New reactor cavity cooling system (RCCS) with passive safety features: A comparative methodology between a real RCCS and a scaled-down heat-removal test facility

2016 ◽  
Vol 96 ◽  
pp. 137-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuniyoshi Takamatsu ◽  
Tatsuya Matsumoto ◽  
Koji Morita
Author(s):  
Richard F. Wright ◽  
James R. Schwall ◽  
Creed Taylor ◽  
Naeem U. Karim ◽  
Jivan G. Thakkar ◽  
...  

The AP1000 is an 1100 MWe advanced nuclear power plant that uses passive safety features to enhance plant safety and to provide significant and measurable improvements in plant simplification, reliability, investment protection and plant costs. The AP1000 received final design approval from the US-NRC in 2004. The AP1000 design is based on the AP600 design that received final design approval in 1999. Wherever possible, the AP1000 plant configuration and layout was kept the same as AP600 to take advantage of the maturity of the design and to minimize new design efforts. As a result, the two-loop configuration was maintained for AP1000, and the containment vessel diameter was kept the same. It was determined that this significant power uprate was well within the capability of the passive safety features, and that the safety margins for AP1000 were greater than those of operating PWRs. A key feature of the passive core cooling system is the passive residual heat removal heat exchanger (PRHR HX) that provides decay heat removal for postulated LOCA and non-LOCA events. The PRHR HX is a C-tube heat exchanger located in the in-containment refueling water storage tank (IRWST) above the core promoting natural circulation heat removal between the reactor cooling system and the tank. Component testing was performed for the AP600 PRHR HX to determine the heat transfer characteristics and to develop correlations to be used for the AP1000 safety analysis codes. The data from these tests were confirmed by subsequent integral tests at three separate facilities including the ROSA facility in Japan. Owing to the importance of this component, an independent analysis has been performed using the ATHOS-based computational fluid dynamics computer code PRHRCFD. Two separate models of the PRHR HX and IRWST have been developed representing the ROSA test geometry and the AP1000 plant geometry. Confirmation of the ROSA test results were used to validate PRHRCFD, and the AP1000 plant model was used to confirm the heat removal capacity for the full-sized heat exchanger. The results of these simulations show that the heat removal capacity of the PRHR HX is conservatively represented in the AP1000 safety analyses.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 87
Author(s):  
Rahayu Kusumastuti ◽  
Sriyono Sriyono ◽  
Mulya Juarsa ◽  
Hendro Tjahjono ◽  
I. D. Irianto ◽  
...  

Reaktor Daya Eksperimental (RDE) is an experimental power reactor based on HTGR technology that implements inherent safety system. Its safety systems are in compliance with “defense in depth” philosophy. RDE is also equipped with reactor cavity cooling system (RCCS) used to remove the heat transferred from the reactor vessel to the containment structure. The RCCS is designed to fulfil this role by maintain the reactor vessel under the maximum allowable temperature during normal operation and protecting the containment structure in the event of failure of all passive cooling systems. The performance and reliability of the RCCS, therefore, are considered as critical factors in determining maximum design power level related to heat removal. RCCS for RDE will use a novel shape to efficiently remove the heat released from the RPV through thermal radiation and natural convection. This paper discusses the calculation of RCCS thermal analysis during accident. The RPV temperature must be maintained below 65ºC. The accident is assumed that there is no electricity from diesel generator supplied to the blower. The methodology used is based on the calculation of mathematical model of the RCCS in the passive mode. The heat is released through cavity by natural convection, in which the RCCS is capable to withdraw the heat at the rate of 50.54 kW per hour.Keywords: Passive safety, RCCS, RDE, Thermal analysis


Author(s):  
Wei Li ◽  
Shuhong Du ◽  
Weiquan Gu ◽  
Nan Zhang ◽  
Ming Ding ◽  
...  

Abstract HPR1000 is an advanced nuclear power plant with the significant feature of an active and passive safety design philosophy, developed by the China National Nuclear Corporation. It is based on the large accumulated knowledge from the design, construction as well as operations experience of nuclear power plants in China. The passive containment cooling system (PCS) of HPR1000 is an important and innovative passive safety system to suppress the pressure in the containment during LOCA. In this paper, the detailed design process of PCS is reviewed, and an integrated experiment facility for the study on the coupling behavior between PCS and thermal hydraulic characteristics in the containment is described, and arrangement of measuring points including temperature, pressure, gas composition and so on are introduced in detailed. Also, the experimental energy released and energy vent to ensure the similarity of containment pressure response, thermal stratification and PCS heat removal is introduced. According to this versatile experiment facility can conduct real-engineering system test which is designed to support the PCS development. In addition, this valuable experience in the design and manufacture of integrated experiment facility can provide important technical support and guidance for the China next generation advanced PWR as well as safety related system.


Author(s):  
Zhanfei Qi ◽  
Sheng Zhu

CAP1400 Pressurized Water Reactor is developed by China’s State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC) based on the passive safety concept and advanced system design. The Advanced Core-cooling Mechanism Experiment (ACME) integral effect test facility, which was constructed at Tsinghua University, represents a 1/3-scale height of CAP1400 RCS and passive safety features. It is designed to simulate the performance of CAP1400 passive core cooling system in the small break loss of coolant accidents (SBLOCA) for design certification, safety review and safety analysis code development. The Long Term Core Cooling (LTCC) post-LOCA could be simulated by ACME as well. A series of test cases with various break sizes and locations with post-LOCA LTCC period were conducted in ACME facility. This paper describes the post-LOCA LTCC test conducted in ACME test facility. The LTCC phenomena in different cases are very similar. It’s found that the interval that switching from IRWST injection to sump recirculation has the least safety margin. However, it’s shown that the post-LOCA LTCC in ACME could be well maintained by passive core cooling system according to the test results even though the recirculation water level in ACME IRWST-2 is lower than the containment recircualtion level in CAP1400 conservatively.


Author(s):  
N. Ueda ◽  
I. Kinoshita ◽  
Y. Nishi ◽  
A. Minato ◽  
H. Matsumiya ◽  
...  

This paper describes the passive safety features utilized in the updated sodium cooled Super-Safe, Small and Simple fast reactor, which is the improved 4S reactor. This reactor can operate up to ten years without refueling and neutron reflector regulates the reactivity. One of the design requirements is to secure the core against all anticipated transients without reactor scram. Therefore, the reactor concept is to design to enhance the passive safety features. All temperature reactivity feedback coefficients including whole core sodium void worth are negative. Also, introducing of RVACS (Reactor Vessel Auxiliary Cooling System) can enhance the passive decay heat removal capability. Safety analyses are carried out to simulate various transient sequences, which are loss of flow events, transient overpower events and loss of heat sink events, in order to evaluate the passive safety capabilities. A calculation tool for plant dynamics analyses for fast reactors has been modified to model the 4S including the unique plant system, which are reflector control system, circulation pumps and RVACS. The analytical results predict that the designed passive features improve the safety in which temperature variation in transients are satisfied with the safety criteria for the fuel element and the structure of the primary coolant boundary.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyun-Sik Park ◽  
Byung-Yeon Min ◽  
Youn-Gyu Jung ◽  
Yong-Cheol Shin ◽  
Yung-Joo Ko ◽  
...  

To validate the performance and safety of an integral type reactor of SMART, a thermal-hydraulic integral effect test facility, VISTA-ITL, is introduced with a discussion of its scientific design characteristics. The VISTA-ITL was used extensively to assess the safety and performance of the SMART design, especially for its passive safety system such as a passive residual heat removal system, and to validate various thermal-hydraulic analysis codes. The VISTA-ITL program includes several tests on the SBLOCA, CLOF, and PRHRS performances to support a verification of the SMART design and contribute to the SMART design licensing by providing proper test data for validating the system analysis codes. A typical scenario of SBLOCA was analyzed using the MARS-KS code to assess the thermal-hydraulic similarity between the SMART design and the VISTA-ITL facility, and a posttest simulation on a SBLOCA test for the shutdown cooling system line break has been performed with the MARS-KS code to assess its simulation capability for the SBLOCA scenario of the SMART design. The SBLOCA scenario in the SMART design was well reproduced using the VISTA-ITL facility, and the measured thermal-hydraulic data were properly simulated with the MARS-KS code.


Author(s):  
Guohua Yan ◽  
Chen Ye

In the entire history of commercial nuclear power so far, only two major accidents leading to damage of reactor core have taken place. One is Three Mile Island (TMT) accident (1979), which is caused by a series of human error, and the other is Chernobyl accident (1986), which is due to the combined reason of design defects and human errors. After TMI and Chernobyl accidents, in order to reduce manpower in operation and maintenance and influence of human errors on reactor safety, consideration is given to utilization of passive safety systems. According to the IAEA definition, passive safety systems are based on natural forces, such as convection and gravity, and stored energy, making safety functions less dependent on active systems and operators’ action. Recently, the technology of passive safety has been adopted in many reactor designs, such as AP1000, developed by Westinghouse and EP1000 developed by European vendor, and so on. AP1000 as the first so-called Generation III+ has received the final design approval from US NRC in September 2004, and now being under construction in Sanmen, China. In this paper, the major passive safety systems of AP1000, including passive safety injection system, automatic depressurization system passive residual heat removal system and passive containment cooling system, are described and their responses to a break loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) are given. Just due to these passive systems’ adoption, the nuclear plant can be able to require no operator action and offsite or onsite AC power sources for at least 72h when one accident occurs, and the core melt and large release frequencies are significantly below the requirement of operating plants and the NRC safety goals.


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