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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

RELAP5/MOD2 analysis of LOFT experiment L9-4

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:10146140
 [1]
  1. National Power Nuclear, Barnwood (United Kingdom)

As part of a program to validate RELAP5/MOD2 for use in the analysis of certain fault transients in the Sizewell B PWR, the code has been used to simulate experiment L9-4 carried out in the Loss-Of-Fluid Test (LOFT) facility. Experiment L9-4 simulated a Loss-Of-Offsite-Power Anticipated Transient Without Trip (LOOP ATWT) in which power is lost to the primary coolant pumps and main feed is lost to the steam generators but the control rods fail to insert in the reactor core. RELAP5/MOD2 generally predicted the transient well, although there were some differences compared to the test data. These differences are largely due to the use of power and flow as boundary conditions and because of uncertainties in the power and flow experimental data. The most noticeable difference was that the steam generator was predicted to boil down too fast. This is believed to be partly due to errors in the RELAP5 interphase drag model. The RELAP5 calculation also showed the primary pressure to be very sensitive to the primary flow rate, making the exact simulation of primary side relief valve movements difficult to reproduce.

Research Organization:
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States); National Power Nuclear, Barnwood (United Kingdom)
Sponsoring Organization:
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States)
OSTI ID:
10146140
Report Number(s):
NUREG/IA--0066; GD/PE-N--721; ON: TI92014260
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English