LOCA feasibility study of Almaraz NPP 110% power up-rate
- IBERDROLA Ingenieria y Construccion S.A.U. Avda. de Burgos, 8B, 28036 Madrid (Spain)
- Almaraz-Trillo AIE, Avda. de Manoteras , 28050 Madrid (Spain)
Knowledge about accidents and fuel response in extreme conditions has progressed in parallel with the simulation tools development and consequently results are today highly satisfactory. This fact allows nuclear power plants (NPP) to carry out optimization processes of its operation and yield improvements due to the development of new methodologies and tools. Power up-rates open a demand in areas like the analyses of Loss Of Coolant Accidents (LOCA's), which impact on plant design may limit the maximum operation power in a nuclear power plant. TRAC-PF1 is a thermal-hydraulic calculation code that allows the complete treatment of two-phase flows in balance, combining a three dimensional vessel, that simulates in detail the accident phenomena, with one dimensional components. TRAC-PF1 code capacities in the reproduction of experiments, transients and accidents have been widely proved. IBERINCO has modified the original code to develop a conservative model applicable to a 3-loop Westinghouse NPP. These circumstances have allowed Almaraz NPP to get deeper in the study of the plant behaviour during a LOCA, after a hypothetical Power Up-rate. The scope of the study includes the development of the plant model and the reproduction of several accidents with loss of coolant. These accidents have been simulated with the improved option and the conservative version of the modified code (TRAC-PF1/IBER). The limiting case at the current power is analyzed in 110% Power Up-rate conditions and different sensitivity studies are performed, focused in impact of axial power distribution, discharge coefficients and emergency core cooling system availability. These studies allow to verify the effectiveness of Almaraz NPP safety systems in LOCA scenarios to guarantee the required safety margins. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 21021156
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2006 International congress on advances in nuclear power plants - ICAPP'06, Reno - Nevada (United States), 4-8 Jun 2006; Other Information: Country of input: France; 15 refs; Related Information: In: Proceedings of the 2006 international congress on advances in nuclear power plants - ICAPP'06, 2734 pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
DESIGN
ECCS
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
LOSS OF COOLANT
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
ONE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
OPERATION
OPTIMIZATION
POWER DISTRIBUTION
REPRODUCTION
SAFETY
SAFETY MARGINS
SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS
SIMULATION
THERMAL HYDRAULICS
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
TWO-PHASE FLOW