Heat up and potential failure of BWR upper internals during a severe accident
Abstract
In boiling water reactors, the steam dome, steam separators, and dryers above the core are comprised of approximately 100 tons of stainless steel. During a severe accident in which the coolant boils away and exothermic oxidation of zirconium occurs, gases (steam and hydrogen) are superheated in the core region and pass through the upper internals. Historically, the upper internals have been modeled using severe accident codes with relatively simple approximations. The upper internals are typically modeled in MELCOR as two lumped volumes with simplified heat transfer characteristics, with no structural integrity considerations, and with limited ability to oxidize, melt, and relocate. The potential for and the subsequent impact of the upper internals to heat up, oxidize, fail, and relocate during a severe accident was investigated. A higher fidelity representation of the shroud dome, steam separators, and steam driers was developed in MELCOR v1.8.6 by extending the core region upwards. This modeling effort entailed adding 45 additional core cells and control volumes, 98 flow paths, and numerous control functions. The model accounts for the mechanical loading and structural integrity, oxidation, melting, flow area blockage, and relocation of the various components. The results indicate that the upper internals can reach high temperaturesmore »
- Authors:
-
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- Work for Others (WFO)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1213335
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- Resource Type:
- Conference
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 16th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermalhydraulics, Chicago, IL (United States), 30 Aug 2015
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS; STAINLESS STEELS; BWR TYPE REACTORS; STEAM SEPARATORS; LOSS OF COOLING; SUPERHEATING; SHROUDS; ZIRCONIUM; OXIDATION; TEMPERATURE RANGE 0400-1000 K; HYDROGEN; STEAM; FAILURES; DYNAMIC LOADS; MELTING; DRYERS; REACTOR ACCIDENT SIMULATION
Citation Formats
Robb, Kevin R. Heat up and potential failure of BWR upper internals during a severe accident. United States: N. p., 2015.
Web.
Robb, Kevin R. Heat up and potential failure of BWR upper internals during a severe accident. United States.
Robb, Kevin R. 2015.
"Heat up and potential failure of BWR upper internals during a severe accident". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1213335.
@article{osti_1213335,
title = {Heat up and potential failure of BWR upper internals during a severe accident},
author = {Robb, Kevin R},
abstractNote = {In boiling water reactors, the steam dome, steam separators, and dryers above the core are comprised of approximately 100 tons of stainless steel. During a severe accident in which the coolant boils away and exothermic oxidation of zirconium occurs, gases (steam and hydrogen) are superheated in the core region and pass through the upper internals. Historically, the upper internals have been modeled using severe accident codes with relatively simple approximations. The upper internals are typically modeled in MELCOR as two lumped volumes with simplified heat transfer characteristics, with no structural integrity considerations, and with limited ability to oxidize, melt, and relocate. The potential for and the subsequent impact of the upper internals to heat up, oxidize, fail, and relocate during a severe accident was investigated. A higher fidelity representation of the shroud dome, steam separators, and steam driers was developed in MELCOR v1.8.6 by extending the core region upwards. This modeling effort entailed adding 45 additional core cells and control volumes, 98 flow paths, and numerous control functions. The model accounts for the mechanical loading and structural integrity, oxidation, melting, flow area blockage, and relocation of the various components. The results indicate that the upper internals can reach high temperatures during a severe accident; they are predicted to reach a high enough temperature such that they lose their structural integrity and relocate. The additional 100 tons of stainless steel debris influences the subsequent in-vessel and ex-vessel accident progression.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1213335},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2015},
month = {Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2015}
}