Radiant vessel auxiliary cooling system

This patent describes an improved radiant vessel passive cooling system for liquid-metal poor-type modular nuclear reactors having a reactor vessel and a surrounding containment vessel spaced apart from the reactor vessel to form a first interstitial region containing an inert gas, the improvement comprising: a shell spaced apart from and surrounding the containment vessel to form a second interstitial region comprising a circulatory air passage. The circulatory air passage has an air inlet at a first position and an air outlet at a second position which is vertically higher than the first position. The second interstitial region lies between the shell and the containment vessel; and surface area extension means in the shell is longitudinally disposed from the shell into the second interstitial region towards the containment vessel to receive thermal radiation from the containment vessel. The surface area extension means is spaced apart from the external surface of the containment vessel where heat radiated form the containment vessel is received at the surface extension means for convection, conduction and radiation to air in the circulatory passage