Bounding core temperature transients for severe and rapid water ingress scenarios in modular high temperature gas-cooled reactors
A rapid water ingress transient, resulting from steam generator tube or tube-sheet failures, could lead to a reactivity insertion and core heatup in the Modular High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors. This paper considers the effect of hypothetical rapid and severe water ingress scenarios of extremely low probability, and assesses the effect of such transients on potentially excessive fuel temperatures and subsequent fuel failures. The results indicate that for the worst postulated scenarios the conservatively set limiting fuel temperature of 1600{degree}C is indeed exceeded, but only for a few seconds, and then only in a small fraction of the core. Therefore, it appears that even the most severe and rapid water ingress transients would not lead to significant fuel failures. Parametric variations of the key variables indicate that the reactivity worth of water and the fuel thermal properties must be established with high confidence as the design progresses. 7 refs., 11 figs., 3 tabs.
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (USA)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USNRC
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76CH00016
- OSTI ID:
- 6892259
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-NUREG-44847; CONF-901101-25; ON: DE90015125; TRN: 90-029489
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: American Nuclear Society winter meeting, Washington, DC (USA), 11-15 Nov 1990
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
HTGR TYPE REACTORS
REACTOR COOLING SYSTEMS
FUEL ELEMENTS
HEAT TRANSFER
HYDRAULICS
REACTIVITY
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
S CODES
STEAM GENERATORS
T CODES
TRANSIENTS
TUBES
WATER
WATER VAPOR
ACCIDENTS
BOILERS
COMPUTER CODES
COOLING SYSTEMS
ENERGY SYSTEMS
ENERGY TRANSFER
FLUID MECHANICS
FLUIDS
GAS COOLED REACTORS
GASES
GRAPHITE MODERATED REACTORS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
MECHANICS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTORS
VAPOR GENERATORS
VAPORS
220900* - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Reactor Safety
210300 - Power Reactors
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