• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.229-234
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• 2012

Operator's action time is evaluated from MAAP4 analysis used in conventional probabilistic safety assessment(PSA) of a nuclear power plant. MAAP4 code which was developed for severe accident analysis is too conservative to perform a realistic PSA. A best-estimate code such as RELAP5/MOD3, MARS has been used to reduce the conservatism of thermal hydraulic analysis. In this study, operator's action time of core cooling recovery operation is evaluated by using the MARS code, which its Fussell-Vessely(F-V) value was evaluated as highly important in a small break loss of coolant(SBLOCA) event and loss of component cooling water(LOCCW) event in previous PSA. The main conclusions were elicited : (1) MARS analysis provides larger time window for operator's action time than MAAP4 analysis and gives the more realistic time window in PSA (2) Sufficient operator's action time can reduce human error probability and core damage frequency in PSA.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.13-19
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• 2008

In order to predict a remaining life of a plant, it is necessary to select the components that are critical to the plant life. The remaining life of those components shall be evaluated by considering the aging effect of materials used as well as numerous factors. However, when evaluating reliability of nuclear structural components, some problems are quite formidable because of lack of information such as operating history, material property change and uncertainty in damage models. Accordingly, if structural integrity and safety are evaluated by the deterministic fracture mechanics approach, it is expected that the results obtained are too conservative to perform a rational evaluation of plant life. The probabilistic fracture mechanics approaches are regarded as appropriate methods to rationally evaluate the plant life since they can consider various uncertainties such as sizes and shapes of cracks and degradation of material strength due to the aging effects. The objective of this study is to evaluate the structural integrity for a reactor pressure vessel under the small break loss of coolant accident by applying the deterministic and probabilistic fracture mechanics. The deterministic fracture mechanics analysis was performed using the three dimensional finite element model. The probabilistic integrity analysis was based on the Monte Carlo simulation. The selected random variables are the neutron fluence on the vessel inside surface, the content of copper, nickel, and phosphorus in the reactor pressure vessel material, and initial RTNDT.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.2002-2010
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• 2024

Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has operated an integral effect test facility, the Advanced Thermal-Hydraulic Test Loop for Accident Simulation (ATLAS), with reference to the APR1400 (Advanced Power Reactor 1400) for tests for transient and design basis accidents simulation. A test for a loss of coolant accident (LOCA) at the top of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) had been conducted at ATLAS to address the impact of the loss of safety injections (LSI) and to evaluate accident management (AM) actions during the postulated accident. The experimental data has been utilized to validate system analysis codes within a framework of the domestic standard problem program organized by KAERI in collaboration with Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety. In this study, the test has been analyzed by using thermal-hydraulic system analysis codes, MARS-KS 1.5 and TRACE 5.0 Patch 6, and a comparative analysis with experimental and calculation results has been performed. The main objective of this study is the investigation of the thermal-hydraulic phenomena during a small break LOCA at the RPV upper head with the LSI as well as the predictability of the system analysis codes after the AM actions during the test. The results from both codes reveal that overall physical behaviors during the accident are predicted by the codes, appropriately, including the excursion of the peak cladding temperature because of the LSI. It is also confirmed that the core integrity is maintained with the proposed AM action. Considering the break location, a sensitivity analysis for the nodalization of the upper head has been conducted. The sensitivity analysis indicates that the nodalization gave a significant impact on the analysis result. The result emphasizes the importance of the nodalization which should be performed with a consideration of the physical phenomena occurs during the transient.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.185-191
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• 2020

Plant-specific analyses of an advanced reactor have been performed to assure the structural integrity of the reactor pressure vessel during transient conditions, which are expected to initiate pressurized thermal shock (PTS) events. The vessel failure probabilities from the probabilistic fracture mechanics analyses are combined with the transient frequencies to generate the through-wall cracking frequencies, which are compared to the acceptance criterion. Several sensitivity analyses are performed, focusing on the orientations and sizes of cracks, the copper content, and a flaw distribution model. The results show that the integrity of the reactor vessel is expected to be maintained for long-term operation beyond the design lifetime from the PTS perspective using the design data of the advanced reactor. Moreover, a fluence level exceeding 9×10¹⁹ n/㎠ is found to be acceptable, generating a sufficient margin beyond the design lifetime.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.165-172
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• 2016

An experimental study of the thermal-hydraulic characteristics of passive safety systems (PSSs) was conducted using a system-integrated modular advanced reactor-integral test loop (SMART-ITL). The present passive safety injection system for the SMART-ITL consists of one train with the core makeup tank (CMT), the safety injection tank, and the automatic depressurization system. The objective of this study is to investigate the injection effect of the PSS on the small-break loss-of-coolant accident (SBLOCA) scenario for a 0.4 inch line break in the safety-injection system (SIS). The steady-state condition was maintained for 746 seconds before the break. When the major parameters of the target value and test results were compared, most of the thermal-hydraulic parameters agreed closely with each other. The water level of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) was maintained higher than that of the fuel assembly plate during the transient, for the present CMT and safety injection tank (SIT) flow rate conditions. It can be seen that the capability of an emergency core cooling system is sufficient during the transient with SMART passive SISs.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.1125-1139
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• 2023

The system-integrated modular advanced reactor 100 (SMART100), an integral-type pressurized water small modular reactor, is based on a novel design concept for containment cooling and radioactive material reduction; it is known as the containment pressure and radioactivity suppression system (CPRSS). There is a passive cooling system using a condensation with non-condensable gas in the SMART CPRSS. When a design basis accident such as a small break loss of coolant accident (SBLOCA) occurs, the pressurized low containment area (LCA) of the SMART CPRSS leads to steam condensation in an incontainment refuelling water storage tank (IRWST). Additionally, the steam and non-condensable gas mixture passes through the CPRSS heat exchanger (CHX) submerged in the emergency cooldown tank (ECT) that can partially remove the residual heat. When the steam and non-condensable gas mixture passes through the CHX, the non-condensable gas can interrupt the condensation heat transfer in the CHX and it degrades CHX performance. In this study, condensation heat transfer experiments of steam and non-condensable gas mixture in the natural circulation loop were conducted. The pressure, temperature, and effects of the non-condensable gas were investigated according to the constant inlet steam flow rate with non-condensable gas injections in the loop.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.142-152
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• 2004

The liquid entrainment and vapor pull-through offtake model of RELAP5/MOD3 had been developed for SBLOCA (Small Break Loss of Coolant Accident). The RELAP5/MOD3 model for horizontal volumes accounts for the phase separation phenomena and computes the flux of mass and energy through a branch when stratified conditions occur in the horizontal pipe. In the case of CANDU reactor, this model should be used in the coolant flow of 95 feeders connected to the reactor header component under the horizontal stratification in header. The current RELAP5 model can treat the only 3 directions junctions; vertical upward, downward, and side oriented junctions, and thus improvements for the liquid entrainment and vapor pull-through model were needed for considering the exact angles. The RELAP5 off-take model was modified and generalized by considering the geometric effect of branching angles. Based on the previous experimental results, the critical height correlation was reconstructed by use of the branch line connection angle and validation analyses were also performed using SET. The new model can be applied to vertical upward, downward and angled branch, and the accuracy of the new correlations is more improved than that of RELAP5.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.7
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• pp.871-894
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• 2013

KAERI (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) has been operating an integral effect test facility, the Advanced Thermal-Hydraulic Test Loop for Accident Simulation (ATLAS), for transient and accident simulations of advanced pressurized water reactors (PWRs). Using ATLAS, a high-quality integral effect test database has been established for major design basis accidents of the APR1400 plant. A Domestic Standard Problem (DSP) exercise using the ATLAS database was promoted to transfer the database to domestic nuclear industries and contribute to improving a safety analysis methodology for PWRs. This $2^{nd}$ ATLAS DSP (DSP-02) exercise aims at an effective utilization of an integral effect database obtained from ATLAS, the establishment of a cooperation framework among the domestic nuclear industry, a better understanding of the thermal hydraulic phenomena, and an investigation into the possible limitation of the existing best-estimate safety analysis codes. A small break loss of coolant accident with a 6-inch break at the cold leg was determined as a target scenario by considering its technical importance and by incorporating interests from participants. This DSP exercise was performed in an open calculation environment where the integral effect test data was open to participants prior to the code calculations. This paper includes major information of the DSP-02 exercise as well as comparison results between the calculations and the experimental data.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.124-132
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• 2016

In order to estimate the effect of flow distributors connected to an upper nozzle of CMT(Core Makeup Tank) on the thermal-hydraulic characteristics in the tank, a simplified 2 inch Small Break Loss of Coolant Accident(SBLOCA) was simulated by skipping the decay power and Passive Residual Heat Removal System(PRHRS) actuation. The CMT is a part of safety injection systems in the SMART (System Integrated Modular Advanced Reactor). Each test was performed with reliable boundary conditions. It means that the pressure distribution is provided with repeatable and reproducible behavior during SBLOCA simulations. The maximum flow rates were achieved at around 350 seconds after the initial opening of the isolation valve installed in CMT. After a short period of decreased flow rate, it attained a steady injection flow rate after about 1,250 seconds. This unstable injection period of the CMT coolant is due to the condensation of steam injected into the upper part of CMT. The steady injection flow rate was about 8.4% higher with B-type distributor than that with A-type distributor. The gravity injection during hot condition tests were in good agreement with that during cold condition tests except for the early stages.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.1066-1080
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• 2024

SMART100 has a containment pressure and radioactivity suppression system (CPRSS) for passive containment cooling system (PCCS). This prevents overheating and over-pressurization of a containment through direct contact condensation in an in-containment refueling water storage tank (IRWST) and wall condensation in a CPRSS heat exchanger (CHX) in an emergency cool-down tank (ECT). The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) constructed scaled-down test facilities, SISTA1 and SISTA2, for the thermal-hydraulic validation of the SMART100 CPRSS. Three separate effect tests were performed using SISTA1 to confirm the heat removal characteristics of SMART100 CPRSS. When the low mass flux steam with or without non-condensable gas is released into an IRWST, the conditions for mitigation of the chugging phenomenon were identified, and the physical variables were quantified by the 3D reconstruction method. The local behavior of the non-condensable gas was measured after condensation inside heat exchanger using a traverse system. Stratification of non-condensable gas occurred in large tank of the natural circulation loop. SISTA2 was used to simulate a small break loss-of-coolant accident (SBLCOA) transient. Since the test apparatus was a metal tank, compensations of initial heat transfer to the material and effect of heat loss during long-term operation were important for simulating cooling performance of SMART100 CPRSS. The pressure of SMART100 CPRSS was maintained below the design limit for 3 days even under sufficiently conservative conditions of an SBLOCA transient.