The structure of system thermal-hydraulic (SYS-TH) code for nuclear energy applications

Bestion, D.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-08-100662-7.00011-7

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…System thermal-hydraulics (SYS-TH) codes are a class of numerical tools developed since the 1970s in the framework of nuclear reactor safety technology for fission reactors [18]. SYS-TH codes aim to represent with sufficient accuracy all the main phenomena occurring in a nuclear reactor during operational and accidental transients and, as such, are used to perform deterministic safety analyses for licensing purposes.…”

Section: System Codesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…SYS-TH codes are often described as multiphysics, best-estimate, safety and industrial computational tools [18]:…”

Section: System Codesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Relying on closure laws to ensure accurate representation of physical reality is not necessarily associated with a lack of accuracy, and, in fact, the experience of the nuclear industry has clearly demonstrated that SYS-TH codes can provide reliable results for reactor safety and design if closure laws of sufficient quality are available [18]. The possibility of performing system-scale coupled thermal-hydraulics/MHD analyses at largely reduced computational cost is attractive for performing sensitivity and uncertainty analyses even when mature CFD codes for fusion modelling are available.…”

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confidence: 99%

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MHD R&D Activities for Liquid Metal Blankets

et al. 2021

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According to the most recently revised European design strategy for DEMO breeding blankets, mature concepts have been identified that require a reduced technological extrapolation towards DEMO and will be tested in ITER. In order to optimize and finalize the design of test blanket modules, a number of issues have to be better understood that are related to the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) interactions of the liquid breeder with the strong magnetic field that confines the fusion plasma. The aim of the present paper is to describe the state of the art of the study of MHD effects coupled with other physical phenomena, such as tritium transport, corrosion and heat transfer. Both numerical and experimental approaches are discussed, as well as future requirements to achieve a reliable prediction of these processes in liquid metal blankets.

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Section: System Codesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…SYS-TH codes are often described as multiphysics, best-estimate, safety and industrial computational tools [18]:…”

Section: System Codesmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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MHD R&D Activities for Liquid Metal Blankets

et al. 2021

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“…A new reactor design and development process requires component-level and system-level experiments and analysis [3]. Integral effects test (IET) and separate effects test (SET) facilities are used to perform various reactor system transient and accidental experiments for computer code validation and qualification [4][5]. IET experiments involve the testing of the entire reactor system, while SET experiments focus on individual components or subsystems [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in Integral and Separate Effects Experiments for Water-Cooled Small Modular Reactors

Bhowmik,

Piyush,

Johnson

et al. 2023

20th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-20)

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This paper focuses on the progress being made in water-cooled small modular reactor (SMR) advanced integral effects and separate effects experiments for reactor licensing. SMRs, considered modular in design, are mostly factory-built and then shipped to the reactor site. Of the several types of SMR designs available, water-cooled SMRs are likely to receive regulatory approval faster than others, as most of the technologies involved (e.g., the fuel and coolant technologies) are matured. However, the unique safety systems of SMRs, which depend on specific SMR design features, require integral and separate effects experiments to achieve reactor licensing. Thus, of the many SMR designs being proposed, only a few have successfully undergone licensing and reached the final development and demonstration stage. Many nuclear vendors and newcomer companies are investing millions of dollars to develop integral and separate effects testing facilities for preparing final safety analysis reports to include in licensing applications. Development and analysis of these experimental facilities is costly and takes about four to five years. The unique challenges involved can be reduced when stakeholders synergistically apply lessons learned, knowing the critical role played by advancements in experiments that support the licensing of SMR safety systems. Identification of knowledge/research gaps with the phenomena identification and ranking table (PIRT) and designing experimental facilities focusing on the phenomena of interest (POI) and figures of merit (FOMs) are pivotal to select the critical path to successful design demonstration and licensing application. KEYWORDSIntegral effects test (IET), separate effect test (SET), scaling, small modular reactor (SMR)

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“…Generally, to compute the underlying physics in such challenging scenarios, SYS-TH tools use 0-D or 1-D models derived by the analysis of numerous experimental campaigns. They are often used for safety demonstration analyses and BE SYS-TH codes are considered the reference numerical tools for the licensing of fission nuclear power plants [11]. A typical example of SYS-TH code is RELAP5 that, despite being initially developed for applications in light water reactors, has been extended in recent years to employ other fluids (i.e., liquid metals, molten salts, etc.).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of a RELAP5/MOD3.3 Module for MHD Pressure Drop Analysis in Liquid Metals Loops: Verification and Validation

et al. 2021

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Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) phenomena, due to the interaction between a magnetic field and a moving electro-conductive fluid, are crucial for the design of magnetic-confinement fusion reactors and, specifically, for the design of the breeding blanket concepts that adopt liquid metals (LMs) as working fluids. Computational tools are employed to lead fusion-relevant physical analysis, but a dedicated MHD code able to simulate all the phenomena involved in a blanket is still not available and there is a dearth of systems code featuring MHD modelling capabilities. In this paper, models to predict both 2D and 3D MHD pressure drop, derived by experimental and numerical works, have been implemented in the thermal-hydraulic system code RELAP5/MOD3.3 (RELAP5). The verification and validation procedure of the MHD module involves the comparison of the results obtained by the code with those of direct numerical simulation tools and data obtained by experimental works. As relevant examples, RELAP5 is used to recreate the results obtained by the analysis of two test blanket modules: Lithium Lead Ceramic Breeder and Helium-Cooled Lithium Lead. The novel MHD subroutines are proven reliable in the prediction of the pressure drop for both simple and complex geometries related to LM circuits at high magnetic field intensity (error range ±10%).

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The structure of system thermal-hydraulic (SYS-TH) code for nuclear energy applications

Cited by 5 publications

References 31 publications

MHD R&D Activities for Liquid Metal Blankets

MHD R&D Activities for Liquid Metal Blankets

Advances in Integral and Separate Effects Experiments for Water-Cooled Small Modular Reactors

Development of a RELAP5/MOD3.3 Module for MHD Pressure Drop Analysis in Liquid Metals Loops: Verification and Validation

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