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The Reactor Protection System (RPS) is a system, computerized in later BWR models, that is designed to automatically, rapidly, and completely shut down and make safe the Nuclear Steam Supply System (NSSS – the reactor pressure vessel, pumps, and water/steam piping within the containment) if some event occurs that could result in the reactor entering an unsafe operating condition.
The Automatic Depressurization System (ADS) consists of a series of valves which open to vent steam several feet under the surface of a large pool of liquid water (known as the wetwell or torus) in pressure suppression type containments (typically used in boiling water reactor designs), or directly into the primary containment structure in ...
A boiling water reactor (BWR) is a type of nuclear reactor used for the generation of electrical power. It is the second most common type of electricity-generating nuclear reactor after the pressurized water reactor (PWR).
A reactor protection system (RPS) is a set of nuclear safety and security components in a nuclear power plant designed to safely shut down the reactor and prevent the release of radioactive materials. The system can "trip" automatically (initiating a scram), or it can be tripped by the operators. Trips occur when the parameters meet or exceed ...
ESBWR's passive safety systems include a combination of three systems that allow for the efficient transfer of decay heat (created from nuclear decay) from the reactor to pools of water outside containment – the Isolation Condenser System, the Gravity Driven Cooling System, and the Passive Containment Cooling System. These systems utilize ...
In operation, decay heat boils steam, which is drawn into the heat exchanger and condensed; then it falls by weight of gravity back into the reactor. This process keeps the cooling water in the reactor, making it unnecessary to use powered feedwater pumps. The water in the open pool slowly boils off, venting clean steam to the atmosphere.
If all of the independent cooling trains of the ECCS fail to operate as designed, this heat can increase the fuel temperature to the point of damaging the reactor. If water is present, it may boil, bursting out of its pipes. For this reason, nuclear power plants are equipped with pressure-operated relief valves and backup supplies of cooling water.
Boiling water reactors are designed to ensure that the rate of pressure rise from a sudden streamline valve closure is limited to acceptable values, and they include multiple safety systems designed to ensure that any sudden reactor power increases or unstable power oscillations are terminated before fuel or piping damage can occur.