pressurized water reactors originally specified for loss-of-coolant accident have considerable retaining potentials also during a core meltdown accident. To preclude existing uncertainties with regard to an early failure of the containment and with regard to meltdown of the building foundation as the cause of radioactivity release into the environment, a composite structure inner steel liner/outer concrete containment is proposed which is able to carry dynamic loads of 230 bar for 5 ms and static loads of 30 bar. To avoid penetration of the foundation, a core catcher structure is described which can be used to remove afterheat in a passive way.