ANALYTICAL SIMULATION OF A PWR USING MELCOR

Authors

  • Maritza Rodríguez Gual University of São Paulo https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3585-8264
  • Nathalia N. Araújo University of São Paulo
  • Marcos C. Maturana University of São Paulo

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15392/bjrs.v8i3A.1357

Keywords:

severe accident, MELOR, PWR

Abstract

After the two most significant nuclear accidents in history – the Chernobyl Reactor Four explosion in Ukraine

(1986) and the Fukushima Daiichi accident in Japan (2011) –, the Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR) included a new chapter (19) dedicated to the Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) and Severe Accident Analysis (SAA), covering accidents with core melting. FSAR is the most important document for licensing of siting, construction, commissioning and operation of a nuclear power plant. In the USA, the elaboration of the FSAR chapter 19 is according to the review and acceptance criteria described in the NUREG-0800 and U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.200. The same approach is being adopted in Brazil by National Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEN). Therefore, the FSAR elaboration requires a detailed knowledge of severe accident phenomena and an analysis of the design vulnerabilities to the severe accidents, as provided in a PSA – e.g., the identification of the initiating events involving significant Core Damage Frequency (CDF) are made in the PSA Level 1. As part of the design and certification activities of a plant of reference, the Laboratory of Risk Analysis, Evaluating and Management (LabRisco), located in the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil, has been preparing a group of specialists to model the progression of severe accidents in Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR), to support the CNEN regulatory expectation – since Brazilian Nuclear Power Plants (NPP), i.e., Angra 1, 2 and 3, have PWR type, the efforts of the CNEN are concentrated on accidents at this type of reactor. The initial investigation objectives were on completing the detailed input data for a PWR cooling system model using the U.S. NRC MELCOR 2.2 code, and on the study of the reference plant equipment behavior – by comparing this model results and the reference plant normal operation main parameters, as modeled with RELAP5/MOD2 code.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Maritza Rodríguez Gual, University of São Paulo

Analysis, Evaluation and Risk Management Laboratory (LabRisco)

Nathalia N. Araújo, University of São Paulo

Analysis, Evaluation and Risk Management Laboratory (LabRisco)

Marcos C. Maturana, University of São Paulo

Analysis, Evaluation and Risk Management Laboratory (LabRisco)

References

Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, Five years after the Fukushima Daiichi accident: Nuclear Safety Improvements and Lessons Learnt, NEA No. 7284, pp.80 (2016).

Te-Chuan Wang, Shih-Jen Wang, Jyh-Tong Teng, Comparison of Severe accident results among SCADAP/RELAP, MAAP and MELCOR codes, Nuclear Technology150, 2, pp. 145-152 (2005).

J. P van Dorsselaere, C. Seropian, P. Chatelard, F. Jacq, J. Fleurot, P. Giordano, N. Reinke, B. Schwinges, H. J. Allelein & W Luther, The ASTEC Integral Code for Severe Accident Simulation, Nuclear Techonogy, 165, pp. 293-307 (2009).

Hirochi Ujita, Yoshinori Nakadai, Takashi Ikeda and Masaroni Naitoh , PWR and BWR plant analyses by Severe Accident Analysis Code SAMPSON for IMPACT Project,GENES4/ANP2003, Kyoto, Japan, September 15-19, pp. 15-19,1074 (2003).

Longze Li, Mingjun Wang, Wenxi Tian, Guanghui Su, Suizheng Qiu, Severe accidentanalysis for typical PWR using the MELCOR code, Progress in Nuclear Energy, 71,pp. 30-38 (2014).

Chun-Sheng Chien, Shin-Jen Wang and Te-Chuan Wang, MELCOR Self-InitializationAlgorithm for Pressurized Water Reactions and its Importance in Accident Analysis, Nuclear Technology, 119, pp. 194-200 (1997).

L. L. Humphries, et al. MELCOR Computer Code Manuals Vol. 1: Primer and Users Guide Version 2.2.9541 (2017).

L. L. Humphries, et al. MELCOR Computer Code Manuals Vol. 2: Primer and Users Guide Version 2.2.9541 (2017).

J. Cardoni, R. Gauntt, D. Kalinich and J. Phillips, MELCOR simulations of severe accident at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3, Nuclear Technology, 186, pp. 179-197 (2014).

T. Sevon, A MELCOR model of Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 accident, Nuclear Engineering and Design, 284, pp. 80-90 (2015).

N. S. Lapa, L.C. M. Pereira, A. A. Madeira, O. J. M. Wellele, G. Sabundjian, S. M. Lee and T. Steinrotter, Simulation of a station black out at the Angra 2 NPP with MELCOR Code, Technical Meeting on the Status and Evaluation of Severe Accident Simulation

Codes for Water Cooled Reactors, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna Austria, October, pp. 9 -12 (2017).

M. Genta Maragni, A. Belchior Junior and J. A. Onoda Pessanha, “Modelagem e estado estacionário do reator da INAP com o RELAP5/MOD2”, In: INTERNATIONANUCLEAR ATLANTIC CONFERENCE, São Paulo, Brazil (1997).

V. H. Ransom et al, RELAP5/MOD2 Code Manual, NUREG/CR-4312, EGG-2396, (1985).United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Standard Review Plan for the Review of Safety Reposts for Nuclear Power Plants: LWR Edition, NUREG‐0800 (2007).

M.F. Young, MELCOR Development for HTGR Applications, In: Cooperative Severe Accident Research Program, CSARP Meeting, Bethesda, USA, September 16-18 (2008).

F. Alcaro, MELCOR modeling and experience at NRG, In: European MELCOR Group User Group, EMUG Meeting, Boston, USA, June 18-19 (2015).

]. J. Cardoni, MELCOR model for an experimental 176x17 Spent Fuel PWR assembly, SAND2010-8249 (2010).

M. Malcki, L. Pienkowski, K. Skolik, Simulation of SB-LOCA of typical PWR with MELCOR code, In: IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science, January 24, 214, 012071(2019).

M. Pescarini, F. Mascari, D. Mostacci and F De Rosa, Analysis of unmitigated large break loss of coolant accidents using MELCOR code, Journal of Physics Conference Series, 923,012009 (2017).

Y. Jin, W. Xu, X. Liu, In- and ex-vessel coupled analysis of IVR-ERVC phenomenon for large scale PWR, Annals of Nuclear Energy, 80, pp. 322-337 (2015).

M. Pavlova, P. P Groudev and V. Hadjiev, Development and validation of VVER-1000input deck for severe accident calculations with MELCOR Computer Code, In: XV International School on Nuclear Physics, Neutron Physics and Nuclear Energy, Varna, Bulgaria, October (2003).

S. B. Rodriguez, Using the Coupled MELCOR-RELAP5 Codes for Simulation of the Edward’s Pipe, SAND2002-2828c (2002).

Downloads

Published

2021-02-09

How to Cite

Gual, M. R., N. Araújo, N., & C. Maturana, M. (2021). ANALYTICAL SIMULATION OF A PWR USING MELCOR. Brazilian Journal of Radiation Sciences, 8(3A (Suppl.). https://doi.org/10.15392/bjrs.v8i3A.1357

Issue

Section

XXI Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Physics and Thermal Hydraulics (XXI ENFIR) and VI ENIN

Most read articles by the same author(s)