HIGH-TEMPERATURE NUCLEAR REACTOR

The invention relates to a high-temperature reactor with spherical fuel elements and a pressure boundary of the primary coolant circuit. The pressure boundary, which consists of a prestressed concrete pressure vessel with a metallic liner and of a plurality of penetrations sealed by means of closure devices, must be fail-safe during operation for safety reasons. In nuclear reactors with a steel pressure vessel, this is achieved by redundant measures, specifically by designing in accordance with basic safety, by quality control and by operational monitoring. According to the invention, the security against failure is achieved in the high-temperature reactor described above by the redundant construction of the components of the primary coolant circuit, as a result of which the abovenamed redundant measures (design in accordance with basic safety, quality control and operational monitoring) can be saved entirely or partially. In particular, in-service inspections are rendered superfluous as redundant measures, and it is not necessary to shut down the reactor. Since the loading and unloading of the core are performed during operation in a high-temperature reactor, this results in a higher degree of availability for this type of reactor.