MELCOR simulations of the severe accident at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3

Cardoni, Jeffrey; Gauntt, Randall; Kalinich, Donald; Phillips, Jesse

doi:10.13182/nt13-41

Title: MELCOR simulations of the severe accident at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3

Abstract

In response to the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in Japan, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and U.S. Department of Energy agreed to jointly sponsor an accident reconstruction study as a means of assessing the severe accident modeling capability of the MELCOR code. Objectives of the project included reconstruction of the accident progressions using computer models and accident data, and validation of the MELCOR code and the Fukushima models against plant data. A MELCOR 2.1 model of the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 reactor is developed using plant-specific information and accident-specific boundary conditions, which involve considerable uncertainty due to the inherent nature of severe accidents. Publicly available thermal-hydraulic data and radioactivity release estimates have evolved significantly since the accidents. Such data are expected to continually change as the reactors are decommissioned and more measurements are performed. As a result, the MELCOR simulations in this work primarily use boundary conditions that are based on available plant data as of May 2012.

Authors:

Cardoni, Jeffrey ^[1]; Gauntt, Randall ^[1]; Kalinich, Donald ^[1]; Phillips, Jesse ^[1]

Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Publication Date:: Thu May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014

Research Org.:: Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

OSTI Identifier:: 1333851

Report Number(s):: SAND-2013-6886J
Journal ID: ISSN 0029-5450; 566964

Grant/Contract Number:: AC04-94AL85000

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Nuclear Technology

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Name: Nuclear Technology; Journal ID: ISSN 0029-5450

Publisher:: American Nuclear Society (ANS)

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY; 97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING

Citation Formats


                    Cardoni, Jeffrey, Gauntt, Randall, Kalinich, Donald, and Phillips, Jesse. MELCOR simulations of the severe accident at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3.  United States: N. p., 2014. 
Web.  doi:10.13182/nt13-41.

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                    Cardoni, Jeffrey, Gauntt, Randall, Kalinich, Donald, & Phillips, Jesse. MELCOR simulations of the severe accident at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.13182/nt13-41

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                    Cardoni, Jeffrey, Gauntt, Randall, Kalinich, Donald, and Phillips, Jesse. Thu .  
"MELCOR simulations of the severe accident at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.13182/nt13-41.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1333851.

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@article{osti_1333851,

  title        = {MELCOR simulations of the severe accident at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3},

  author       = {Cardoni, Jeffrey and Gauntt, Randall and Kalinich, Donald and Phillips, Jesse},

  abstractNote = {In response to the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in Japan, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and U.S. Department of Energy agreed to jointly sponsor an accident reconstruction study as a means of assessing the severe accident modeling capability of the MELCOR code. Objectives of the project included reconstruction of the accident progressions using computer models and accident data, and validation of the MELCOR code and the Fukushima models against plant data. A MELCOR 2.1 model of the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 reactor is developed using plant-specific information and accident-specific boundary conditions, which involve considerable uncertainty due to the inherent nature of severe accidents. Publicly available thermal-hydraulic data and radioactivity release estimates have evolved significantly since the accidents. Such data are expected to continually change as the reactors are decommissioned and more measurements are performed. As a result, the MELCOR simulations in this work primarily use boundary conditions that are based on available plant data as of May 2012.},

  doi          = {10.13182/nt13-41},

  journal      = {Nuclear Technology},

  number       = ,

  volume       = ,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Thu May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014},

  month        = {Thu May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014}

}

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Works referenced in this record:

ORIGEN2: a revised and updated version of the Oak Ridge isotope generation and depletion code
report, July 1980

Croff, A. G.
DOI: 10.2172/5352089

Synthesis of VERCORS and Phebus data in severe accident codes and applications.
report, April 2010

Gauntt, Randall
DOI: 10.2172/983685

Works referencing / citing this record:

Advances on identification and animated simulations of radioactivity risk levels after Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident (with a data bank): A Critical Review
journal, May 2019

Külahcı, Fatih; Bilici, Ahmet
Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Vol. 321, Issue 1
DOI: 10.1007/s10967-019-06559-w

Modeling of Aerosol Fission Product Scrubbing in Experiments and in Integral Severe Accident Scenarios
journal, October 2018

Rýdl, Adolf; Fernandez-Moguel, Leticia; Lind, Terttaliisa
Nuclear Technology, Vol. 205, Issue 5
DOI: 10.1080/00295450.2018.1511213

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Similar Records

Title: MELCOR simulations of the severe accident at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3

Abstract

Citation Formats

ORIGEN2: a revised and updated version of the Oak Ridge isotope generation and depletion code report, July 1980

Synthesis of VERCORS and Phebus data in severe accident codes and applications. report, April 2010

Advances on identification and animated simulations of radioactivity risk levels after Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident (with a data bank): A Critical Review journal, May 2019

Modeling of Aerosol Fission Product Scrubbing in Experiments and in Integral Severe Accident Scenarios journal, October 2018

ORIGEN2: a revised and updated version of the Oak Ridge isotope generation and depletion code
report, July 1980

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report, April 2010

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journal, May 2019

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journal, October 2018