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Title: MELCOR Analysis of OSU Multi-Application Small Light Water Reactor (MASLWR) Experiment

Journal Article · · Nuclear Technology
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [2]
  1. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States); UW-Madison
  2. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
  3. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China)
  4. Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

A multi-application small light water reactor (MASLWR) conceptual design was developed by Oregon State University (OSU) with emphasis on passive safety systems. The passive containment safety system employs condensation and natural circulation to achieve the necessary heat removal from the containment in case of postulated accidents. Containment condensation experiments at the MASLWR test facility at OSU are modeled and analyzed with MELCOR, a system-level reactor accident analysis computer code. The analysis assesses its ability to predict condensation heat transfer in the presence of noncondensable gas for accidents where high-energy steam is released into the containment. This work demonstrates MELCOR’s ability to predict the pressure-temperature response of the scaled containment. Our analysis indicates that the heat removal rates are underestimated in the experiment due to the limited locations of the thermocouples and applies corrections to these measurements by conducting integral energy analyses along with CFD simulation for confirmation. Furthermore, the corrected heat removal rate measurements and the MELCOR predictions on the heat removal rate from the containment show good agreement with the experimental data.

Research Organization:
Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States); Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
Grant/Contract Number:
NE0000663
OSTI ID:
1372322
Journal Information:
Nuclear Technology, Journal Name: Nuclear Technology Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 198; ISSN 0029-5450
Publisher:
Taylor & Francis - formerly American Nuclear Society (ANS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (9)

Turbulent film condensation journal July 1964
A diffusion layer model for steam condensation within the AP600 containment journal July 1998
On various forms of the heat and mass transfer analogy: Discussion and application to condensation experiments journal May 2006
Analysis of the suction effect on the mass transfer when using the heat and mass transfer analogy journal October 2009
The Condensation of Steam journal June 1929
Mass Transfer (Absorption) Coefficients Prediction from Data on Heat Transfer and Fluid Friction journal November 1934
A Generalized Diffusion Layer Model for Condensation of Vapor With Noncondensable Gases journal September 2006
Diffusion Layer Theory for Turbulent Vapor Condensation With Noncondensable Gases journal November 1993
Condensation Heat Transfer in the Presence of a Noncondensable Gas journal August 1964

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21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
MELCOR
condensation
multi-application small light water reactor