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Title: Modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactor short-term thermal response to flow and reactivity transients

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6867065· OSTI ID:6867065
 [1]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)

The research reported here has been conducted at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Division of Regulatory Applications of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research. The short-term thermal response of the Modular High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (MHTGR) is analyzed for a range of flow and reactivity transients. These transients include loss of forced circulation without scram, spurious withdrawal of a control rod group, moisture ingress, control rod and control rod group ejections, and a rapid core cooling event. For each event analyzed, an event description, a discussion of the analysis approach and assumptions, and results are presented. When possible, results of these analyses are compared with those presented by the designers in the MHTGR Preliminary Safety Information Document and in the MHTGR Probabilistic Risk Assessment. The importance of inherent safety features is illustrated, and conclusions are presented regarding the safety performance of the MHTGR. Recommendations are made for a more in-depth examination of MHTGR response for some of the analyzed transients. The coupled heat transfer-neutron kinetics model is described in detail in Appendix A.

Research Organization:
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States). Div. of Systems Research; Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USNRC; Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-84OR21400
OSTI ID:
6867065
Report Number(s):
NUREG/CR-5922; ORNL/TM-12179; ON: TI93008171
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English