ANALYSIS OF BOILER ROOM PRESSURES FOLLOWING A POTENTIAL RUPTURE OF THE MAIN COOLANT LINE IN A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

Technical Report · Mon Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1960

OSTI ID:4834068

Billington, I J; Glass, I I

An anulysis was made of the maximum pressure rise and relevant pressure history that might occur in the boiler room of a nuclear reactor from the complete failure of a main, sixteen-inch, heavy-water, coolant pipe. The boiler room and the 9 ft x 12 ft x 50 ft pressure relief duct were represented by a simplified mathematical model based on one-dimensional, inviscid flow in order to study the transient pressure rise following the failure, and a step-by-step numerical calculation provided the solution. The analysis included the effect of a sealing diaphragm at the upstream end of the pressure relief duct which was assumed to disintegrate within 10 msec after the boiler room pressure reached 1.5 psig. The pressuretime history determined from this analysis shows a rapid rate of pressure rise from the instant of failure levelling off to a peak of 4.4 psig after approximately 0.3 seconds. (auth)

• Research Organization: Toronto. Univ. Inst. of Aerophysics
• NSA Number: NSA-15-030812
• OSTI ID: 4834068
• Report Number(s): UTIA-70
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ACCIDENTS
CONFIGURATION
COOLANT LOOPS
EFFICIENCY
ENGINEERING AND EQUIPMENT
FAILURES
FLOW MODELS
HEAVY WATER COOLANT
MATHEMATICS
MEMBRANES
NUMERICALS
POWER PLANTS
PRESSURE
PRESSURE VESSELS
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
REACTOR SAFETY
SEALS
STANDARDS
VISCOSITY