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| Passive Containment Cooling
System (PCCS) Containment Vessel Water Distribution / Heat Transfer Tests |
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| At the Westinghouse Science and Technology Center in Pittsburgh,
containment cooling was studied. First, a flat plate ... three feet wide and six feet high
... that met the specifications for the containment was built. It was used to examine
basic thermodynamics. Water ran across its surface and hard data on the heat transfer was
obtained under varying conditions. The data was used in containment code safety analysis. A
much larger test device was then built-- a 24-foot high, three-foot-diameter model of the
containment. This time, with steam inside, air was moved over the outside as water flowed
across the surface. This larger-scale, more-detailed testing provided additional data for
computer codes. Then an even larger model was built: a one-eighth scale model of the
containment. Again, the entire range of passive safety actions was studied-- using various
internal conditions and external air and humidity values. Testing with water applied to
the top of the external surface was used, along with testing with a dry surface. This
exhaustive, real-world testing shows that the theory of passive containment cooling is
valid. Even the toughest internal and external conditions -- and combinations of both --
did an adequate job of cooling. This is a cooling concept that does the job perfectly,
relying solely on natural forces. |
      
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