Leak-tightness characteristics concerning the containment structures of the HTTR

Sakaba, Nariaki ; Iigaki, Kazuhiko ; Kondo, Masaaki; Emori, Koichi

The containment structures of the HTTR consist of the reactor containment vessel, the service area, and the emergency air purification system, which minimise the release of fission products in postulated accidents which lead to fission product release from the reactor facilities. The reactor containment vessel is designed to withstand the temperature and pressure transients and to be leak-tight in the case of a rupture of the primary concentric hot gas duct, etc. The pressure inside the service area is maintained at a negative pressure by the emergency air purification system. The emergency air purification system will also remove airborne radio-activity and will maintain a correct pressure in the service area. The leak-tightness characteristics of the containment structures are described in this paper. The measured leakage rates of the reactor containment vessel were enough less than the specified leakage limit of 0.1%/d confirmed during the commissioning tests and annual inspections. The service area was kept the design pressure well below its allowable limitation by the emergency air purification system which filter efficiency of particle removal and iodine removal were well over the limited values. The obtained data demonstrates that the reactor containment structures were fabricated to minimise the release of fission products in the postulated accidents with fission product release from the reactor facilities.