Abstract: Under nuclear emergency conditions in nuclear power plants, the transport, deposition, and removal characteristics of radioactive aerosols within the containment are directly related to environmental safety and public health. This review focuses on the containment atmosphere and associated boundary processes of pressurized water reactors (PWRs) under severe-accident conditions, including Gen Ⅱ and Gen Ⅲ advanced PWRs with passive safety features. This paper systematically reviews the research progress on aerosol dynamic characteristics under nuclear emergency conditions, with emphasis on aerosol diffusion and deposition, particle agglomeration, and spray removal mechanisms in containment. The applications of system-level codes and CFD-based refined simulation methods in aerosol behavior analysis are summarized. Deposition mechanisms such as gravitational settling, thermophoresis, diffusiophoresis, and Brownian motion are discussed, together with the effects of Brownian and turbulent agglomeration on particle size distribution evolution. Research on passive natural removal, resuspension of deposited particles, and aerosol retention in cracks and narrow leakage paths is also summarized. Meanwhile, the key collection mechanisms during spray removal, including inertial impaction, interception, and diffusion, as well as the effects of thermal-hydraulic environment, droplet motion, and particle size distribution on removal efficiency, are analyzed. In view of the limited spatial resolution and insufficient multiphysics coupling of existing lumped-parameter models, future studies should improve refined CFD/PBM models and dedicated experimental validation, and enhance predictions of dynamic source terms, particle size spectra, and deposition/removal processes, thereby providing theoretical support for accident source-term assessment and safety management in nuclear power plants.