Study of Air Clearing during Severe Transient of Nuclear Reactor Coolant System

원자로 사고 또는 과도상태시 공기방출현상에 대한 연구

An experiment has been performed using a facility, which simulates the safety depressurization system (SDS) and in-containment refueling water storage tank (IRWST) of APR1400, an advanced PWR being developed in Korea, to investigate the dynamic load resulting from the blowdown of steam from a steam generator through a sparser. The influence of the key parameters, such as air mass, steam pressure, submergence, valve opening time, and pool temperature, on frequency and peak toads was investigated. The blowdown phenomenon was analyzed to find out the real cause of the initiation of bubble oscillation and discrepancy in frequencies between the experiment and calculation by conventional equation for bubble oscillation. The cause of significant damping was discussed and is presumed to be the highly tortuous flow path around bubble. The Rayleigh-Plesset equation, which is modified by introducing method of image, reasonably reproduces the bubble oscillation in a confined tank. Right after the completion of air discharge the steam discharge immediately follows and it condenses abruptly to provide low-pressure pocket. It may contribute to the negative maximum being greater than positive maximum. The subsequently discharging steam does not play as at the driving force anymore.