RELAP5 Application to Accident Analysis of the NIST Research Reactor

Conference · Sun Mar 18 04:00:00 EDT 2012

OSTI ID:1038104

Baek, J; Cuadra Gascon, A; Cheng, L Y; Diamond, D

Detailed safety analyses have been performed for the 20 MW D{sub 2}O moderated research reactor (NBSR) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The time-dependent analysis of the primary system is determined with a RELAP5 transient analysis model that includes the reactor vessel, the pump, heat exchanger, fuel element geometry, and flow channels for both the six inner and twenty-four outer fuel elements. A post-processing of the simulation results has been conducted to evaluate minimum critical heat flux ratio (CHFR) using the Sudo-Kaminaga correlation. Evaluations are performed for the following accidents: (1) the control rod withdrawal startup accident and (2) the maximum reactivity insertion accident. In both cases the RELAP5 results indicate that there is adequate margin to CHF and no damage to the fuel will occur because of sufficient coolant flow through the fuel channels and the negative scram reactivity insertion.

• Research Organization: BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY (BNL)
• Sponsoring Organization: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-98CH10886
• OSTI ID: 1038104
• Report Number(s): BNL--96852-2012-CP
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
42 ENGINEERING
ACCIDENTS
CONTROL ELEMENTS
COOLANTS
CRITICAL HEAT FLUX
FUEL CHANNELS
FUEL ELEMENTS
GEOMETRY
HEAT EXCHANGERS
NIST
REACTIVITY INSERTIONS
REACTOR VESSELS
RELAP5
RESEARCH REACTORS
SAFETY
SCRAM
SIMULATION
TRANSIENTS
moderated research reactor
safety analyses