Thermal response of core and central-cavity components of a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor in the absence of forced convection coolant flow. [NATCON code]

A means of determining the thermal responses of the core and the components of a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor after loss of forced coolant flow is discussed. A computer program, using a finite-difference technique, is presented together with a solution of the confined natural convection. The results obtained are reasonable and demonstrate that the computer program adequately represents the confined natural convection.