scholarly journals Temperature Response of the HTR-10 during the Power Ascension Test

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fubing Chen ◽  
Yujie Dong ◽  
Zuoyi Zhang

The 10 MW High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor-Test Module (HTR-10) is the first High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor in China. With the objective of raising the reactor power from 30% to 100% rated power, the power ascension test was planned and performed in January 2003. The test results verified the practicability and validity of the HTR-10 power regulation methods. In this study, the power ascension process is preliminarily simulated using the THERMIX code. The code satisfactorily reproduces the reactor transient parameters, including the reactor power, the primary helium pressure, and the primary helium outlet temperature. Reactor internals temperatures are also calculated and compared with the test values recorded by a number of thermocouples. THERMIX correctly simulates the temperature variation tendency for different measuring points, with good to fair agreement between the calculated temperatures and the measured ones. Based on the comparison results, the THERMIX simulation capability for the HTR-10 dynamic characteristics during the power ascension process can be demonstrated. With respect to the reactor safety features, it is of utmost importance that the maximum fuel center temperature during the test process is always much lower than the fuel temperature limit of 1620°C.

Author(s):  
Yujie Dong ◽  
Fubing Chen ◽  
Zuoyi Zhang ◽  
Shouyin Hu ◽  
Lei Shi ◽  
...  

Safety demonstration tests on the 10 MW High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor-Test Module (HTR-10) were conducted to verify the inherent safety characteristics of modular High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactors (HTGRs) as well as to obtain the reactor core and primary cooling system transient data for validation of HTGR safety analysis models and codes. As one of these safety demonstration tests, a simulated anticipated transient without scram (ATWS) test called loss of forced cooling by tripping the helium circulator without reactor scram was carried out at 100% rated power level in July, 2005. This paper simulates the reactor transient behaviour during the test by using the THERMIX code system. The reactor power transition and a comparison with the test result are presented. Owing to the negative temperature coefficient of reactivity, the reactor undergoes a self-shutdown after the stop of the helium circulator and keeps subcritical till the end of the test. Due to the loss of forced cooling, the residual heat is slowly transferred from the core to the Reactor Cavity Cooling System (RCCS) by conduction, radiation and natural convection. The thermal response of this heat removal process is investigated. The calculated and test temperature transients of the measuring points in the reactor internals are given and the differences are preliminarily discussed. With respect to the safety features of the HTR-10, it is of most importance that the maximum fuel center temperature is always lower than 1230 °C which is the limited value at the first phase of the HTR-10 project. The simulation and test results show that the HTR-10 has the built-in passive safety features, and the THERMIX code system is applicable and reasonable for simulating and analyzing the helium circulator trip ATWS test.


Author(s):  
Yanhua Zhengy ◽  
Lei Shi

Depressurized loss of coolant accident (DLOCA) is one of the most important design basis accidents for high temperature gas-cooled reactors. Analysis of the reactor characteristic behavior during DLOCA can provide useful reference to the physics, thermo-hydraulic and structure designs of the reactor core. In this paper, according to the preliminary design of the 250MW Pebble-bed Modular High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTR-PM), three cases of DLOCA: a instantaneous depressurization along with a flow coastdown and scram at zero time, a main pipe with a diameter of 65mm rupture, and a instrument pipe with a diameter of 10mm broken, are studied by the help of two different kinds of software THERMIX and TINTE. The key parameters of different cases including reactor power, temperature distribution of the core and pressure vessel, and the decay power removal by the passive residual heat remove system (RHRS) are compared in detail. Some uncertainties, such as residual heat calculation, power distribution, heat conductivity of fuel element, etc., are analyzed in order to evaluate the safety margin of the maximum fuel temperature during DLOCA. The calculating results show that, the decay heat in the DLOCA can be removed from the reactor core solely by means of physical processes in a passive way, so that the temperature limits of fuel and components are still obeyed. It also illustrates that the HTR-PM can reach 250MW reactor power per unit and still can keep the inherent safety.


2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
Syarip, Khoirul Anam, Dwi Priyantoro

ANALISISPENGATURAN POSISI CONTROL RODS PADA KONSEP REAKTOR DAYA EKSPERIMENTAL INDONESIA PASCA REACTOR SCRAM POST REACTOR SCRAM CONTROL RODS POSITION ADJUSTMENT ANALYSIS FOR THE INDONESIAN EXPERIMENTAL POWER REACTOR CONCEPT. ABSTRAK ANALISIS PENGATURAN POSISI CONTROL RODS PADA KONSEP REAKTOR DAYA EKSPERIMENTAL INDONESIA PASCA REACTOR SCRAM. Telah dilakukan analisis simulasi pengaturan posisi batang-batang kendali untuk melanjutkan operasi reaktor daya eksperimental (RDE) paska scram setelah beroperasi pada periode waktu tertentu. Pengendalian reaktivitas pada reaktor RDE yang akan dibangun di Indonesia dengan rujukan high temperature gas reactor (HTR) 10 MWt, dilakukan dengan 10  pasang batang-batang kendali atau control rod (CR). Apabila terrjadi kondisi abnormal maka CR secara otomatis akan jatuh tersisip ke dalam reflektor  reaktor sehingga reaktor scram dan berada pada kondisi subkritis. Untuk melanjutkan operasi reaktor pasca scram diperlukan analisis terkait pengaruh reaktivitas negatif dari Xenon dan suhu. Pada makalah ini disajikan hasil simulasi yang dilakukan untuk penentuan posisi CR paling optimum untuk melanjutkan operasi reaktor, menggunakan simulator PCTRAN-HTR. Simulasi dilakukan pada variasi 70%, 85% dan 100% dari tingkat daya penuh dan dengan variasi waktu operasi 50 s, 10.000 s, dan 20.000 s di mana setelah reaktor beroperasi pada tingkat-tingkat daya dan waktu operasi tersebut reaktor mengalami scram. Untuk melanjutkan operasi lagi maka CR harus dinaikkan lagi dan diatur ke posisi tertentu sampai   reaktor mencapai kondisi kritis lagi pada tingkat daya nominal tersebut. Hasil yang telah diperoleh menunjukkan bahwa dengan posisi CR naik 52 % sudah bisa menghasilkan kondisi kritis dan mampu mengatasi reaktivitas negatif peracunan xenon maupun suhu. Kata kunci: RDE, HTR, operasi reaktor, batang kendali, reaktivitas, scram ABSTRACT POST REACTOR SCRAM CONTROL RODS POSITION ADJUSTMENT ANALYSIS FOR THE INDONESIAN EXPERIMENTAL POWER REACTOR CONCEPT. Analytical study using PC-based simulator has been carried out on control rods position adjustment of the Indonesian experimental power reactor concept or reaktor daya ekperimental (RDE) in a post reactor scram to continue operation after a certain operation period. Reactivity control of the RDE uses 10 pairs of control rods (CRs), which is based on that applied in the high temperature gas reactor (HTR) 10 MW(t). If an abnormal operating condition occurs, these control rods automatically dropped to the reflector that bring the reactor into a scram and subcritical condition. To continue reactor operation after a period of time, the CRs should be withdrawn to achieve recriticality. Prior to any CRs withdrawal, an analysis of negative reactivity effects of Xenon (poissoning) and fuel temperature coefficient should be done. Simulations using PCTRAN-HTR simulator to determine the optimum CRs positions in achieving reactor criticality for continuation of reactor operation is presented in this paper. The simulations were conducted by varying the reactor power levels at 70%, 85% and 100% of full power, respectively. The reactor operation time was varied at 50s, 10000s, and 20000 s prior to the reactor scram. Adjustment of CRs position should be done to continue reactor operation at those nominal power levels by withdrawing the CRs to the proper positions. The simulation results show that recriticality can be achieverd by whitdrawing the CRs 52% of farther and the negative reactivity from xenon poisoning and temperature could be overcome. Keywords : RDE, HTR, reactor operation, control rod, reactivity, scram.


Author(s):  
Yanhua Zheng ◽  
Lei Shi

Reactivity accident due to inadvertent withdrawal of the control rod is one kind of the design basis accident for high temperature gas-cooled reactors, which should be analyzed carefully in order to validate the reactor inherent safety properties. Based on the preliminary design of the Chinese Pebble-bed Modular High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTR-PM) with single module power of 250MW, several cases of reactivity accident has been studied by the help of the software TINTE in the paper, e.g., the first scram signal works or not, the absorber balls (secondary shutdown units) drop or not, and the ATWS situation is also taken into account. The dynamic processes of the important parameters including reactor power, fuel temperature and Xenon concentration are studied and compared in detail between these different cases. The calculating results show that, the decay heat during the reactivity accidents can be removed from the reactor core solely by means of physical processes in a passive way, so that the temperature limits of fuel element and other components are still obeyed, which can effectively keep the integrality of the fuel particles to avoid massive fission products release. This will be helpful to the further detail design of the HTR-PM demonstrating power plant project.


Author(s):  
Yanhua Zheng ◽  
Fubing Chen ◽  
Lei Shi

Pebble bed modular high temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTR), due to their characteristics of low power density, slender structure, large thermal inertia of fuel elements and reactor component materials (graphite), have good inherent safety features. However, the reflectors consisting of large piles of graphite blocks will form huge numbers of certain bypass gaps in the radial, axial and circumferential directions, thus affecting the effective cooling flow into the reactor core, which is one of the concerned issues of HTRs. According to the preliminary design of the Chinese high temperature gas-cooled reactor pebble-bed modular (HTR-PM), the thermal-hydraulic calculation model is established in this paper. Based on this model, considering different bypass flow, that is to say, different core cooling flow, fuel element temperature, outlet helium temperature and the core pressure drop in the normal operation, as well as the maximal fuel temperature during the depressurized loss of forced cooling (DLOFC) accident are analyzed. This study on bypass effects on the steady-state and transient phases can further demonstrate the HTR safety features.


Author(s):  
Zheng Yanhua ◽  
Shi Lei

Reactivity accident due to inadvertent withdrawal of the control rod is one kind of the design basis accident for high temperature gas-cooled reactors, which should be analyzed carefully in order to validate the reactor inherent safety properties. Based on the preliminary design of the Chinese pebble-bed modular high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTR-PM) with single module power of 250 MW, several cases of reactivity accident has been studied by the help of the software TINTE in the paper (e.g., the first scram signal works or not, the absorber balls (secondary shutdown units) drop or not) and the ATWS situation is also taken into account. The dynamic processes of the important parameters including reactor power, fuel temperature, and xenon concentration are studied and compared in detail between these different cases. The calculating results show that the decay heat during the reactivity accidents can be removed from the reactor core solely by means of physical processes in a passive way so that the temperature limits of the fuel element and other components are still obeyed, which can effectively keep the integrality of the fuel particles to avoid massive fission products release. This will be helpful to the further detail design of the HTR-PM demonstrating power plant project.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2048 (1) ◽  
pp. 012035
Author(s):  
Yanhua Zheng ◽  
Bing Xia ◽  
Zhipeng Chen ◽  
Han Zhang ◽  
Jun Sun

Abstract High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR), which has well-known safety features and high temperature heat supply capability, is expected to be widely used for heat supply and technology heat utilization including the hydrogen production, and so contributing to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in various sectors. The 10 MW High Temperature gas-cooled test Reactor (HTR-10) had been constructed and operated in China as a pilot plant to demonstrate the inherent safety features of the modular HTGR. The first criticality of HTR-10 at air condition was realized on December 1, 2000, and the full power operation for 72 h on January 29, 2003. Supported by Chinese National S&T Major Project, HTGR for hydrogen production are now being studied. The physical and thermal hydraulic design to raise the outlet helium temperature of the HTR-10 reactor core from 700 °C to 850~1000 °C is carried out. In this paper, the preliminary thermal hydraulic design of the HTR- 10 with the outlet helium temperature of 950 °C (HTR-10H) is introduced. The power density distribution, the fuel temperature distribution and the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) temperature are studied to identify what need to be focused on next. Besides, the typical DLOFC accident has been studied to evaluate the safety feature of the HTR-10 operating under higher core temperature and outlet temperature. The preliminary results show that, operated at the higher outlet helium temperature, the original acceptance criteria for HTR-10 will be challenged. In the future, the design optimization, as well as the possible modification of these acceptance criteria, which were set more than two decades ago, should be studied based on the current knowledge of the fuel element properties and structure material properties.


Author(s):  
R. G. Adams ◽  
F. H. Boenig

The Gas Turbine HTGR, or “Direct Cycle” High-Temperature Gas-Cooled, Reactor power plant, uses a closed-cycle gas turbine directly in the primary coolant circuit of a helium-cooled high-temperature nuclear reactor. Previous papers have described configuration studies leading to the selection of reactor and power conversion loop layout, and the considerations affecting the design of the components of the power conversion loop. This paper discusses briefly the effects of the helium working fluid and the reactor cooling loop environment on the design requirements of the direct-cycle turbomachinery and describes the mechanical arrangement of a typical turbomachine for this application. The aerodynamic design is outlined, and the mechanical design is described in some detail, with particular emphasis on the bearings and seals for the turbomachine.


2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michał Dudek ◽  
Zygmunt Kolenda ◽  
Marek Jaszczur ◽  
Wojciech Stanek

Nuclear energy is one of the possibilities ensuring energy security, environmental protection, and high energy efficiency. Among many newest solutions, special attention is paid to the medium size high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGR) with wide possible applications in electric energy production and district heating systems. Actual progress can be observed in the literature and especially in new projects. The maximum outlet temperature of helium as the reactor cooling gas is about 1000 °C which results in the relatively low energy efficiency of the cycle not greater than 40–45% in comparison to 55–60% of modern conventional power plants fueled by natural gas or coal. A significant increase of energy efficiency of HTGR cycles can be achieved with the increase of helium temperature from the nuclear reactor using additional coolant heating even up to 1600 °C in heat exchanger/gas burner located before gas turbine. In this paper, new solution with additional coolant heating is presented. Thermodynamic analysis of the proposed solution with a comparison to the classical HTGR cycle will be presented showing a significant increase of energy efficiency up to about 66%.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document