Use of simplified PSA studies in support of the ASTRID design process
- CEA, DEN, DER, F-13108, Saint Paul lez Durance (France)
- AREVA-NP, 10 rue J. Recamier, 69456 Lyon cedex 06 (France)
- EDF R and D, 1 avenue du General de Gaulle, 92141 Clamart Cedex (France)
- EDF SEPTEN, 12-14 avenue Dutrievoz, 69628 Villeurbanne Cedex (France)
In the framework of the French Act of 28 June 2006 about nuclear materials and waste management, a GEN IV and actinides incineration demonstration prototype is to be commissioned in the 2020 decade. In this objective a prototype called ASTRID (Advanced Sodium Technological Reactor for Industrial Demonstration) is proposed to demonstrate the progress made in SFR technology at an industrial scale by qualifying innovative options, some of which still remain open in the areas requiring improvements, especially safety and operability. More specifically, we aim for a level of safety that is at least equivalent to that of the EPR (third generation), with improvements made in SFR-specific fields. The integration of safety issues in the early phase of the design of ASTRID is necessarily expected. For this purpose, CEA and its partners AREVA and EDF have planned to perform a level-1 PSA to support and orientate the preliminary design of ASTRID reactor. This paper presents the PSA approach and current studies for the assessment of safety systems and the future work to be done for the 2012-2014 period. The preliminary preparation of PSA studies is presented: objectives and scope of the early design phase PSA, definition of core damage states, selection and grouping of initiating events, assessment of safety functions and related systems. Work under progress is also presented: modelling of event trees, construction of fault trees of safety systems, transient calculations of accident sequences with the CATHARE2 code and reliability data assessment. Main objectives of a level-1 PSA performed at conceptual design stage are an early assessment of the safety architecture of the reactor and findings about the most effective areas for improvement, but also the identification of dominant accident sequences and comparison with alternative designs. After the elaboration of a simplified level-1 PSA model for nominal state and main internal initiators, various design alternatives will be evaluated from the viewpoint of PSA in order to support the design choices of the ASTRID reactor. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 22105998
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: ICAPP '12: 2012 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants, Chicago, IL (United States), 24-28 Jun 2012; Other Information: Country of input: France; 8 refs.; Related Information: In: Proceedings of the 2012 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants - ICAPP '12| 2799 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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