Development of a two-dimensional model for the thermohydraulic analysis of the hot pool in liquid metal reactors

The SSC-K code has been developed at KAERI based on SSC-L originally developed at BNL to analyze loop-type LMR transients. Because the dynamic response of the primary coolant in a pool-type LMR, particularly the hot pool concept, can be quite different from that in the loop-type LMR, major modifications of SSC-L have been made for the safety analysis of the KALIMER. In particular, it is necessary to predict the hot pool coolant temperature distribution with sufficient accuracy to determine the inlet temperature conditions for the IHXs because the temperature distribution of a hot pool can alter overall system response. In this paper a two-dimensional hot pool model is developed and compared with the experimental data. A preliminary evaluation of unprotected loss of heat sink accidents for the KALIMER design with updated SSC-K code has been performed and analyzed.     

Transient Safety Analysis of Small Leaded-Bismuth Cooled Fast Reactor

Based on the multi-channel thermal model and the power model, the calculation code which could be used in the transient safety analysis of fast reactor was developed in unprotected overpower accident, unprotected loss of flow accident and unprotected loss of hot sink accident in the paper. By this code, the core reactivity, power and thermal parameter changes with time in different accident cases were calculated and the core neutronics and thermal-hydraulics performance was analyzed. The results indicate that the core design has safety features when accident happens.     

A subchannel analysis code MATRA-LMR for wire wrapped LMR subassembly

In sodium cooled liquid metal reactors design limits are imposed on the maximum temperatures of the cladding and fuel pins. Thus an accurate prediction of the core coolant/fuel temperature distribution is essential to LMR core thermal hydraulic design. The detailed subchannel thermal hydraulic analysis code MATRA-LMR is being developed for LMFBR core design and analysis based on COBRA-IV-I and MATRA. The major modifications and improvements implemented in MATRA-LMR are as follows: sodium property calculation subprogram, sodium coolant heat transfer correlations, and most recent pressure drop correlations. To assess the development status of this code, benchmark calculations were performed with the ORNL 19 pin tests and EBR-II seven-assembly SLTHEN calculation results. The calculation results of MATRA-LMR were compared to the measurements and to the SABRE4 and SLTHEN code calculation results, respectively. Finally, the major technical results of the conceptual design for the KALIMER U-10%Zr binary alloy fueled core have been compared with the calculations of the MATRA-LMR, SABRE4 and SLTHEN codes.     

Investigation into the effects of a coastdown flow on the characteristics of early stage cooling of the reactor pool in KALIMER-600

A numerical investigation into the effect of a coastdown flow on the early stage cooling of the reactor pool in Korea Advanced Liquid Metal Reactor (KALIMER)-600 during a loss of normal heat sink accident has been carried out. Based on the design values of KALIMER-600, thermal-hydraulic calculations for steady and transient states have been done using the COMMIX-1AR/P code. Coastdown flow effect was evaluated based on a transient analysis of reactors employing various flywheels, which had coastdown flow time (CDT) values ranging from 0 (without a flywheel) to 300 s. The transient analysis has been done from a reactor trip to the onset of an overflow into the DHX support barrel. It was found that the coastdown flow range could be divided into three zones, based on its effect. Among them an excessive core coolant peak temperature and a reversed flow at the core region were observed for a medium coastdown flow range. The medium ranged coastdown flow induces the development of a high density layer near the core exit. This layer contributes to the development of an adverse effect in the core coolant flow, and finally results in increasing the core peak temperature. It was also found that the initiation of heat removal by DHX could be accelerated by the increase of the CDT, although it needs a large flywheel. From this analysis the best CDT is determined to be 25 s.     

小型铅铋冷却快堆瞬态安全分析

本文基于多通道热工模型与功率计算模型,在快堆分析程序SARAX的基础上开发了可用于分析小型铅铋冷却快堆在无保护超功率事故、无保护失流事故及无保护失热阱事故发生时瞬态安全特性的计算功能,并利用该程序计算了在不同事故情况下,堆芯反应性、功率以及热工参数随时间的变化,分析评价了堆芯的中子学和热工水力学性能。结果表明所设计的堆芯在发生事故时具有固有安全特性。     

Passive cooldown performance of a 65 MW integral reactor

Advanced integral-type pressurized water reactor with a maximum thermal power of 65 MW is under development at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). This 65 MW integral reactor incorporates a number of innovative design features. In the case of a transient, the passive residual heat removal system (PRHRS) is designed to cool the reactor coolant system (RCS) from a normal operation condition to a hot shutdown condition by a natural circulation, and the shutdown cooling system (SCS) is designed to cool the primary system from a hot shutdown condition to a refueling condition by a forced circulation. A realistic calculation has been carried out by using the TASS/SMR code and a sensitivity analysis has been performed to evaluate a passive cooldown capability for various system conditions such as natural and forced circulation conditions for the reactor coolant system or the passive residual heat removal system, and number of active PRHRS trains. The reactor coolant system and the passive residual heat removal system adequately remove the core decay heat by a natural circulation and the 65 MW integral reactor can cool the coolant to the SCS entry condition in the primary system for all the possible operational conditions.     

Reactivity insertion limits in a typical pool-type research reactor cooled by natural circulation

The course of reactivity insertion in a pool type research reactor, with scram disabled under natural circulation condition is numerically investigated. The analyses were performed by a coupled kinetic–thermal–hydraulic computer code developed specifically for this task. The 10-MW IAEA MTR research reactor was subjected to unprotected reactivity insertion (step and ramp) for both low and high-enriched fuel with continuous reactivity feedback due to coolant and fuel temperature effects. In general, it was found that the power, core mass flow rate and clad temperature under fully established natural circulation are higher for high-enriched fuel than for low enriched fuel. This is unlike the case of decay heat removal, where equal clad temperatures are reported for both fuels. The analysis of reactivity represented by the maximum insertion of positive reactivity ($0.73) demonstrated the high inherent safety features of MTR-type research reactor. Even in the case of total excess reactivity without scram, the high reactivity feedbacks of fuel and moderator temperatures limit the power excursion and avoid consequently escalation of clad temperature to the level of onset of nucleate boiling and sub-cooled void formation. The code can also be modified to provide an accurate capability for the analyses of research reactor transients under forced convection.     

SARAX程序系统在钠冷快堆瞬态分析中的应用

无保护事故下的瞬态分析是钠冷快堆安全分析的重要内容。基于OECD/NEA发布的MOX-3600和MET-1000基准题,本文利用SARAX程序系统对不同钠冷快堆进行了瞬态计算,分析了堆内各种反应性反馈效应,并计算了无保护失流(ULOF)事故和无保护超功率运行(UTOP)事故下燃料温度和冷却剂温度的变化。计算结果表明：SARAX程序系统在快堆瞬态分析中可给出合理的参数预测结果;ULOF事故对于钠冷快堆是更为严重的事故瞬态,会导致堆内的钠沸腾进而发生严重事故。     

Dynamical models and numerical simulation of system-wide transients in loop-type LMFBRs

Dynamical models and numerical methods for a digital simulation of protected transients in loop-type LMFBRs resulting in EPRI-CURL code are presented. The model is capable of simulating operational transients, anticipated incidents, and postulated accidents which do not lead to sodium boiling. The dynamical models include: point reactor kinetics, primary, intermediate, and tertiary system heat transfer and coolant flow dynamics governed by forced and natural convection effects; and plant protection and control systems. A numerical method is incorporated which calculated the characteristic times of the 489 state variables modeling the entire system, and compares them with a variable preset integration timestep. A Runge-Kutta algorithm is applied to those state variables with moderate and slow response, and a quasistatic approximation is applied to those with rapid response; i.e., the ‘stiff’ equations. This assures numerical stability and is shown to greatly reduce the computation time requirements without much sacrifice in accuracy. The steady state (quasistatic) equations are further utilized to determine the unperturbed state of the system prior to transient initiation. The system response to a complete loss-of-electric power leading to buoyancy-induced natural circulation is calculated and compared to parallel calculations using DEMO and SSC-L simulation models.     

TOPAZ-Ⅱ系统启动过程模拟

对前苏联热离子反应堆电源系统TOPAZ-Ⅱ进行相应的简化,分别建立了堆芯热工水力模型、中子物理学模型以及热排放系统模型。冷却剂回路采用一维热工水力模型,堆芯导热及翅片辐射导热计算采用二维分析模型。选用6组缓发中子点堆模型,考虑了二氧化铀燃料、热离子发电电极、慢化剂与反射层的温度反馈以及控制转鼓对反应性的控制,计算得到TOPAZ-Ⅱ在正常启动工况下的各处温度、功率、反应性反馈等参数的变化。计算结果与TITAM程序的计算结果符合较好,同时本程序可对启动过程进行更为精细的分析,可为控制系统的设计提供参考。     

Development of the evaluation methodology for the material relocation behavior in the core disruptive accident of sodium-cooled fast reactors

The in-vessel retention (IVR) of core disruptive accident (CDA) is of prime importance in enhancing safety characteristics of sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs). In the CDA of SFRs, molten core material relocates to the lower plenum of reactor vessel and may impose significant thermal load on the structures, resulting in the melt-through of the reactor vessel. In order to enable the assessment of this relocation process and prove that IVR of core material is the most probable consequence of the CDA in SFRs, a research program to develop the evaluation methodology for the material relocation behavior in the CDA of SFRs has been conducted. This program consists of three developmental studies, namely the development of the analysis method of molten material discharge from the core region, the development of evaluation methodology of molten material penetration into sodium pool, and the development of the simulation tool of debris bed behavior. The analysis method of molten material discharge was developed based on the computer code SIMMER-III since this code is designed to simulate the multi-phase, multi-component fluid dynamics with phase changes involved in the discharge process. Several experiments simulating the molten material discharge through duct using simulant materials were utilized as the basis of validation study of the physical models in this code. It was shown that SIMMER-III with improved physical models could simulate the molten material discharge behavior, including the momentum exchange with duct wall and thermal interaction with coolant. In order to develop an evaluation methodology of molten material penetration into sodium pool, a series of experiments simulating jet penetration behavior into sodium pool in SFR thermal condition were performed. These experiments revealed that the molten jet was fragmented in significantly shorter penetration length than the prediction by existing correlation for light water reactor conditions, due to the direct contact and thermal interaction of molten materials with coolant. The fragmented core materials form a sediment debris bed in the lower plenum. It is necessary to remove decay heat safely from this debris bed to achieve IVR. A simulation code to analyze the behavior of debris bed with decay heat was developed based on SIMMER-III code by implementing physical models, which simulate the interaction among solid particles in the bed. The code was validated by several experiments on the fluidization of particle bed by two-phase flow. These evaluation methodologies will serve as a basis for advanced safety assessment technology of SFRs in the future.     

Reactor core thermohydraulic transients with thermohydrodynamic coupling

A study of the reactor core thermohydraulics in an LMFBR has been performed for the strongly coupled thermo-hydrodynamic transients. A numerical method to solve the coupled energy-momentum equations among multichannels in a core is presented and the computer code ORIFS-TRANSIENT has been developed.The results of sample calculations for a flow coastdown transient to natural circulation following a reactor scram in a typical loop-type LMFBR are as follows: (1) the inter-subassembly coolant flow redistribution due to buoyancy forces is significant under the low flow condition, such as natural circulation; (2) the maximum coolant temperature was decreased by about 80°C (corresponding to about 22% in terms of hot channel factor) due to the flow redistribution; (3) due to thermohydrodynamic coupling between upper plenum and other regions, the maximum coolant temperature was decreased by about 9°C; (4) due to inter-subassembly heat redistribution, the maximum coolant temperature was increased by about 7°C.     

Safety analysis of the reference research reactor MTR during reactivity insertion accident using the code MERSAT

The IAEA’s reference research reactor MTR-10 MW has been modeled using the code MERSAT. The developed MERSAT model consists of detailed representation of primary and secondary loops including reactor pool, bypass, main pump, heat exchanger and reactor core with the corresponding neutronics and thermalhydraulic characteristics. Following the successful accomplishment of the steady state operation at nominal power of 10 MW, reactivity insertion accident (RIA) for three different initial reactivity values of $1.5/0.5 s, $1.35/0.5 s and $0.1/1.0 s have been simulated. The predicted peaks of reactor power, hot channel fuel, clad and coolant temperatures demonstrate inherent safety features of the reference MTR reactor. Only in case of the fast RIA of $1.5/0.5 s, where the peak power of 133.66 MW arrived 0.625 s after the start of the transient, the maximum hot channel clad temperature arrives at the condition of subcooled boiling with the subsequent void formation. However, due to the strong negative reactivity feedback effects of coolant and fuel temperatures the void formation persists for a very short time so that thermalhydraulic conditions remained far from exceeding the safety design limits of thermalhydraulic instability and DNB. Finally, the simulation results show good agreement with previous international benchmark analyses accomplished with other qualified channel and thermalhydraulic system codes.     

海洋静默式热管反应堆热工水力特性研究

安全可靠的能源供给是无人水下潜航器（UUV）发展的关键基础,本研究面向我国重型海洋UUV研发的能源需求,提出了海洋静默式热管反应堆（NUSTER-100）小型核电源概念设计。建立了包括堆芯功率模型、堆芯通道传热模型、热管传热模型、热电转换模型及冷端换热模型等热管反应堆系统数学物理模型,基于高效稳健的数值算法和模块化编程思想,开发了具有自主知识产权的热管反应堆稳态和瞬态热工水力特性分析程序HEART,采用热管实验、温差发电实验等数据对HEART程序关键模块进行了验证与确认。采用HEART程序对NUSTER-100的稳态、冷启动瞬态及反应性引入瞬态工况进行了计算分析,获得了NUSTER-100满功率稳态工况下的热工水力特性,基于冷启动瞬态热工水力分析,提出了具有较高安全性的三段式热管反应堆启动方案,评估了反应性引入瞬态工况下热管反应堆的自稳特性和安全性。本研究可为我国UUV及热管反应堆技术的发展提供理论和技术支持。     

Thermal-hydraulic analyses of transients in an actinide-burner reactor cooled by forced convection of lead–bismuth

The Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are investigating the suitability of lead or lead–bismuth cooled fast reactors for producing low-cost electricity as well as for actinide burning. The current analysis evaluated a pool type design that relies on forced circulation of the primary coolant, a conventional steam power conversion system, and a passive decay heat removal system. The ATHENA computer code was used to simulate various transients without reactor scram, including a primary coolant pump trip, a station blackout, and a step reactivity insertion. The reactor design successfully met identified temperature limits for each of the transients analyzed.     

多孔介质方法在池式快堆系统分析软件SAC-CFR三维钠池计算模型中的应用

为准确分析池式快堆热钠池内的热工水力学特性,在已开发出的用于池式快堆系统分析的钠池三维计算模型的基础上,应用多孔介质方法建立钠池内中间热交换器、主泵、事故热交换器及屏蔽柱模型,完成了含有多孔介质模型和复杂几何边界的钠池三维计算模型开发。将该模型嵌入池式快堆系统分析软件SAC-CFR后,分析了中国实验快堆在稳态运行和紧急停堆工况下钠池内的流场分布,初步证明了所采用的多孔介质模型的合理性,为下一步非能动余热排出系统模型的开发做准备。     

Liquid salt cooled flexible conversion ratio fast reactor: Neutronic design

This paper presents the neutronic design of a liquid salt cooled fast reactor with flexible conversion ratio. The main objective of the design is to accommodate interchangeably within the same reactor core alternative transuranic actinides management strategies ranging from pure burning to self-sustainable breeding. Two, the most limiting, core design options with unity and zero conversion ratios are described. Ternary, NaCl-KCl-MgCl₂ salt was chosen as a coolant after a rigorous screening process, due to a combination of favourable neutronic and heat transport properties. Large positive coolant temperature reactivity coefficient was identified as the most significant design challenge. A wide range of strategies aiming at the reduction of the coolant temperature coefficient to assure self-controllability of the core in the most limiting unprotected accidents were explored. However, none of the strategies resulted in sufficient reduction of the coolant temperature coefficient without significantly compromising the core performance characteristics such as power density or cycle length. Therefore, reactivity control devices known as lithium thermal expansion modules were employed instead. This allowed achieving all the design goals for both zero and unity conversion ratio cores. The neutronic feasibility of both designs was demonstrated through calculation of reactivity control and fuel loading requirements, fluence limits, power peaking factors, and reactivity feedback coefficients.     

钠冷快堆熔断式非能动停堆系统方案设计

为保证和增强池式快堆的安全性,通过对比分析现有的非能动停堆装置,基于将某些合金在特定温度下拉伸强度发生突变的特性作为钠冷快堆非能动停堆的触发条件,提出了一种钠冷快堆熔断式非能动停堆系统的设计概念,能在发生无保护超功率事故或无保护失流事故的情况下引入负反应性。针对中国实验快堆(CEFR)的设计完成了熔断式非能动停堆系统的方案设计论证,并利用分析程序DYN4G对这一非能动停堆系统在CEFR无保护事故下的响应情况进行了模拟计算,由此得到了其组件设计的关键参数。分析结果表明,通过合理设计,在发生无保护事故时,熔断式非能动停堆系统能有效降低事故情况下的堆芯燃料组件及冷却剂的温度,进一步提高了钠冷快堆应对严重事故的能力。     

超临界二氧化碳模块化微型堆瞬态安全分析

超临界二氧化碳反应堆是一种极具潜力的新堆型,目前正处于概念设计阶段。本文以韩国科学技术院（KAIST）设计的超临界二氧化碳模块化微型堆（MMR）为研究对象,对一回路系统主要部件进行建模,并利用FORTRAN语言开发了适用于超临界二氧化碳反应堆的瞬态安全分析程序TRA_SCR。基于该程序,对KAIST MMR进行了稳态计算分析,验证了程序的正确性。同时,对部分无保护失流事故和无保护反应性引入事故进行了瞬态计算,获得了关键热工水力参数的瞬态特性。计算结果表明该反应堆系统具有较强的固有负反馈特性,且在所计算的事故中,包壳、燃料和冷却剂温度均未超出安全限值,表明了系统在上述事故下的安全性。但在上述无保护失流事故中,堆芯冷却剂出口温度接近安全限值,表明在该事故工况下,反应堆出口温度是制约系统安全性能的关键因素。     

Full-scale modelling of the MNSR reactor to simulate normal operation, transients and reactivity insertion accidents under natural circulation conditions using the thermal hydraulic code ATHLET

A full-scale ATHLET system model for the Syrian miniature neutron source reactor (MNSR) has been developed. The model represents all reactor components of primary and secondary loops with the corresponding neutronics and thermal hydraulic characteristics. Under the MNSR operation conditions of natural circulation, normal operation, step reactivity transients and reactivity insertion accidents have been simulated. The analyses indicate the capability of ATHLET to simulate MNSR dynamic and thermal hydraulic behaviour and particularly to calculate the core coolant velocity of prevailing natural circulation in presence of the strong negative reactivity feed back of coolant temperature. The predicted time distribution of reactor power, core inlet and outlet coolant temperature follow closely the measured data for the quasi steady and transient states. However, sensitivity analyses indicate the influence of pressure form loss coefficients at core inlet and outlet on the results. The analysis of reactivity accidents represented by the insertion of large reactivity, demonstrates the high inherent safety features of MNSR. Even in case of insertion of total available cold excess reactivity without scram, the high negative reactivity feedback of moderator temperature limits power excursion and avoids consequently the escalation of clad temperature to the level of onset of sub-cooled void formation. The calculated peak power in this case agrees well with the data reported in the safety analysis report. The ATHLET code had not previously been assessed under these conditions. The results of this comprehensive analysis ensure the ability of the code to test some conceptual design modifications of MNSR's cooling system aiming the improvement of core cooling conditions to increase the maximum continuous reactor operation time allowing more effective use of MNSR for irradiation purposes.