• 한국유체기계학회 논문집
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• 제17권6호
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• pp.104-108
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• 2014

The recent Fukushima nuclear power plant accidents shows that the core make up at high RCS pressure condition is very important to prevent core melting. The core make up flow at high pressure condition should be driven by gravity force or passive forces because the AC-powered safety features are not available during a Station Black Out (SBO) accident. The reactor Coolant System (RCS) mass inventory is continuously decreased by releasing steam through the pressurizer safety valves after reactor trip during a SBO accident. The core will be melted down within 2~3 hours without core make up action by active or passive mode. In the new design concept of a Hybrid Safety Injection Tank (Hybrid SIT) both for low and high RCS pressure conditions, the low pressure nitrogen gas serves as a charging pressure for a LBLOCA injection mode, while the PZR high pressure steam provides an equalizing pressure for a high pressure injection mode such as a SBO accident. After the pressure equalizing process by battery driven initiation valve at a high pressure SBO condition, the Hybrid SIT injection water will be passively injected into the reactor downcomer by gravity head. The SBO simulation by MARS code show that the core makeup injection flow through the Hybrid SIT continued up to the SIT empty condition, and the core heatup is delayed as much.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제45권5호
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• pp.573-580
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• 2013

The combined effects of reactivity coefficients, along with other core nuclear characteristics, determine reactor core behavior in normal operation and accident conditions. The Power Coefficient of Reactivity (PCR) is an aggregate indicator representing the change in reactor core reactivity per unit change in reactor power. It is an integral quantity which captures the contributions of the fuel temperature, coolant void, and coolant temperature reactivity feedbacks. All nuclear reactor designs provide a balance between their inherent nuclear characteristics and the engineered reactivity control features, to ensure that changes in reactivity under all operating conditions are maintained within a safe range. The $CANDU^{(R)}$ reactor design takes advantage of its inherent nuclear characteristics, namely a small magnitude of reactivity coefficients, minimal excess reactivity, and very long prompt neutron lifetime, to mitigate the demand on the engineered systems for controlling reactivity and responding to accidents. In particular, CANDU reactors have always taken advantage of the small value of the PCR associated with their design characteristics, such that the overall design and safety characteristics of the reactor are not sensitive to the value of the PCR. For other reactor design concepts a PCR which is both large and negative is an important aspect in the design of their engineered systems for controlling reactivity. It will be demonstrated that during Loss of Regulation Control (LORC) and Large Break Loss of Coolant Accident (LBLOCA) events, the impact of variations in power coefficient, including a hypothesized larger than estimated PCR, has no safety-significance for CANDU reactor design. Since the CANDU 6 PCR is small, variations in the range of values for PCR on the performance or safety of the reactor are not significant.