The design of ventilation for nuclear plants.

The paper begins by developing the concept of CONTAINMENT and describes how the ventilation system of a nuclear plant plays amajor role in the provision of this CONTAINMENT and in ensuring that the plant can be operated safely. It continues to describe the various demands that a nuclear plant places on the ventilation system and describes the types of areas that require ventilation. The paper finally describes how BNFL Engineering Division have designed a new generation of reprocessing plants for Sellafield that have low air throughputs. The benefits of these low air throughputs are shown to be manifest in reduced aerial effluent discharges to the environment and reduced operating costs.