Research on Severe Accident Mitigation Strategy of Injecting Into the OTSG of ACP100

Author(s):  
Zou Zhiqiang ◽  
Zhang Ming ◽  
Deng Chunrui ◽  
Deng Jian ◽  
Xiang Qingan ◽  
...  

The China multipurpose module small reactor named ACP100 is developed by the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). The severe accident management guidelines (SAMGs) of ACP100 reactor is necessary to be developed to mitigate the severe accident induced by in the multi-cause extreme conditions. Inject into the steam generators (SGs) is one of the most significant strategies, this strategy aims at protecting the SGs tubes from creep rupture, removing the heat from the reactor coolant system (RCS) and depressurizing the RCS. The entry condition of the severe accident guideline of injecting into the SGs, as usual, is low SG Water level in the most of the present pressurized water reactors that adopt the inverted U-tubes SGs. The integral reactor of ACP100 adopts the design of annular tube once-through SGs. In the normal conditions, the secondary side of the OTSGs is operating in a given steady pressure, any water level measure tool is impossibly set in the OTSGs. Therefore, on the basis of the design features of ACP100, the strategy of injecting into the OTSG at severe accident is studied, the potential entry condition of the corresponding guideline is discussed. And the validity and feasibility of the strategy is validated by the analysis of the integral systems analysis code.

Kerntechnik ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-67
Author(s):  
A. Hamedani ◽  
O. Noori-Kalkhoran ◽  
R. Ahangari ◽  
M. Gei

Abstract Steam generators are one of the most important components of pressurized-water reactors. This component plays the role of heat transfer and pressure boundary between primary and secondary side fluids. The Once Through Steam Generator (OTSG) is an essential component of the integrated nuclear power system. In this paper, steady-state analysis of primary and secondary fluids in the Integral Economizer Once Through Steam Generator (IEOTSG) have been presented by Single Heated Channel (SHC) and subchannel modelling. Models have been programmed by MATLAB and FORTRAN. First, SHC model has been used for this purpose (changes are considered only in the axial direction in this model). Second, the subchannel approach that considers changes in the axial and also radial directions has been applied. Results have been compared with Babcock and Wilcox (B&W) 19- tube once through steam generator experimental data. Thermal- hydraulic profiles have been presented for steam generator using both of models. Accuracy and simplicity of SHC model and importance of localization of thermal-hydraulic profiles in subchannel approach have been proved.


Author(s):  
Zhixiong Tan ◽  
Jiejin Cai

After Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, alternative fuel-design to enhance tolerance for severe accident conditions becomes particularly important. Silicon carbide (SiC) cladding fuel assembly gain more safety margin as novel accident tolerant fuel. This paper focuses on the neutron properties of SiC cladding fuel assembly in pressurized water reactors. Annular fuel pellet was adopted in this paper. Two types of silicon carbide assemblies were evaluated via using lattice calculation code “dragon”. Type one was consisted of 0.057cm SiC cladding and conventional fuel. Type two was consisted of 0.089cm SiC cladding and BeO/UO2 fuel. Compared the results of SiC cladding fuel assembly neutronic parameters with conventional Zircaloy cladding fuel assembly, this paper analyzed the safety of neutronic parameters performance. Results demonstrate that assembly-level reactivity coefficient is kept negative, meanwhile, the numerical value got a relatively decrease. Other parameters are conformed to the design-limiting requirement. SiC kinds cladding show more flat power distribution. SiC cases also show the ability of reducing the enrichment of fuel pellets even though it has higher xenon concentration. These types of assembly have broadly agreement neutron performance with the conventional cladding fuel, which confirmed the acceptability of SiC cladding in the way of neutron physics analysis.


Author(s):  
April Smith ◽  
Kenneth J. Karwoski

Steam generators placed in service in the 1960s and 1970s were primarily fabricated from mill-annealed Alloy 600. Over time, this material proved to be susceptible to stress corrosion cracking in the highly pure primary and secondary water chemistry environments of pressurized-water reactors. The corrosion ultimately led to the replacement of steam generators at numerous facilities, the first U.S. replacement occurring in 1980. Many of the steam generators placed into service in the 1980s used tubes fabricated from thermally treated Alloy 600. This tube material was thought to be less susceptible to corrosion. Because of the safety significance of steam generator tube integrity, this paper evaluates the operating experience of thermally treated Alloy 600 by looking at the extent to which it is used and recent results from steam generator tube examinations.


Author(s):  
Robert J. Lutz ◽  
James H. Scobel ◽  
Richard G. Anderson ◽  
Terry Schulz

Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) has been an integral part of the Westinghouse AP1000, and the former AP600, development programs from its inception. The design of the AP1000 plant is based on engineering solutions to reduce or eliminate many of the dominant risk contributors found in the existing generation of Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs). Additional risk reduction features were identified from insights gained from the AP1000 PRA as it evolved with the design of the plant. These engineered solutions include severe accident prevention features that resulted in a significant reduction in the predicted core damage frequency. Examples include the removal of dependencies on electric power (both offsite power and diesel generators) and cooling water (service water and component cooling water), removal of common cause dependencies by using diverse components on parallel trains and reducing dependence on operator actions for key accident scenarios. Engineered solutions to severe accident consequence mitigation were also used in the AP1000 design based on PRA insights. Examples include in-vessel retention of molten core debris to eliminate the potential for ex-vessel phenomena challenges to containment integrity and passive containment heat removal through the containment shell to eliminate the potential for containment failure due to steam overpressure. Additionally, because the accident prevention and mitigation features of the AP1000 are engineered solutions, the traditional uncertainties associated with the core damage and release frequency are directly addressed.


Author(s):  
Andrea Bachrata ◽  
Fréderic Bertrand ◽  
Nathalie Marie ◽  
Fréderic Serre

Abstract The nuclear safety approach has to cover accident sequences involving core degradation in order to develop reliable mitigation strategies for both existing and future reactors. In particular, the long-term stabilization of the degraded core materials and their coolability has to be ensured after a severe accident. This paper focuses on severe accident phenomena in pressurized water reactors (PWR) compared to those potentially occurring in future GenIV-type sodium fast reactors (SFR). First, the two considered reactor concepts are introduced by focusing on safety aspects. The severe accident scenarios leading to core melting are presented and the initiating events are highlighted. This paper focuses on in-vessel severe accident phenomena, including the chronology of core damage, major changes in the core configuration and molten core progression. Regarding the mitigation means, the in-vessel retention phenomena and the core catcher characteristics are reviewed for these different nuclear generation concepts (II, III, and IV). A comparison between the PWR and SFR severe accident evolution is provided as well as the relation between governing physical parameters and the adopted mitigation provisions for each reactor concept. Finally, it is highlighted how the robustness of the safety demonstration is established by means of a combined probabilistic and deterministic approach.


Author(s):  
Baihui Jiang ◽  
Zhiwei Zhou ◽  
Zhaoyang Xia ◽  
Qian Sun

Abstract As key heat transfer system in small and medium size pressurized water reactors, once-through steam generators are important parts of energy exchange between primary and secondary circuits, and are very important for the design and operation of reactors. However, two-phase flow and heat transfer in once-through steam generators are very complicated. When a reactor experience power rising and descending transient, the heat removal of once-through steam generator, the flow rate, the inlet fluid temperature and outlet steam temperature will all change accordingly. Especially when a reactor is running at a low power, the flow rate of the secondary side of OTSG is extremely small and the single-phase region of the secondary side of OTSGs is also too small. The two-phase flow instability may occur, which has a serious impact on reactor operation and safety. So, a reasonable power-up and power-down transient scheme is required to ensure operational stability when starting up and shutting down a reactor. RELAP5/MOD4.0 is a commercial software developed by Innovative System Software, LCC for transient analysis of light water reactors (LWR). After years of development and improvement, RELAP5 has been a basic tool for analysis and calculation of various simulators of nuclear power plants. Scholars all over the world have carried out a large number of analysis of two-phase flow stability using RELAP5, and the results are reliable. This paper takes once through steam generators with given structural parameters as the research object, and uses RELAP5 as the calculation tool. The influencing factors of flow instability are discussed in this paper, and the operating parameters of the fluid on the primary and secondary sides are designed to satisfy the flow stability under different powers. And a set of power-up and power-down schemes for stable operation is proposed.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document