Analysis of core uncovery time in Kuosheng station blackout transient with MELCOR

Journal Article · Thu Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1996 · Nuclear Technology

OSTI ID:194909

Wang, S J; Chien, C S ^[1]

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1. Inst. of Nuclear Energy Research, Lungtan (Taiwan, Province of China)

The MELCOR code, developed by the Sandia National Laboratories, is capable of simulating severe accident phenomena of nuclear power plants. Core uncovery time is an important parameter in the probabilistic risk assessment. However, many MELCOR users do not generate the initial conditions in a station blackout (SBO) transient analysis. Thus, achieving reliable core uncovery time is difficult. The core uncovery time for the Kuosheng nuclear power plant during an SBO transient is analyzed. First, full-power steady-state conditions are generated with the application of a developed self-initialization algorithm. Then the response of the SBO transient up to core uncovery is simulated. The effects of key parameters including the initialization process and the reactor feed pump (RFP) coastdown time on the core uncovery time are analyzed. The initialization process is the most important parameter that affects the core uncovery time. Because SBO transient analysis, the correct initial conditions must be generated to achieve a reliable core uncovery time. The core uncovery time is also sensitive to the RFP coastdown time. A correct time constant is required.

• OSTI ID: 194909
• Journal Information: Nuclear Technology, Journal Name: Nuclear Technology Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 113; ISSN 0029-5450; ISSN NUTYBB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
KUOSHENG-1 REACTOR
KUOSHENG-2 REACTOR
OUTAGES
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
RISK ASSESSMENT
SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS