Strategic Objectives
• Master the mechanics of natural circulation and buoyancy-driven flow.
• Design fail-safe heat sinks that operate indefinitely without human intervention.
• Understand the hydraulic nuances of emergency cooling versus operational exchange.
• Implement advanced gravity-driven cooling systems for next-generation reactors.
The Core Challenge
Traditional active safety systems rely on pumps and power—vulnerabilities that lead to catastrophic failures during station blackouts.
01
The Philosophy of Passive Safety
02
Fundamentals of Decay Heat
03
Buoyancy-Driven Flow Mechanics
04
Natural Circulation Loops
05
The Boussinesq Approximation
06
Heat Sinks and Ultimate Heat Rejection
07
Gravity-Driven Cooling Systems
08
Two-Phase Flow and Boiling
09
The Heat Pipe Advantage
10
Passive Containment Cooling
11
Flow Instabilities in Natural Loops
12
The Role of Accumulators
13
Convective Heat Transfer Coefficients
14
Chimney Effects and Air Cooling
15
Thermal Stratification in Large Pools
16
The Hydraulics of Check Valves
17
Station Blackout Scenarios
18
Scaling Laws for Experimental Validation
19
Passive Autocatalytic Recombiners
20
Advanced Small Modular Reactors (SMRs)
21