• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.66-73
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• 2015

Background: A numerical simulation was carried out to investigate the difference between internal and external heat-flux distributions at the reactor vessel wall under in-vessel retention through external reactor vessel cooling (IVR-ERVC). Methods: Total loss of feed water, station blackout, and large break loss of coolant accidents were selected as the severe accident scenarios, and a transient analysis using the element-birth-and-death technique was conducted to reflect the vessel erosion (vessel wall thickness change) effect. Results: It was found that the maximum heat flux at the focusing region was decreased at least 10% when considering the two-dimensional heat conduction at the reactor vessel wall. Conclusion: The results show that a higher thermal margin for the IVR-ERVC strategy can be achieved in the focusing region. In addition, sensitivity studies revealed that the heat flux and reactor vessel thickness are dominantly affected by the molten corium pool formation according to the accident scenario.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.237-248
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• 2012

Corium behavior in the lower plenum of the reactor vessel during a severe accident is very important, as this affects a failure mechanism of the lower head vessel and a thermal load to the outer reactor vessel under the IVR-ERVC (In-Vessel corium Retention through External Reactor Vessel Cooling) condition. This paper discusses the state of the art and technical issues on corium behavior in the lower plenum, such as initial corium pool formation characteristics and its transient behavior, natural convection heat transfer in various geometries, natural convection heat transfer with a phase change of melting and solidification, and corium interaction with a lower head vessel including penetrations of the ICI (In-Core Instrumentation) nozzle are discussed. It is recommended that more detailed analysis and experiments are necessary to solve the uncertainties of corium behavior in the lower plenum of the reactor vessel.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.351-361
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• 2015

External reactor vessel cooling (ERVC) for in-vessel retention (IVR) has been considered one of the most useful strategies to mitigate severe accidents. However, reliability of this common idea is weakened because many studies were focused on critical heat flux whereas there were diverse uncertainties in structural behaviors as well as thermal-hydraulic phenomena. In the present study, several key factors related to molten corium behaviors and thermal characteristics were examined under multi-layered corium formation conditions. Thereafter, systematic finite element analyses and subsequent damage evaluation with varying parameters were performed on a representative reactor pressure vessel (RPV) to figure out the possibility of high temperature induced failures. From the sensitivity analyses, it was proven that the reactor cavity should be flooded up to the top of the metal layer at least for successful accomplishment of the IVR-ERVC strategy. The thermal flux due to corium formation and the relocation time were also identified as crucial parameters. Moreover, three-layered corium formation conditions led to higher maximum von Mises stress values and consequently shorter creep rupture times as well as higher damage factors of the RPV than those obtained from two-layered conditions.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.36-43
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• 2023

Lots of researches have been conducted on in-vessel retention (IVR) to prevent or mitigate severe accident in nuclear power plants. Various methodologies were proposed and the external reactor vessel cooling was selected as a part of promising IVR strategy. In this study, the strategy is strengthened by enhancing the natural circulation performance through the adoption of insulation in the reactor cavity. A thermal analysis was carried out based on an assumed accident scenario and its results were used as boundary conditions for subsequent seven flow analysis cases. By comparing the natural circulation performance, effects of annular gaps and insulation shapes on the mass flow rate and flow velocity were quantified. The improvement in cooling performance can be reflected in actual design via detailed assessment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.147-152
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• 2017

The external reactor vessel cooling (ERVC) is well known strategy to mitigate a severe accident at which nuclear fuel inside the reactor vessel is molten. In order to compare the heat removal capacity of ERVC between the nuclear reactor designs quantitatively, numerical method is often used. However, the study for ERVC using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is still quite scarce. As a validation study on the numerical prediction for ERVC using CFD, the subcooled boiling flow and natural circulation of coolant at the ULPU-V experiment was simulated. The commercially available CFD software ANSYS-CFX was used. Shear stress transport (SST) model and RPI model were used for turbulence closure and wall-boiling, respectively. The averaged flow velocities in the downcomer and the baffle entry under the reactor vessel lower plenum are in good agreement with the available experimental data and recent computational results. Steam generated from the heated wall condenses rapidly and coolant flows maintains single-phase flow until coolant boils again by flashing process due to the decrease of saturation temperature induced by higher elevation. Hence, the flow rate of coolant natural circulation does not vary significantly with the change of heat flux applied at the reactor vessel, which is also consistent with the previous literatures.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Systems Engineering
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.32-45
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• 2023

Implementing Severe Accident Management (SAM) strategies is crucial for enhancing a nuclear power plant's resilience and safety against severe accidents conditions represented in the analysis of Station Blackout (SBO) event. Among these critical approaches, the In-Vessel Retention (IVR) through External Reactor Vessel Cooling (IVR-ERVC) strategy plays a key role in preventing vessel failure. This work is designed to evaluate the efficacy of the IVR strategy for a high-power density reactor APR1400. The APR1400's plant is represented and simulated under steady-state and transient conditions for a station blackout (SBO) accident scenario using the computer code, ASYST. The APR1400's thermal-hydraulic response is analyzed to assess its performance as it progresses toward a severe accident scenario during an extended SBO. The effectiveness of emergency operating procedures (EOPs) and severe accident management guidelines (SAMGs) are systematically examined to assess their ability to mitigate the accident. A group of associated key phenomena selected based on Phenomenon Identification and Ranking Tables (PIRT) and uncertain parameters are identified accordingly and then propagated within DAKOTA Uncertainty Quantification (UQ) framework until a statistically representative sample is obtained and hence determine the uncertainty bands of key system parameters. The Systems Engineering methodology is applied to direct the progression of work, ensuring systematic and efficient execution.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.1845-1850
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• 2022

In-vessel corium retention (IVR) during external reactor vessel cooling (ERVC) is a key severe accident management strategy adopted in advanced nuclear power plants. The injection of nanofluids has been regarded as a means of enhancing CHF when using the IVR-ERVC strategy to safeguard high-power nuclear reactors. However, a critical practical concern is that various types of debris flowing from the contaminant sump during operation of an ERVC system might degrade CHF enhancement by nanofluids. Our objective here was to experimentally assess the viability of nanofluid use to enhance CHF in practical ERVC contexts (e.g., when fluids contain various types of debris). The types and characteristics of debris expected during IVR-ERVC were examined. We performed pool boiling CHF experiments using nanofluids containing these types of debris. Notably, we found that debris did not cause any degradation of the CHF enhancement characteristics of nanofluids. The nanoparticles are approximately 1000-fold smaller than the debris particles; the number of nanoparticles in the same volume fraction is 1 billion-fold greater. Nanofluids increase CHF via porous deposition of nanosized particles on the boiling surface; this is not hindered by extremely large debris particles.

• Transactions of the KSME C: Technology and Education
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.209-215
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• 2015

The effects of the mounting location of ICI cables on severe accident mitigation systems, specially IVR-ERVC (In-Vessel Retention by External Reactor Vessel Cooling) and core catcher (Ex-vessel corium retention and cooling system), are investigated. The effects of bottom-mounted ICI strategy on severe accident mitigation are summarized and advantages of top-mounted ICI to improve severe accident mitigation are also highlighted.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.1330-1337
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• 2016

A visualization test of the fuel-coolant interaction in the Test for Real cOrium Interaction with water (TROI) test facility was carried out. To experimentally simulate the In-Vessel corium Retention (IVR)- External Reactor Vessel Cooling (ERVC) conditions, prototypic corium was released directly into the coolant water without a free fall in a gas phase before making contact with the coolant. Corium (34.39 kg) consisting of uranium oxide and zirconium oxide with a weight ratio of 8:2 was superheated, and 22.54 kg of the 34.39 kg corium was passed through water contained in a transparent interaction vessel. An image of the corium jet behavior in the coolant was taken by a high-speed camera every millisecond. Thermocouple junctions installed in the vertical direction of the coolant were cut sequentially by the falling corium jet. It was clearly observed that the visualization image of the corium jet taken during the fuel-coolant interaction corresponded with the temperature variations in the direction of the falling melt. The corium penetrated through the coolant, and the jet leading edge velocity was 2.0 m/s. Debris smaller than 1 mm was 15% of the total weight of the debris collected after a fuel-coolant interaction test, and the mass median diameter was 2.9 mm.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.9-18
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• 2024

In-vessel retention through external reactor vessel cooling (IVR-ERVC) is a severe accident management (SAM) strategy that has been adopted and used in many nuclear reactors such as AP1000, APR1400, and light water reactor etc. Some reactor accidents have raised concerns about nuclear reactors among residents, leading to a decrease in residents' acceptability and many studies on SAM are being conducted. Experiments on IVR-ERVC are almost impossible due to its specificity, so fluid characteristics are analyzed through BALI experiments with similar condition. In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) via Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and large eddy simulation (LES) for BALI experiments were performed. Steady-state CFD analysis was performed on three turbulence models, and SST k-ω model was in good agreement with the experimental measurement temperature within the maximum error range of 1.9%. LES CFD analysis was performed based on the RANS analysis results and it was confirmed that the temperature and wall heat flux for depth was consistent within an error range of 1.0% with BALI experiment. The LES CFD analysis results were compared with those of the Lagrangian-based solver. LES matched the temperature distribution better than SOPHIA, but SOPHIA calculated the position of boundary between stratified layer and convective layer more accurately. On the other hand, Lagrangian-based solver predicted several small eddy behaviors of the convective layer and LES predicted large vortex behavior. The vibration characteristics near the cooling part of the BALI experimental device were confirmed through Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) investigation. It was found that the power spectral density for pressure at least 10 times higher near the side cooling than near the top cooling.