The reactor cavity cooling system (RCCS) for a very high temperature reactor (VHTR) represents a very important safety feature for achieving the defense in depth of the plant. An experimental facility was built for testing the heat transfer capability and phenomenology of this last heat sink designed for ensuring the cooling down of structural material of the vessel and of the concrete walls of the vessel cavity. This small scale facility was built using some of the scaling laws in order to resemble the main heat transport features in RCCS configuration. The natural convection phenomena and radiative heat transfer inside the cavity were represented. The experimental facility represents half of the vessel and of the reactor cavity with five stand pipes for cavity cooling using water as cooling fluid. Measurements were performed heating up the vessel surface temperature to an average temperature of 300 °C that is the average value in accident scenarios. Temperature measurements of the vessel surface temperature, the outer pipes surface temperature profile and inlet and outlet temperature of the cooling water were performed. Axial and radial temperature profiles of the air in the cavity were measured using a movable rack of 24 thermocouples. The results demonstrated the natural circulation phenomena. In addition Velocity measurement of the air inside the cavity were performed using particle tracking velocimetry techniques (PTV) determining the flow regime characteristics and the coupling with the temperature profile. The experimental test matrix of various flow rates in the cooling pipes were carried out.
