The Analysis of Pressurized Water Reactor and Boiling Water Reactor Reactivity Transients with CORETRAN and RETRAN-3D

Journal Article · Tue Apr 15 04:00:00 EDT 2003 · Nuclear Technology

OSTI ID:20826840

Ferroukhi, Hakim; Coddington, Paul ^[1]

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1. Paul Scherrer Institute (Switzerland)

A code environment based on the CORETRAN and RETRAN-3D codes for the three-dimensional (3-D) kinetic analysis of transients in Swiss light water reactors is currently being developed and implemented within the STARS project at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). As a first step in the application of these codes, an assessment of both codes for the analysis of reactivity-initiated transients in pressurized water reactors (PWRs) was performed. For that purpose, the Nuclear Energy Agency benchmark exercises, consisting of rod ejection and uncontrolled rod bank withdrawal transients, were selected. These analyses showed that very satisfactory results could be obtained with both CORETRAN and RETRAN-3D. In this paper, a summary of the PWR results, along with an emphasis of important modeling options that were identified during that work, is presented. As a second step, it was considered important to assess both codes for boiling water reactor (BWR) reactivity transients. Therefore, in addition, the analysis of a hypothetical beyond-design-basis rod drop accident for a Swiss BWR core at end of cycle is presented in this paper. This transient, which was previously analyzed with another 3-D code at PSI, shows that also for BWRs, both codes give satisfactory results.

• OSTI ID: 20826840
• Journal Information: Nuclear Technology, Journal Name: Nuclear Technology Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 142; ISSN 0029-5450; ISSN NUTYBB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
BENCHMARKS
BWR TYPE REACTORS
C CODES
DESIGN
NEA
PWR TYPE REACTORS
R CODES
REACTIVITY
ROD DROP ACCIDENTS
SIMULATION
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
TRANSIENTS