The effective convectivity model for simulation of melt pool heat transfer in a light water reactor pressure vessel lower head. Part II: Model assessment and application

The paper reports detailed assessments and representative application of the effective convectivity model (ECM) developed and described in the companion paper (Tran and Dinh, submitted for publication). The ECM capability to accurately predict energy splitting and heat flux profiles in volumetrically heated liquid pools of different geometries over a range of conditions related to accident progression is examined and benchmarked against both experimental data and CFD results. Augmented with models for phase changes in binary mixture, the resulting PECM (phase-change ECM) is validated against a non-eutectic heat transfer experiment. The PECM tool is then applied to predict thermal loads imposed on the reactor vessel wall and Control Rod Guide Tubes (CRGTs) during core debris heatup and melting in the BWR lower plenum. The reactor-scale simulations demonstrate the PECM's high computational performance, particularly needed to analyze processes during long transients of severe accidents. The analysis provides additional arguments to support an outstanding potential of using the CRGT cooling as a severe accident management measure to delay the vessel failure and increase the likelihood of in-vessel core melt retention in the BWR.     

Modelling of heat and mass transfer processes during core melt discharge from a reactor pressure vessel

The objective of this paper is to study the heat and mass trasnfer processes related to core melt discharge from a reactor vessel in a light water reactor severe accident. The phenomenology modelled includes the convection in, and heat transfer from, the melt pool in contact with the vessel lower head wall, the fluid dynamics and heat transfer of the melt flow in the growing discharge hole and multi-dimensional heat conduction in the ablating lower head wall. A research programme is underway at the Royal Institute of Technology (Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, KTH) to (1) identify the dominant heat and mass transfer processes determining the characteristics of the lower head ablation process: (2) develop and validate efficient analytical/computational models for these processes; (3) apply models to assess the character of the melt discharge process in a reactor-scale situation; (4) determine the sensitivity of the melt discharge to structural differences and variations in the in-vessel melt progression scenarios. The paper also presents a comparison with recent results of vessel hole ablation experiments conducted at KTH with a melt simulant.