• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.696-706
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• 2023

Consequences of an anticipated Beyond Design Basis Accident (BDBA) Long-Term Station Blackout (LTSBO) event with complete loss of grid power in the VVER-1200 reactor of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) of Unit-1 are assessed using the RASCAL 4.3 code. This study estimated the released radionuclides, received public radiological dose, and ground surface concentration considering 3 accident scenarios of International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) level 7 and two meteorological conditions. Atmospheric transport, dispersion, and deposition processes of released radionuclides are simulated using a straight-line trajectory Gaussian plume model for short distances and a Gaussian puff model for long distances. Total Effective Dose Equivalent (TEDE) to the public within 40 km and radionuclides contribution for three-dose pathways of inhalation, cloudshine, and groundshine owing to airborne releases are evaluated considering with and without passive safety Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) in dry (winter) and wet (monsoon) seasons. Source term and their release rates are varied with the functional duration of passive safety ECCS. In three accident scenarios, the TEDE of 10 mSv and above are confined to 8 km and 2 km for the wet and dry seasons, respectively in the downwind direction. The groundshine dose is the most dominating in the wet season while the inhalation dose is in the dry season. Total received doses and surface concentration in the wet season near the plant are higher than those in the dry season due to the deposition effect of rain on the radioactive substances.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.141-154
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• 1984

An analysis is presented of key phenomena and scenario which imply some general trends for beyond design-basis-accident in Kori-1 PWR dry containment. The study covers a wide range of severe accident sequences initiated by small break LOCA. The MARCH computer code, with KAERI modifications was used in this analysis. The major emphasis of the paper are two folds, 1) the phenomenologic understanding of severe accident and 2) a study of H2 combustion and debris/ water interactions in a specific small break LOCA for Kori-1 plant. The sensitivity studies for the specific plant data and thermal interaction modelings used in the SASA were performed. The results show that if hydrogen burning does occur at low concentration, the resulting peak pressure does not exceed the design value, while the lower concentration assumption results in repeated burning due to the continuing H$_2$ generation. For debris/water interaction, the particle size has no effect on the magnitude of peak pressure for the amount of water assumed to be in the reactor cavity. But, the occurrence of peak pressure is considerably delayed in case of using the dryout correlation. The peak containment pressure predicted from the hydrogen combustion and steam pressure spite during full core meltdown scenario does not present a severe threat to the containment integrity.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.7
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• pp.1414-1422
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• 2017

Remote response technology has advanced to the extent that a robot system, if properly designed and deployed, may greatly help respond to beyond-design-basis accidents at nuclear power plants. Particularly in the aftermath of the Fukushima accident, there is increasing interest in developing disaster robots that can be deployed in lieu of a human operator to the field to perform mitigating actions in the harsh environment caused by extreme natural hazards. The nuclear robotics team of the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) is also endeavoring to construct disaster robots and, first of all, is interested in finding out to what extent safety benefits can be achieved by such a disaster robotic system. This paper discusses a new approach based on the probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) technique, which can be used to quantify safety benefits associated with disaster robots, along with a case study for seismic-induced station blackout condition. The results indicate that to avoid core damage in this special case a robot system with reliability > 0.65 is needed because otherwise core damage is inevitable. Therefore, considerable efforts are needed to improve the reliability of disaster robots, because without assurance of high reliability, remote response techniques will not be practically used.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.7
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• pp.1037-1042
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• 2018

The present study aims to assess the excess induced reactivity in a Miniature Neutron Source Reactor (MNSR) for a Beyond Design Basis Accident (BDBA) scenario. The BDBA scenario as defined in the Safety Analysis Report (SAR) of the reactor involves sticking of the control rod and filling of the inner and outer irradiation sites with water. At the end of the MNSR core life, 10.95 cm of Beryllium is added to the top of the core as a reflector which affects some neutronic parameters such as effective delayed neutrons fraction (${\beta}_{eff}$), the reactivity worth of inner and outer irradiation sites that are filled with water and the reactivity worth of the control rod. Given those influences and changes, new neutronic calculations are required to be able to demonstrate the reactor safety. Therefore, a validated MCNPX model is used to calculate all neutronic parameters at the end of the reactor core life. The calculations show that the induced reactivity in the BDBA scenario increases at the end of core life to $7.90{\pm}0.01mk$ which is significantly higher than the induced reactivity of 6.80 mk given in the SAR of MNSR for the same scenario but at the beginning of the core's life. Also this value is 3.90 mk higher than the maximum allowable operational limit (i.e. 4.00 mk).

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.356-367
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• 2018

A series of tests dedicated to station blackout (SBO) accident scenarios have been recently performed at the $Prim{\ddot{a}}rkreislauf-Versuchsanlage$ (primary coolant loop test facility; PKL) facility in the framework of the OECD/NEA PKL-3 project. These investigations address current safety issues related to beyond design basis accident transients with significant core heat up. This work presents a detailed analysis using the best estimate thermal-hydraulic code TRACE (v5.0 Patch4) of different SBO scenarios conducted at the PKL facility; failures of high- and low-pressure safety injection systems together with steam generator (SG) feedwater supply are considered, thus calling for adequate accident management actions and timely implementation of alternative emergency cooling procedures to prevent core meltdown. The presented analysis evaluates the capability of the applied TRACE model of the PKL facility to correctly capture the sequences of events in the different SBO scenarios, namely the SBO tests H2.1, H2.2 run 1 and H2.2 run 2, including symmetric or asymmetric secondary side depressurization, primary side depressurization, accumulator (ACC) injection in the cold legs and secondary side feeding with mobile pump and/or primary side emergency core coolant injection from the fuel pool cooling pump. This study is focused specifically on the prediction of the core exit temperature, which drives the execution of the most relevant accident management actions. This work presents, in particular, the key improvements made to the TRACE model that helped to improve the code predictions, including the modeling of dynamical heat losses, the nodalization of SGs' heat exchanger tubes and the ACCs. Another relevant aspect of this work is to evaluate how well the model simulations of the three different scenarios qualitatively and quantitatively capture the trends and results exhibited by the actual experiments. For instance, how the number of SGs considered for secondary side depressurization affects the heat transfer from primary side; how the discharge capacity of the pressurizer relief valve affects the dynamics of the transient; how ACC initial pressure and nitrogen release affect the grace time between ACC injection and subsequent core heat up; and how well the alternative feeding modes of the secondary and/or primary side with mobile injection pumps affect core quenching and ensure stable long-term core cooling under controlled boiling conditions.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.240-252
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• 2015

In the original licensing application for the prototype fast-breeder reactor, MONJU, the event progression during an unprotected loss of flow (ULOF), which is one of the technically inconceivable events postulated beyond design basis, was evaluated. Through this evaluation, it was confirmed that radiological consequences could be suitably limited even if mechanical energy was released. Following the Fukushima-Daiichi accident, a new nuclear safety regulation has become effective in Japan. The conformity of MONJU to this new regulation should hence be investigated. The objectives of the present study are to conduct a preliminary evaluation of ULOF for MONJU, reflecting the knowledge obtained after the original licensing application through CABRI experiments and EAGLE projects, and to gain the prospect of in-vessel retention for the conformity of MONJU to the new regulation. The preliminary evaluation in the present study showed that no significant mechanical energy release would take place, and that thermal failure of the reactor vessel could be avoided by the stable cooling of disrupted-core materials. This result suggests that the prospect of in-vessel retention against ULOF, which lies within the bounds of the original licensing evaluation and conforms to the new nuclear safety regulation, will be gained.