Nuclear Reactor

In order to increase the safety and to improve the cooling process during core meltdown there may be arranged a catching tub from graphite in the reactor vessel below the core as well as a second tub below the pressure vessel itself. The first tub is connected with an interspace below the ceiling of the containment by means of supply and discharge pipes. The second tub, however, may be directly in contact with the gas space of the containment, the air contained in it sewing as coolant. In the first case a liquid metal like Hg, Zn or Pb is provided as coolant. These coolant loops are completed to from a heat exchanger by cooling the containment, especially the region of the ceiling, from outside by means of a spruikling system. (DG)