In the course of a small break LOCA in a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) the flow regime in the Reactor Cooling System (RCS) passes through a number of different phases and the filling level may decrease down to the point where the decay heat is transferred to the secondary side under Reflux-Condenser (RC) conditions. During RC, the steam formed in the core condensates in the Steam Generator (SG) U-tubes. For a limited range of break size and configuration, a continuous accumulation of condensate may cause the formation of boron-depleted slugs. If natural circulation reestablishes, as the RCS is refilled, boron-depleted slugs might be transported to the Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) and to the core. To draw conclusions on the risk of boron dilution processes in SB-LOCA transients, two important issues, the limitation of slug size and the onset of Natural Circulation (NC) have to be assessed on the basis of experimental data, as system Thermal-Hydraulic codes are limited in their capability to replicate the complex physical phenomena involved. The OECD PKL III tests were performed at AREVA’s PKL test facility in Erlangen, Germany, to evaluate important phases of the boron dilution transient in PWRs. Several integral and separate effect tests were conducted, addressing the inherent boron dilution issue. The PKL III integral transient test runs provide sufficient data to state major conclusions on the formation and maximum possible size of the boron-depleted slugs, their boron concentration and their transport into the RPV with the restart of NC. Some of these conclusions can be applied to reactor scale. It has to be mentioned, that even though this paper is based on PKL test results obtained within the OECD PKL project, the conclusions of this paper reflect the views of the authors and not necessarily of all the members of the OECD PKL project.
For the Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) assessment and Lifetime evaluation of the nuclear plants, French Utility applies a series of calculations including thermal-hydraulic, thermo mechanical and fracture mechanics studies in order to study the Pressurized Thermal Shock (PTS) in the down comer caused by the safety injection. Within the frame of the plant life time project, integrity assessments of the French 900 MWe (3-loops) series reactor pressure vessel (RPV) have been performed. We found that the modeling of thermal-hydraulics loads is a source of gain. Considering the length of local 3D calculation and the large number of cases, E.D.F and AREVA-NP decided to share the effort. However the two chains of software differ: EDF uses Code_Saturne (coupled with the thermal solid code Syrthes) and Cuve 1D and AREVA-NP uses Star_CD and CALORI codes respectively for thermal hydraulic and thermo mechanical computations. According to this approach, comparison between the two chains of tools have been performed. Moreover this action contributes to the verification and the validation of each code in accordance with the OECD Best Practise Guidelines (BPG). The study has been achieved by two independent teams from EDF and AREVA-NP. It should be emphasized that this benchmark helped to strengthen the accuracy of CFD and the adapted methodology (working progress). The investigated configuration corresponds to the injection of cold water in the vessel during a penalizing representation of a primary break transient and its impact on the solid part formed by cladding and base metal. Numerical results are given in terms of fluid temperature and velocity fields in the cold legs and in the downcomer. The obtained numerical description of the transient (internal pressure and temperature field within the vessel) is used as boundary conditions for a full mechanical computation of the stresses. This thermal mechanical transient is obtained on a 3D mesh of the vessel, covering the two core shells and their circumferential welds, as well as the internal cladding. The results show that such a complete thermal–hydraulic and mechanic 3–dimensional analysis improves the evaluation of the consequences of the loading on the stress fields and eventually the margins to fast fracture of the RPV. The good agreement observed between EDF and AREVA-NP results and their accordance with the validation computations, confirm the robustness of the approach.
For the study of the Heterogeneous Inherent Boron Dilution transient in a Pressurized Water Reactor, a Small Break Loss Of Coolant Accident (SB-LOCA) is postulated. Natural Circulation (NC) may be interrupted and, under Reflux-Condenser (RC) conditions, the steam formed in the core condensates in the Steam Generator (SG) U-tubes: a boron-depleted slug may accumulate in the crossover leg and in the SG outlet chamber. If NC restarts as the Reactor Cooling System (RCS) is refilled, boron-depleted slugs might be transported to the Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) and to the core. The mixing of the boron depleted slug with the borated water in the Cold Legs (CLs), downcomer and lower plenum after Restart of Natural Circulation (RNC) is quantified by means of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analyses. The CFD code STAR-CD is used to perform this analysis. Boundary conditions for this calculation — especially the boron-depleted slug size and the NC restart mass flow rate — are extrapolated from PKL experimental findings. The initial conditions are derived from an overall plant analysis performed with the CATHARE system code. Buoyancy effects, both in the cold leg and in the downcomer, are very significant phenomena for the evaluation of the slug transport and mixing: the hot (saturation temperature) boron-depleted water slug tends to accumulate in the upper parts of the cold legs and in the upper part of the downcomer (above the cold legs), before being pushed and dragged down. The boron concentration distribution at the core inlet during the transient, evaluated with STAR-CD, is compared with a critical value in order to check that boron concentration at the core inlet is always above the threshold necessary for the core to remain subcritical.
For the Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) assessment and lifetime evaluation of the nuclear plants, French Utilities apply a series of calculations including thermal-hydraulic, thermo mechanical and fracture mechanics studies in order to study the Pressurized Thermal Shock (PTS) in the downcomer caused by the safety injection. Within the frame of the plant lifetime project, integrity assessments of the French 900 MWe (3-loops) series RPV have been performed. A gain for safety margins to fast fracture of the RPV can be found with a 3D modeling of thermal-hydraulics loads. From a physical phenomena point of view, the results of the system code analysis (CATHARE computation) of the PTS transient induce two kinds of scenarios: single phase and two-phase flows in the cold leg. In the case where the cold legs are partially filled with steam, it becomes a two-phase problem and new important effects occur. Thus, an advanced prediction of RPV thermal loading during these transients requires sophisticated two-phase, local scale, 3D codes. For that purpose, a program has been set up to extend the capabilities of the NEPTUNE_CFD two-phase solver which is the tool able to solve two-phase flow configuration. At the same time, a simplified approach has shown that for this kind of scenario where the cold leg is weakly uncovered, a free surface calculation (without phase change) was sufficient to respect the necessary criteria of safety. Considering the time duration of 3D computation and the large number of cases, EDF and AREVA-NP decided to share the effort. The two teams use the NEPTUNE_CFD code (coupled with the thermal solid SYRTHES code) for thermal-hydraulic computations. The thermo mechanical code used is CALORI. According to this approach and to reduce the CPU time, two computations have been performed for 2″ and 3″ Small Break Loss Of Coolant Accident (SBLOCA) on a one-third RPV model. Computations on a complete RPV model have been performed to demonstrate the relevance of the one-third RPV model. The studies have been performed by two independent teams from EDF and AREVA-NP. The investigated configuration corresponds to the injection of cold water in the RPV during a penalizing representation of a primary break transient and its impact on the solid part formed by cladding and base metal. Numerical results are given in terms of fluid temperature in the cold legs and in the downcomer. The obtained numerical description of the transient is used as boundary conditions for a full mechanical computation of the stresses. The results show that such a complete thermal-hydraulic and mechanical 3-dimensional analysis improves the evaluation of the consequences of the loading on the stress fields and eventually the margins to fast fracture of the RPV. The good agreement observed between a one-third RPV model and a complete RPV model results confirms the validity of the approach.
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