• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.103-110
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• 2019

The domestic innovative power reactor named iPOWER will employ the passive molten corium cooling system(PMCCS) to cool down and stabilize the core melt in the severe accident. The final design concept of the PMCCS is yet to be determined, but the in-vessel retention through external reactor vessel cooling has been also considered as a viable strategy to cope with the severe accident. In this study, the two-phase natural circulation flow established between the reactor vessel and the insulation was simulated using a thermal-hydraulic system code, MARS-KS. The flow path of cooling water was modeled with one-dimensional nodes, and the boundary condition of the heat load from the molten core was defined to estimate the naturally-driven flow rate. The evolution of major thermal-hydraulic parameters were also evaluated, including the temperature and the level of cooling water, the void fraction around the lower head of the reactor vessel, and the heat transfer mode on its external surface.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.144-155
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• 2023

The core catcher is used as a passive safety system in new generation nuclear power plants to create a space in the containment for the placing and cooling of the molten corium under various severe accidents. This research investigates the role of the core catcher in the VVER-1000 reactor containment system in mitigating the effects of core meltdown under various severe accidents within the context of the Ex-vessel Melt Retention (EVMR) strategy. Hence, a comparison study of three severe accidents is conducted, including Station Black-Out (SBO), SBO combined with the Large Break Loss of Coolant Accident (LB-LOCA), and SBO combined with the Small Break Loss of Coolant Accident (SB-LOCA). Numerical comparative simulations are performed for the aforementioned scenario with and without the EX-vessel core-catcher. The results showed that considering the EX-Vessel core catcher reduces the amount of hydrogen by about 18.2 percent in the case of SBO + LB-LOCA, and hydrogen production decreases by 12.4 percent in the case of SBO + SB-LOCA. Furthermore, in the presence of an EX-Vessel core-catcher, the production of gases such as CO and CO2 for the SBO accident is negligible. It was revealed that the greatest decrease in pressure and temperature of the containment is related to the SBO accident.