Development of design and simulation model and safety study of large-scale hydrogen production using nuclear power.

Technical Report · Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/921148· OSTI ID:921148

Gelbard, Fred; Oh, Seungmin ^[1]; Rodriguez, Salvador B; Revankar, Shripad T ^[1]; Gauntt, Randall O; Cole, Jr, Randall K; Espinosa, Flor ^[2]; Drennen, Thomas E; Tournier, Jean-Michel ^[2]; Hogan, Kevin ^[3]; Archuleta, Louis ^[4]; Malczynski, Leonard A; Vierow, Karen ^[3]; McFadden, Katherine Letizia; Martin, William Joseph; El-Genk, Mohamed S ^[2]; Louie, David L. Y. ^[4]

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1. Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
2. University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
3. Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
4. OMICRON Safety and Risk, Inc., Albuquerque, NM

Before this LDRD research, no single tool could simulate a very high temperature reactor (VHTR) that is coupled to a secondary system and the sulfur iodine (SI) thermochemistry. Furthermore, the SI chemistry could only be modeled in steady state, typically via flow sheets. Additionally, the MELCOR nuclear reactor analysis code was suitable only for the modeling of light water reactors, not gas-cooled reactors. We extended MELCOR in order to address the above deficiencies. In particular, we developed three VHTR input models, added generalized, modular secondary system components, developed reactor point kinetics, included transient thermochemistry for the most important cycles [SI and the Westinghouse hybrid sulfur], and developed an interactive graphical user interface for full plant visualization. The new tool is called MELCOR-H2, and it allows users to maximize hydrogen and electrical production, as well as enhance overall plant safety. We conducted validation and verification studies on the key models, and showed that the MELCOR-H2 results typically compared to within less than 5% from experimental data, code-to-code comparisons, and/or analytical solutions.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 921148
• Report Number(s): SAND2007-6218
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

08 HYDROGEN
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
ANALYTICAL SOLUTION
CHEMISTRY
DESIGN
FLOWSHEETS
HYDROGEN
HYDROGEN PRODUCTION
High temperature chemistry.
High temperature gas cooled reactors.
High temperature tests.
IODINE
KINETICS
MELCOR (Calculation)*
MELCOR (Computer program)
NUCLEAR POWER
PRODUCTION
REACTORS
SAFETY
SULFUR
TRANSIENTS
VALIDATION
VERIFICATION
WATER