• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.455-465
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• 2021

The Molten Salt Reactor (MSR), one of the six advanced reactor types of the 4th generation nuclear energy systems, has many impressive features including economic advantages, inherent safety and nuclear non-proliferation. This paper introduces a system analysis code named TREND, which is developed and used for the steady and transient simulation of MSRs. The TREND code calculates the distributions of pressure, velocity and temperature of single-phase flows by solving the conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy, along with a fluid state equation. Heat structures coupled with the fluid dynamics model is sufficient to meet the demands of modeling MSR system-level thermal-hydraulics. The core power is based on the point reactor neutron kinetics model calculated by the typical Runge-Kutta method. An incremental PID controller is inserted to adjust the operation behaviors. The verification and validation of the TREND code have been carried out in two aspects: detailed code-to-code comparison with established thermal-hydraulic system codes such as RELAP5, and validation with the experimental data from MSRE and the CIET facility (the University of California, Berkeley's Compact Integral Effects Test facility).The results indicate that TREND can be used in analyzing the transient behaviors of MSRs and will be improved by validating with more experimental results with the support of SINAP.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Systems Engineering
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.46-58
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• 2023

Deterministic safety analysis is a crucial part of safety assessment, particularly when it comes to demonstrating the safety of nuclear power plant designs. The traditional approach to deterministic safety analysis models is to model the nuclear core using point kinetics. However, this simplified approach does not fully reflect the real core behavior with proper moderator and fuel reactivity feedbacks during the transient. The use of Multi-Physics approach allows more precise simulation reflecting the inherent three-dimensionality (3D) of the problem by representing the detailed 3D core, with instantaneous updates of feedback mechanisms due to changes of important reactivity parameters like fuel temperature coefficient (FTC) and moderator temperature coefficient (MTC). This paper addresses a CEA ejection accident at hot full power (HFP), in which the underlying strong and un-symmetric feedback between thermal-hydraulics and reactor kinetics exist. For this purpose, a multi-physics analysis tool has been selected with the nodal kinetics code, 3DKIN, implicitly coupled to the thermal-hydraulic code, RELAP5, for real-time communication and data exchange. This coupled approach enables high fidelity three-dimensional simulation and is therefore especially relevant to reactivity initiated accident (RIA) scenarios and power distribution anomalies with strong feedback mechanisms and/or un-symmetrical characteristics as in the CEA ejection accident. The Systems Engineering approach is employed to provide guidance in developing the work in a systematic and efficient fashion.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.762-769
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• 2024

The TMSR-SF0 simulator is an integral effect thermal-hydraulic experimental system for the development of thorium molten salt reactor (TMSR) program in China. The simulator has two heat transport loops with liquid FLiNaK. In literature, the 95% level confidence uncertainties of the thermophysical properties of FLiNaK are recommended, and the uncertainties of density, heat capacity, thermal conductivity and viscosity are ±2%, ±10, ±10% and ±10% respectively. In order to investigate the effects of thermophysical properties uncertainties on the molten salt heat transport system, the uncertainty and sensitivity analysis of the heat transfer characteristics of the simulator system are carried out on a RELAP5 model. The uncertainties of thermophysical properties are incorporated in simulation model and the Monte Carlo sampling method is used to propagate the input uncertainties through the model. The simulation results indicate that the uncertainty propagated to core outlet temperature is about ±10 ℃ with a confidence level of 95% in a steady-state operation condition. The result should be noted in the design, operation and code validation of molten salt reactor. In addition, more experimental data is necessary for quantifying the uncertainty of thermophysical properties of molten salts.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.121-127
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• 2020

Since the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, the public were concerned about the safety of Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) in extreme natural disaster situations, such as earthquakes, flooding, heavy rain and tsunami, have been increasing around the world. Accordingly, the Stress Test was conducted in Europe, Japan, Russia, and other countries by reassessing the safety and response capabilities of NPPs in extreme natural disaster situations that exceed the design basis. The extreme natural disaster can put the NPPs in beyond-design-basis conditions such as the loss of the power system and the ultimate heat sink. The behaviors and capabilities of NPPs with losing their essential safety functions should be measured to find and supplement weak areas in hardware, procedures and coping strategies. The Loss of Ultimate Heat Sink (LUHS) accident assumes impairment of the essential service water system accompanying the failure of the component cooling water system. In such conditions, residual heat removal and cooling of safety-relevant components are not possible for a long period of time. It is therefore very important to establish coping strategies considering all available equipment to mitigate the consequence of the LUHS accident and keep the NPPs safe. In this study, thermal hydraulic behavior of the LUHS event was analyzed using RELAP5/Mod3.3 code. We also performed the sensitivity analysis to identify the effects of the operator recovery actions and operation strategy for charging pumps on the results of the LUHS accident.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.218-226
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• 2008

A component-scale two-phase analysis code has been developed for a realistic simulation of two-phase flow transients in a light water nuclear reactor component. In the code, a two-fluid three-field model is adopted and the governing equations are solved on an unstructured mesh. For the numerical solution scheme, the semi-implicit method used in the RELAP5 code was selected, which has been proved to be very stable and accurate for most of practical applications. However, some modifications were needed for its application to an unstructured non-staggered grid. This paper presents the modified semi-implicit numerical method for unstructured grid and the preliminary results of the calculations.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.625-636
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• 2013

Pressing demands of economic competitiveness, the need for large-scale deployment, minimizing the need of human intervention, and experience from the past events and incidents at operating reactors have guided the evolution and innovations in reactor technologies. Indian innovative reactor 'AHWR' is a pressure-tube type natural circulation based boiling water reactor that is designed to meet such requirements, which essentially reflect the needs of next generation reactors. The reactor employs various passive features to prevent and mitigate accidental conditions, like a slightly negative void reactivity coefficient, passive poison injection to scram the reactor in event of failure of the wired shutdown systems, a large elevated pool of water as a heat sink inside the containment, passive decay heat removal based on natural circulation and passive valves, passive ECC injection, etc. It is designed to meet the fundamental safety requirements of safe shutdown, safe decay heat removal and confinement of activity with no impact in public domain, and hence, no need for emergency planning under all conceivable scenarios. This paper examines the role of the various passive safety systems in prevention and mitigation of severe plant conditions that may arise in event of multiple failures. For the purpose of demonstration of the effectiveness of its passive features, postulated scenarios on the lines of three major severe accidents in the history of nuclear power reactors are considered, namely; the Three Mile Island (TMI), Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents. Severe plant conditions along the lines of these scenarios are postulated to the extent conceivable in the reactor under consideration and analyzed using best estimate system thermal-hydraulics code RELAP5/Mod3.2. It is found that the various passive systems incorporated enable the reactor to tolerate the postulated accident conditions without causing severe plant conditions and core degradation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.257-270
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• 2011

A set of reflood tests has been performed using ATLAS, which is a thermal-hydraulic integral effect test facility for the pressurized water reactors of APR1400 and OPR1000. Several important phenomena were observed during the ATLAS LBLOCA reflood tests, including core quenching, down-comer boiling, ECC bypass, and steam binding. The present paper discusses those four topics based on the LB-CL-11 test, which is a best-estimate simulation of the LBLOCA reflood phase for APR1400 using ATLAS. Both homogeneous bottom quenching and inhomogeneous top quenching were observed for a uniform radial power profile during the LB-CL-11 test. From the observation of the down-comer boiling phenomena during the LB-CL-11 test, it was found that the measured void fraction in the lower down-comer region was relatively smaller than that estimated from the RELAP5 code, which predicted an unrealistically higher void generation and magnified the downcomer boiling effect for APR1400. The direct ECC bypass was the dominant ECC bypass mechanism throughout the test even though sweep-out occurred during the earlier period. The ECC bypass fractions were between 0.2 and 0.6 during the later test period. The steam binding phenomena was observed, and its effect on the collapsed water levels of the core and down-comer was discussed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.1321-1329
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• 2016

To get an insight into the operating characteristics of the passive residual heat removal system of molten salt reactors, a two-phase natural circulation test facility was constructed. The system consists of a boiling loop absorbing the heat from the drain tank, a condensing loop consuming the heat, and a steam drum. A steady-state experiment was carried out, in which the thimble temperature ranged from $450^{\circ}C$ to $700^{\circ}C$ and the system pressure was controlled at levels below 150 kPa. When reaching a steady state, the system was operated under saturated conditions. Some important parameters, including heat power, system resistance, and water level in the steam drum and water tank were investigated. The experimental results showed that the natural circulation system is feasible in removing the decay heat, even though some fluctuations may occur in the operation. The uneven temperature distribution in the water tank may be inevitable because convection occurs on the outside of the condensing tube besides boiling with decreasing the decay power. The instabilities in the natural circulation loop are sensitive to heat flux and system resistance rather than the water level in the steam drum and water tank. RELAP5 code shows reasonable results compared with experimental data.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.476-483
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• 2017

The decay heat that is produced by nuclear reactor spent fuel must be cooled in a spent fuel storage pool. A wickless heat pipe or a vertical two-phase closed thermosyphon (TPCT) is used to remove this decay heat. The objective of this research is to investigate the thermal performance of a prototype model for a large-scale vertical TPCT as a passive cooling system for a nuclear research reactor spent fuel storage pool. An experimental investigation and numerical simulation using RELAP5/MOD 3.2 were used to investigate the TPCT thermal performance. The effects of the initial pressure, filling ratio, and heat load were analyzed. Demineralized water was used as the TPCT working fluid. The cooled water was circulated in the water jacket as a cooling system. The experimental results show that the best thermal performance was obtained at a thermal resistance of $0.22^{\circ}C/W$, the lowest initial pressure, a filling ratio of 60%, and a high evaporator heat load. The simulation model that was experimentally validated showed a pattern and trend line similar to those of the experiment and can be used to predict the heat transfer phenomena of TPCT with varying inputs.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.7
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• pp.1738-1748
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• 2019

Previous research has shown that the inclined condition has an impact on the natural circulation (natural circulation) mode operation of Floating Nuclear Power Plant (FNPP) mounted on the movable marine platform. Due to its compact structure, small volume, strong maneuverability, the Integral Pressurized Water Reactor (IPWR) is adopted as marine reactor in general. The OTSGs of IPWR are symmetrically arranged in the annular region between the reactor vessel and core support barrel in this paper. Therefore, many parallel natural circulation loops are built between the core and the OTSGs primary side when the main pump is stopped. and the inclined condition would lead to discrepancies of the natural circulation drive head among the OTSGs in different locations. In addition, the flow rate and temperature nonuniform distribution of the core caused by inclined condition are coupled with the thermal hydraulics parameters maldistribution caused by OTSG group operating mode on low power operation. By means of the RELAP5 codes were modified by adding module calculating the effect of inclined, heaving and rolling condition, the simulation model of IPWR in inclined condition was built. Using the models developed, the influences on natural circulation operation by inclined angle and OTSG position, the transitions between forced circulation (forced circulation) and natural circulation and the effect on natural circulation operation by different OTSG grouping situations in inclined condition were analyzed. It was observed that a larger inclined angle results the temperature of the core outlet is too high and the OTSG superheat steam is insufficient in natural circulation mode operation. In general, the inclined angle is smaller unless the hull is destroyed seriously or the platform overturn in the ocean. In consequence, the results indicated that the IPWR in the movable marine platform in natural circulation mode operation is safety. Selecting an appropriate average temperature setting value or operating the uplifted OTSG group individually is able to reduce the influence on natural circulation flow of IPWR by inclined condition.