Integrated Analysis of Mechanical and Thermal Hydraulic Behavior of Graphite Stack in Channel-Type Reactors in Case of a Fuel Channel Rupture Accident

Abstract

The paper discusses the methodology and a computational exercise analyzing the processes taking place in the graphite stack of an RBMK reactor in case of a pressure tube rupture caused by overheating. The methodology of the computational analysis is implemented in integrated code U_STACK which models thermal-hydraulic and mechanical processes in the stack with a varying geometry, coupled with the processes going on in the circulation loop and accident localization (confinement) system. Coolant parameters, cladding and pressure tube temperatures, pressure tube ballooning and rupture, coolant outflow are calculated for a given accident scenario. Fluid parameters, movement of graphite blocks and adjacent pressure tubes bending after the tube rupture are calculated for the whole volume of the core. Calculations also cover additional loads on adjacent fuel channels in the rupture zone, reactor shell, upper and lower plates. Impossibility of an induced pressure tube rupture is confirmed.