Recent advances in severe-accident technology: Direct containment heating in advanced LWRs

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1991 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)

OSTI ID:5763600

Fontana, M H ^[1]; Carter, J A ^[2]

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1. Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc., Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
2. TENERA Corp., Knoxville, TN (United States)

High-pressure melt ejection (HPME) from the reactor vessel that occurs upon vessel failure during certain postulated accidents could cause rapid, energetic discharge and fragmentation of the debris and early containment failure due to direct containment heating (DCH) of the containment atmosphere. Conservative evaluations of the potential magnitude of DCH loads indicate that a significant containment challenge might occur from the aggregate loading effects when DCH is included. These effects were evaluated to assess the potential for early containment failure, and design requirements were developed for advanced light water reactors (ALWRs) to minimize this potential. The assessment was limited to advanced pressurized water reactors (APWRs). This paper presents an overview of the state of knowledge regarding DCH as it affects the issue for ALWRs.

• OSTI ID: 5763600
• Report Number(s): CONF-910603--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States) Journal Volume: 63
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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