Integral effect tests for intermediate and small break loss-of-coolant accidents with passive emergency core cooling system

• Published in: Nuclear engineering and technology Vol. 55; no. 7; pp. 2438 - 2446
• Main Authors: Bae, Byoung-Uhn, Cho, Seok, Lee, Jae Bong, Park, Yu-Sun, Kim, Jongrok, Kang, Kyoung-Ho
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.07.2023; Elsevier; 한국원자력학회
• Subjects: ATLAS test facility; Integral effect test; Intermediate break loss-of-coolant accident (IBLOCA); Passive emergency core cooling system (PECCS); Small break loss-of-coolant accident (SBLOCA); 원자력공학; Intermediate break loss-of-coolant accident (IBLOCA); Passive emergency core cooling system (PECCS); Small break loss-of-coolant accident (SBLOCA); ATLAS test facility; Integral effect test
• ISSN: 1738-5733; 2234-358X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.net.2023.04.006

To cool down a nuclear reactor core and prevent the fuel damage without a pump-driven active component during any anticipated accident, the passive emergency core cooling system (PECCS) was designed and adopted in an advanced light water reactor, i-POWER. In this study, for a validation of the cooling capability of PECCS, thermal-hydraulic integral effect tests were performed with the ATLAS facility by simulating intermediate and small break loss-of-coolant accidents (IBLOCA and SBLOCA). The test result showed that PECCS could effectively depressurize the reactor coolant system by supplying the safety injection water from the safety injection tanks (SITs). The result pointed out that the safety injection from IRWST should have been activated earlier to inhibit the excessive core heat-up. The sequence of the PECCS injection and the major thermal hydraulic transient during the SBLOCA transient was similar to the result of the IBLOCA test with the equivalent PECCS condition. The test data can be used to evaluate the capability of thermal hydraulic safety analysis codes in predicting IBLOCA and SBLOCA transients under an operation of passive safety system.