scholarly journals Study on Air Ingress Mitigation Methods in the Very High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor (VHTR)

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chang H. Oh ◽  
Eung S. Kim
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Root Cause ◽  
The Core ◽  
Graphite Oxidation ◽  
Simulation Results ◽  
Oxidation Damage ◽  
Air Ingress ◽  
Mitigation Methods ◽  
Very High ◽  
High Temperature Gas

An air-ingress accident followed by a pipe break is considered as a critical event for a very high temperature gas-cooled reactor (VHTR) safety. Following helium depressurization, it is anticipated that unless countermeasures are taken, air will enter the core through the break leading to oxidation of the in-core graphite structure. Thus, without mitigation features, this accident might lead to severe exothermic chemical reactions of graphite and oxygen depending on the accident scenario and the design. Under extreme circumstances, a loss of core structural integrity may occur along with excessive release of radiological inventory. Idaho National Laboratory under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy is performing research and development (R&D) that focuses on key phenomena important during challenging scenarios that may occur in the VHTR. Phenomena Identification and Ranking Table (PIRT) studies to date have identified the air ingress event, following on the heels of a VHTR depressurization, as very important (Oh et al. 2006, Schultz et al. 2006). Consequently, the development of advanced air ingress-related models and verification and validation (V&V) requirements are part of the experimental validation plan. This paper discusses about various air-ingress mitigation concepts applicable for the VHTRs. The study begins with identifying important factors (or phenomena) associated with the air-ingress accident using a root-cause analysis. By preventing main causes of the important events identified in the root-cause diagram, the basic air-ingress mitigation ideas can be conceptually derived. The main concepts include (1) preventing structural degradation of graphite supporters; (2) preventing local stress concentration in the supporter; (3) preventing graphite oxidation; (4) preventing air ingress; (5) preventing density gradient driven flow; (6) preventing fluid density gradient; (7) preventing fluid temperature gradient; (7) preventing high temperature. Based on the basic concepts listed above, various air-ingress mitigation methods are proposed in this study. Among them, the following one mitigation idea was extensively investigated using computational fluid dynamic codes (CFD) in terms of helium injection in the lower plenum. The main idea of the helium injection method is to replace air in the core and the lower plenum upper part by buoyancy force. This method reduces graphite oxidation damage in the severe locations of the reactor inside. To validate this method, CFD simulations are addressed here. A simple 2-D CFD model was developed based on the GT-MHR 600MWt as a reference design. The simulation results showed that the helium replaces the air flow into the core and significantly reduces the air concentration in the core and bottom reflector potentially protecting oxidation damage. According to the simulation results, even small helium flow was sufficient to remove air in the core, mitigating the air-ingress successfully.

scholarly journals Air Ingress Analyses on a High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chang H. Oh ◽  
Richard L. Moore ◽  
Brad J. Merrill ◽  
David A. Petti
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Development Effort ◽  
Component Level ◽  
Pebble Bed ◽  
The Core ◽  
Graphite Oxidation ◽  
Loss Of Coolant Accident ◽  
Oxidation Model ◽  
Air Ingress ◽  
High Temperature Gas

Abstract A loss-of-coolant accident is one of the design-basis accidents for a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR). Following the depressurization of helium in the core, if the accident is not mitigated, there exists the potential for air to enter the core through the break and oxidize the in-core graphite structure in the modular pebble bed reactor (MPBR). This paper presents the results of the graphite oxidation model developed as part of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory’s Directed Research and Development effort. Although gas reactors have been developed in the past with limited success, the innovations of modularity and integrated state-of-art control systems coupled with improved fuel design and a pebble bed core make this design potentially very attractive from an economic and technical perspective. A schematic diagram of a reference design of the MPBR has been established at a major component level (INEEL & MIT, 1999). Steady-state and transient thermal hydraulics models will be produced with key parameters established for these conditions for all major components. Development of an integrated plant model to allow for transient analysis on a more sophisticated level is now being developed. In this paper, preliminary results of the hypothetical air ingress are presented. A graphite oxidation model was developed to determine temperature and the control mechanism in the spherical graphite geometry.

scholarly journals Conceptual Core Design Study of the Very High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (VHTR) Upgrading the Core Performance by Using Multihole-Type Fuel

2008 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazutaka OHASHI ◽  
Tetsuo NISHIHARA ◽  
Kazuhiko KUNITOMI ◽  
Masaaki NAKANO ◽  
Yujiro TAZAWA ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Design Study ◽  
The Core ◽  
Conceptual Core ◽  
Very High ◽  
Type Fuel ◽  
High Temperature Gas

Air Ingress Analysis: Computational Fluid Dynamics Models

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chang H. Oh ◽  
Eung S. Kim
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics ◽  
High Temperature ◽  
Fluid Dynamic ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Validation Data ◽  
The Core ◽  
Air Ingress ◽  
Dynamics Models ◽  
Very High

Idaho National Laboratory (INL), under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is performing research and development that focuses on key phenomena important during potential scenarios that may occur in very high temperature reactors (VHTRs). Phenomena identification and ranking studies to date have ranked an air ingress event, following on the heels of a VHTR depressurization, as important with regard to core safety. Consequently, the development of advanced air-ingress-related models and verification and validation data are a very high priority. Following a loss of coolant and system depressurization incident, air will enter the core of the High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor through the break, possibly causing oxidation of the core and reflector graphite structure. Simple core and plant models indicate that, under certain circumstances, the oxidation may proceed at an elevated rate with additional heat generated from the oxidation reaction itself. Under postulated conditions of fluid flow and temperature, excessive degradation of lower plenum graphite can lead to a loss of structural support. Excessive oxidation of core graphite can also lead to a release of fission products into the confinement, which could be detrimental to reactor safety. Computational fluid dynamics models developed in this study will improve our understanding of this phenomenon. This paper presents two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) computational fluid dynamic (CFD) results for the quantitative assessment of the air ingress phenomena. A portion of the results from density-driven stratified flow in the inlet pipe will be compared with the experimental results.

scholarly journals Computational Fluid Dynamics Analyses on Very High Temperature Reactor Air Ingress

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chang H. Oh ◽  
Eung S. Kim ◽  
Richard Schultz ◽  
David Petti ◽  
Hyung S. Kang
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics ◽  
High Temperature ◽  
System Analysis ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
The Core ◽  
Very High Temperature Reactor ◽  
High Temperature Reactor ◽  
Air Ingress ◽  
Very High

A preliminary computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was performed to understand density-gradient-induced stratified flow in a Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) air-ingress accident. Various parameters were taken into consideration, including turbulence model, core temperature, initial air mole-fraction, and flow resistance in the core. The gas turbine modular helium reactor (GT-MHR) 600 MWt was selected as the reference reactor and it was simplified to be 2D geometry in modeling. The core and the lower plenum were assumed to be porous bodies. Following the preliminary CFD results, the analysis of the air-ingress accident has been performed by two different codes: GAMMA code (system analysis code, Oh et al. 2006) and FLUENT CFD code (Fluent 2007). Eventually, the analysis results showed that the actual onset time of natural convection (∼160 sec) would be significantly earlier than the previous predictions (∼150 hours) calculated based on the molecular diffusion air-ingress mechanism. This leads to the conclusion that the consequences of this accident will be much more serious than previously expected.

scholarly journals Beyond the classical kinetic model for chronic graphite oxidation by moisture in high temperature gas-cooled reactors

Carbon ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 127 ◽  
pp. 158-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristian I. Contescu ◽  
Robert W. Mee ◽  
Yoonjo (Jo Jo) Lee ◽  
José D. Arregui-Mena ◽  
Nidia C. Gallego ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Kinetic Model ◽  
Graphite Oxidation ◽  
High Temperature Gas

Study on the Thermo-Hydrodynamic of a Dry Gas Seal in Helium Circulator for High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianshu Lin ◽  
Hong Wang
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Film Flow ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Maximum Temperature ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
Dry Gas Seal ◽  
Safety Requirements ◽  
Simulation Results ◽  
Gas Seals ◽  
High Temperature Gas

A comprehensive analysis method is proposed to resolve the problem of simulating a complex thermo-flow with two kinds of distinct characteristic length in the dry gas seal, and a conjugated simulation of the complicated heat transfer and the gas film flow is carried out by using the commercial CFD software CFX. By using the proposed method, a three dimensional of velocity and pressure field in the gas film flow and the temperature distribution within the sealing rings are investigated for three kinds of film thickness, respectively. A comparison of thermo-hydrodynamics of the dry gas seals is conducted between the sealed gas of air and helium. The latter one is used in a helium circulator for High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR). From comparisons and discussions of a series of simulation results, it will be found that the comprehensive proposal is effective and simulation results are reasonable, and the maximum temperature rise in the dry gas seal is within the acceptable range of HTGR safety requirements.

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