ARTIST: An International Project Investigating Aerosol Retention in a Ruptured Steam Generator

Conference · Mon Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2002

OSTI ID:21167877

Guentay, S; Dehbi, A; Suckow, D; Birchley, J ^[1]

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1. Laboratory for Thermal-Hydraulics, Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen PSI (Switzerland)

Steam generator tube ruptures (SGTR) with a concurrent stuck open safety relief valve are counted among the risk dominant accident sequences because of the potential for radioactive products to bypass the containment. Owing to the absence of relevant empirical data and the complexity of the geometry and controlling processes, the aerosol removal in the steam generator (SG) tubes and in the secondary side is not well understood. Therefore, little or no credit is usually taken for aerosol retention due to natural processes in the various components of a SG. To help reduce the uncertainties associated with fission product release following an SGTR sequence, the Paul Scherrer Institut has initiated an international experimental project to be performed in the ARTIST (AeRosol Trapping In a Steam generaTor) facility in the time period from 2002 to 2007. The ARTIST test section is a scaled model of a real SG, and is comprised of a 264-tube bundle with a maximum height of 3.8 m, as well as one full-size droplet separator and one full-size steam dryer. The ARTIST facility is capable of producing soluble and insoluble aerosols and entrain them at sonic gas flow rates (up to 0.25 kg/s, thus matching comparable values predicted by the codes. In addition, aerosols can be generated at prototypical concentrations (up to 5 g/m{sup 3}) and sizes (0.2-5 mm AMMD). State of the art instrumentation is used (Low-pressure impactors, photometers, on-line particle sizer, online droplet sizer, etc.). The ARTIST project will simulate the flow and retention of aerosol-borne fission products in the SG, and provide a unique database to support safety assessments and analytical models. The project is foreseen in seven phases: 1) Aerosol retention in the tube under dry secondary side conditions, 2) Aerosol retention in the near field close to break under dry conditions, 3) Aerosol retention in the bundle far field under dry conditions, 4) Aerosol retention in the separator and dryer under dry conditions, 5) Aerosol retention in the bundle section under wet conditions, 6) Droplet retention in separator and dryer sections and 7) Integral tests to examine overall retention in the SG unit. The project will investigate phenomena at the separate effect and integral levels, and will also address selected accident management (AM) issues. The kick-off experiments are scheduled for the first half of 2002, and some early results will be summarized at the meeting. (authors)

• Research Organization: American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 21167877
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
AEROSOLS
DROPLETS
DRYERS
FISSION PRODUCT RELEASE
FISSION PRODUCTS
GAS FLOW
GEOMETRY
HEIGHT
PARTICLE SIZE
PHOTOMETERS
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
RELIEF VALVES
RISK ASSESSMENT
RUPTURES
STEAM GENERATORS
TUBES