Application study of the heat pipe to the passive decay heat removal system of the modular HTR

To investigate the applicability of the heat pipe to the decay hat removal (DHR) system of the modular HTRs, preliminary study of the Heat Pipe DHR System was performed. The results show that the Heat Pipe DHR System is applicable to the modular HTRs and its heat removal capability is sufficient. Especially by applying the variable conductance heat pipe, the possibility of a fully passive DHR system with lower heat loss during normal operation is suggested. The experiments to obtain the fundamental characteristics data of the variable conductance heat pipe were carried out. The experimental results show very clear features of self-control characteristics. The experimental results and the experimental analysis results are also shown. (author)