Effects of a hypothetical loss-of-coolant accident on a Mark I Boiling Water Reactor pressure-suppression system

Conference · Thu Dec 22 04:00:00 EST 1977

OSTI ID:5147208

Pitts, J H; McCauley, E W

A loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) in a boiling-water-reactor (BWR) power plant has never occurred. However, because this type of accident could be particularly severe, it is used as a principal theoretical basis for design. A series of consistent, versatile, and accurate air-water tests that simulate LOCA conditions has been completed on a /sup 1///sub 5/-scale Mark I BWR pressure-suppression system. Results from these tests are used to quantify the vertical-loading function and to study the associated fluid dynamics phenomena. Detailed histories of vertical loads on the wetwell are shown. In particular, variation of hydrodynamic-generated vertical loads with changes in drywell-pressurization rate, downcomer submergence, and the vent-line loss coefficient are established. Initial drywell overpressure, which partially preclears the downcomers of water, substantially reduces the peak vertical loads. Scaling relationships, developed from dimensional analysis and verified by bench-top experiments, allow the /sup 1///sub 5/-scale results to be applied to a full-scale BWR power plant. This analysis leads to dimensionless groupings that are invariant. These groupings show that, if water is used as the working fluid, the magnitude of the forces in a scaled facility is reduced by the cube of the scale factor and occurs in a time reduced by the square root of the scale factor.

• Research Organization: California Univ., Livermore (USA). Lawrence Livermore Lab.
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 5147208
• Report Number(s): UCRL-80374; CONF-780402-1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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ACCIDENTS
BWR TYPE REACTORS
CONDENSATION CHAMBERS
CONTAINMENT
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LOSS OF COOLANT
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PRESSURE SUPPRESSION
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
REACTORS
SIMULATION
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WATER MODERATED REACTORS