Role of BWR secondary containments in severe accident mitigation: issues and insights from recent analyses

Conference · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:6980202

Greene, S R

All commercial boiling water reactor (BWR) plants in the US employ primary containments of the pressure suppression design. These primary containments are surrounded and enclosed by a secondary containment consisting of a reactor building and refueling bay (MK I and MK II designs), a shield building, auxiliary building and fuel building (MK III), or an auxiliary building and enclosure building (Grand Gulf style MK III). Although secondary containment designs are highly plant specific, their purpose is to minimize the ground level release of radioactive material for a spectrum of traditional design basis accidents. While not designed for severe accident mitigation, these secondary containments might also reduce the radiological consequences of severe accidents. This issue is receiving increasing attention due to concerns that BWR MK I primary containment integrity would be lost should a significant mass of molten debris escape the reactor vessel during a severe accident. This paper presents a brief overview of domestic BWR secondary containment designs and highlights plant-specific features that could influence secondary containment severe accident survivability and accident mitigation effectiveness. Current issues surrounding secondary containment performance are discussed, and insights gained from recent ORNL secondary containment studies of Browns Ferry, Peach Bottom, and Shoreham are presented. Areas of significant uncertainty are identified and recommendations for future research are presented.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 6980202
• Report Number(s): CONF-8806153-1; ON: DE88011837; TRN: 88-023210
• Resource Relation: Conference: 4. workshop on containment integrity, Arlington, VA, USA, 14 Jun 1988; Other Information: Portions are illegible in microfiche products
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
BWR TYPE REACTORS
CONTAINMENT SYSTEMS
DESIGN
FISSION PRODUCTS
FISSION PRODUCT RELEASE
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
ORNL
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
REACTOR SAFETY
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
ACCIDENTS
CONTAINMENT
DATA
ENGINEERED SAFETY SYSTEMS
INFORMATION
ISOTOPES
MATERIALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUMERICAL DATA
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
REACTORS
SAFETY
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS
220900* - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Reactor Safety
210100 - Power Reactors
Nonbreeding
Light-Water Moderated
Boiling Water Cooled